All Silence Must Cease (The Peacebringer Series Book 2) by Raymond W. Wilkinson; The Women of Vespa Academy Are Back in a Brave New Bloody World

 

All Silence Must Cease (The Peacebringer Series Book 2) by Raymond W. Wilkinson; The Women of Vespa Academy Are Back in a Brave New Bloody World 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Spoilers: If there is one trend that has stood out among the books that I am reading this year so far, it's the abundance of sequels. I have read nine sequels so far so many that I am considering making a separate Best of Category just for sequels at the end of the year. It's not just that they are common sequels either. They are sequels to books that were favorites in years past. This year, I read Wallace House of Pain by S.M. Stevens, the follow up to Beautiful and Terrible Things which was my #1 Contemporary Fiction book last year. I also read Merchants of Light and Bone by Erika McCorkle and The Penny Arcade Mother's Care Orphanage by David Neuman the continuations of Merchants of Knowledge and Magic and Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity respectively, both of which were my top favorites from 2022. Not to mention the continuing adventures of The Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardians Series by G. Russell Gaynor, The Others by Evette Davis, The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson, The Everlan Trilogy by Conor Jest, and The Angela Hardwicke Science Fiction Mysteries by Russ Colchamiro. Well we can also add All Silence Must Cease, the second book in The Peacebringer Series by Raymond W. Wilkinson, the follow up to To End Every War which was my favorite book of 2023.

To End Every War was a unique book in the Epic Fantasy genre in that it wasn't an Epic Fantasy. I mean it was. It was set in an Alternate version of our world in 1902 where Elves, Dwarves, Giants, Centaurs, Selkies, demon-like Abraxas, and Fairies exist alongside Humans and in this case attend university together. There were the usual tropes that can be found in such works: arcane mysteries, magic, strife among various kingdoms, and so on. 

But what set it apart was that the focus was on the characters, a circle of female friends and their conflicts with each other and adjustments to living in a new environment away from home. No epic quests, no good vs. evil battle. Just six women of different species, backgrounds, and personalities learning to live with and like each other, more Feminist than Fantasy. In my previous review, I compared it to “Lord of the Rings meets Mary McCarthy’s The Group” and said that “it's not an Epic Fantasy with an All-Female cast. It's a Woman's Fiction Novel that happens to have a Fantasy setting.” I did not exaggerate.

The second volume is less character driven and more plot driven but no less interesting. Alongside the individual characters and their internal issues within themselves, each other, and their peers, it also puts them into the larger scope of warring communities, secret societies, political backstabbing, and their own roles as future community leaders, influencers, and fighters. 

The women are definitely rife with personal trauma that has affected their lives in Vespa Academy. Esmeralda Vespa, the Human future Duchessa, becomes a central figure in various power struggles. She weighs potential marriages and obtains a very dangerous rival with an unstable prince.

Zabel Lusine, an enigmatic Elf is pregnant and has a secret marriage to another Elf while her husband's guardian is her patron. Her body is also inhabited by a simulacrum, a violent Dark Elf named Shamir.

Viatrix Corna, a scholarly Dwarf finds her image of her family and species called into question. She has to deal with her father having an extramarital affair, her brother being part of a Socialist organization that is planning violence, and her grandfather being a member of a secret society that finances many of the happenings in the other lands.

While Alya Pamoroyan, an Abraxas, is studying in Vespa Academy, her kingdom has been attacked. She is anxious about her parents who are reported missing and her newly married sister, Dina who will soon be right in the thick of things.

Kirsi Takala, a Selkie, is struggling to put a hold on her violent nature, which all Selkies possess (and makes them good but terrifying fighters). She also is trying to solve a mystery involving her mother's time in Vespa and the dark secrets that led to her dismissal and a murder.

Kamila “Kam” Ruszo, a Human/Fairy hybrid is going through physiological changes as her body transforms into a more Fairy-like form. She also learns that her mother is a spy and assassin and has the Royal family in her sight.

The six women's struggles are both external and introspective, mixing the personal and political. There are great moments that collide their private lives with their public and pushes them into a wider circle of influence and change.

One of those moments involves an assassination attempt during a public event. The characters also face various conflicts such as Kam’s with her mother, Viatrix with her father and brother, Kirsi with bullying students, Alya with Dina, Esmeralda with the prince, and Zabel with Shamir during the attempt and its aftermath. These intertwining conflicts change their lives by pushing them onto darker, unsettling, and unstable paths.

The larger big picture events surround the characters but except for some violent moments and allegiances of older friends and family members do not directly involve them. Being peripherally involved might not be the same way as physically involved but it is no less traumatic.

They might be on the edge of the events, but those edges are becoming narrower and they will soon be thrown in.

Right now they have to live with the consequences of other’s actions. They worry about family members being exiled or disappearing. They are disillusioned by family members who walk violent and treacherous paths. Their darker sides become even more present as they give into violence, sadness, and rage. They weigh the changes that will be made to end these conflicts. 

The strengths in both this and the previous book is the tight sisterhood and solidarity that form around the main characters. In this book, we still see that each character is able to put her own worries aside and use her talents to aid the others. Whether it's Viatrix’s scholarly pursuits, Kam’s interest in sneaking in and out of forbidden places, Zabel's intuitive wisdom, Alya's stoic rationality, Kirsi’s obstinate energy, or Esmeralda’s leadership and big picture thinking, these women always find a way to help one another through their various struggles. Which makes the ending all the more questionable, darker, and potentially even more tragic.

As the book ends, each character is recruited by secret organizations, go home to fight in their own way, make advantageous marriages and alliances, and settle into private lives in their kingdoms while becoming involved with the local political scene. In other words, they have to take larger parts in the worlds around them.These changes could mean that they will not only participate in the upcoming conflicts but will be forced into becoming enemies with each other. 

The school motto might be “To End Every War” but war seems to be what is going to happen. The characters have to decide whether they will take part or stick together to find a way around war and end it.

Gittel by Laurie Schneider; Speechless in Achten Tan (Book 1 Of The Sands of Achten Tan) by Debbie Iancu-Haddad; Slumber Nevermore by R.J. Garcia

 

Gittel by Laurie Schneider 

This is a brief summary of my review. The main review can be found on LitPick 

Gittel by Laurie Schneider is reminiscent of many coming of age books like Anne of Green Gables and The Little House books. It's not long on plot. It prefers instead to focus on various individual conflicts in Gittel’s life that test her character and teach her various lessons.

13 year old Gittel Borenstein is part of a Jewish family that emigrated from East Europe because of a pogrom to Mill Creek, Wisconsin with 12 other Jewish families. The book focuses on various events in Gittel’s young life such as bullying from Antisemitic classmates, conflicts with her more traditional Orthodox family, a budding romance with a local boy, and her participation in a Chautauqua.  

The book is strong on character, time, and place. The Borensteins emigrated for their safety but still feel out of place in this rural American country. Gittel has to suffer from insults and threats from other students, particularly Karl Leckner, whose religious Antisemitic father takes every opportunity to compare them to demons. Gittel shows her strengths by using witty comebacks and verbally challenging her antagonists. She even describes her mouth as the sharpest weapon that she and her friends, Irene and Emily, have.

Gittel struggles with not only societal conflicts but those within her own family. Gittel is a maturing young woman who is fascinated with the American way of life while her traditional Orthodox family mostly clings to the tight-knit Jewish community around them. Gittel makes gentile friends, develops her interests in singing, dancing, and reading, and uses her talent in public speaking during a Chautauqua. She nurtures aspirations to continue her education and become an actress or writer despite some of her family's concerns and soft objections. 

The most heartwarming moments are when Gittel and her family come to an understanding about her aspirations and interests and she recognizes their own adaptability as well as her own. She recognizes loving bonds which while hidden and not always expressed out loud, but are always felt. 

Gittel is the Yiddish word for “good” which is a decent description of the book. However, it's more than good. Gittel is great.

Speechless in Achten Tan (Book 1 in The Sands of Achten Tan) by Debbie Iancu-Haddad

This is a brief summary of my review. The main review can be found on LitPick. 

Speechless in Achten Tan is a Fantasy novel that will appeal to YA and Adult Readers with its captivating lead character and her search for her personal power.

 Mila, a mute cavern gnome, goes through a test to be considered worthy to study magic. After she fails the test, her mentor, Nora, sends her to the desert world of Achten Tan to study magic under Gerwyn, a wise and powerful witch. While in Achten Tan, Mila finds romance and friendship, becomes involved in a power struggle against the despotic Bone Chief Opu Haku, and discovers her strength and voice.

After her test, Mila is in despair because she doesn't conform to what her community believes are their standards of maturity. She is deprived of the ability to speak and to practice magic. She cannot ascend in their world so she is deprived of her agency. The dramatic irony is the reason behind her failure. Mila’s brother, Turosh, drowned over the same waterfall where she was being tested. She was temporarily overcome with grief, lost control, and failed the test. A moment of emotion remembering a traumatic event that shaped her youth and motivated her to continue studying ended up becoming a barrier in her pursuit of magic and full acceptance into her society.

As with the heroes in many legends and books in the genre, Mila is sent to continue her journey elsewhere. She has to leave to continue her studies. Her journey to Achten Tan also allows her to connect with her past, present, and future. Her boyfriend from the village, Geb, is also in Achten Tan to train as a healer. He provides an emotional center and keeps Mila focused as her abilities increase.

She also befriends Kaii, son of Opu Haku, the Bone Chief. Mila's friendship allows the son to step out from his father's tyrannical shadow and fight against him. Mila widens the scope of her magical pursuits to make long lasting changes with other kingdoms including her own. 

Mila is even able to reconcile her grief over Tarush’s death. She comes to terms with the loss and its aftereffects. While death and loss are still painful for her, she is able to set them aside and move forward on her path to maturity.

This is a Fantasy novel that many, especially young people, will relate to as they follow their own paths, discover their own abilities, and gain their own voices.

Slumber Nevermore by R.J. Garcia

R.J. Garcia knows how to keep Readers up at night. With the anthology, Slumber Nevermore she crosses genres to give the Readers a full effect of dark twisted tales that deliver on chills, ominous energy, and unforgettable mental images. 

There are seven stories but the best are:

“The Stolen Child”-This story is a Dark Fantasy that plays on those frightening magical creatures: Fairies.

Garcia refrains from the wholesome fairytale Disney image of fairies and focuses instead on the variations from myth and legends where they are powerful, capricious, demand to be respected, and should be kept at a safe distance. 

Mae is anxious about her sister, Emmie, who disappeared right in front of her. She has this sensation that they had been watched and out of the corner of her eye, she thinks that strange figures appear and disappear. She always suspected that there were fairies in the woods. Could she be right? Spoiler Alert: She is.

The fairies are written as ominous and secretive. They appear as orbs of light, shrill whistles, or silhouettes. Mae isn't sure if they are dreams or if they are real. Then when she finally talks to them, she isn't sure if they are good, evil, or neutral with their own moral code. They could go either way. Their ambiguity is their strength and while she is with them, Mae is completely at their mercy. As long as she is in their world, they could do whatever they want to her and no one would know about it. 

“The Stolen Child” is a modern fairy tale told to a Horror loving audience. Anyone who reads fairy tales knows that fairies can be sinister or helpful but are rarely the main antagonists. Instead the real villains are often a lot closer to the protagonist’s home than that. Those villains are cruel, malicious, and bring the worst misfortunes. 

“Lipstick”-This story is a Paranormal Horror that should not be read by anyone with coulrophobia. 

10 year old Billy sneaks out one night to see a carnival. The night of rickety rides, junk food, and fun to be scared thrills turns to terror when he encounters a demonic looking clown. The clown not only makes a formidable impression but makes him an offer that haunts him for years.

Dark carnivals might be cliched and scary clowns even more so, but they are used so often because they work. Carnivals can give off a sinister vibe when one thinks about it. These places of supposed amusement contain rides that are quickly put together by people who might have dubious reputations and are certainly in a hurry. A guest’s safety depends on them. Is it any wonder that they inspire fear? If you read books like Something Wicked This Way Comes or saw movies like Freaks or Carnival of Souls among others, you know what I am talking about.

Then there are clowns. They hide their true faces, come up close and face to face with children, seem impossibly cherry, and wear garish makeup. Lest we forget fictional clowns like Pennywise or real ones like John Wayne Gacy who certainly had dark sides. A clown can be terrifying. A carnival can be spooky. A clown in a carnival is frequent but also can give you that instant chill down the spine, the chill that warns you that maybe you should have stayed home.

Billy ignored that chilly warning and ultimately paid a huge price for it. This brief moment changes his life in many disturbing ways that leaves him traumatized and alone. The final paragraphs show the complete impact that this demonic clown had over his life to the point that Billy can't separate himself from him.

“Sister Witches”-It’s rare to have a Horror short story told from the point of view of the monster, but this story does and turns a story that would normally herald fear for the victim instead invites pity and regret for the monster. 

Cassandra is one of three witches. The other two are her sisters, Sheba and Celeste. The trio kill mortals and absorb their youth to remain forever young and beautiful. Their latest victim is Tommy, an aging man who is residing in a nursing home. 

The witches' goal is to preserve their youth. Their absorption of others’s essences is graphic but is comparable to an addiction rather than an unexplainable supernatural or demonic force. It ruins the mortals but also the witches as well.

Cassandra and her sisters absorb the essence not because they want to, but because they think that they have to and are unable to survive without it. This takes a toll on Cassandra in particular. She has become someone who isn't terrifying or frightening. Instead, she's weary and tired of life. She is ready to die but is unable to. 

In a way the fear doesn't come from an outside source, but from within. If we compare their immortality to an addiction, the fear comes from feeling forced to get that immortality and what it would be like to live without it. Cassandra fears what they have done, what they will do, and what would happen if that eternity would end. She is simultaneously longing for death and afraid of what happens if it comes. 

“The Axeman Among Us”-Of the stories, this is the most realistic. Instead of Dark Fantasy or Supernatural Horror, this is more like a Psychological Thriller. It features an infamous real life serial killer. The Axeman of New Orleans was a serial killer who murdered mostly Italian immigrants or Italian-American men from 1918-1919. Most notably, a letter allegedly from The Axeman said that he would not kill anyone on a certain night in homes where jazz played. Musicians played in hundreds of homes that night. The Axeman was never identified and no arrests were made.

Vincent and his friends, Mikey and Dupree are startled one night by the sound of a scream and a dark mysterious figure hastily leaving a building with an ax in hand. They suspect that he might be the Axeman. The trio become obsessed with the case and go to extreme lengths to stop the Axeman's reign of terror.

This story’s tone and atmosphere are on point. The Axeman is certainly human but he carries a demonic aura. He haunts Vincent's dreams and is described more of as an otherworldly presence than an actual human being. He invites the possibility that he might not be human at least in this version. But the fact that he is, somehow makes him even more chilling. He has a human way of planning and analyzing how to commit the murders without getting caught and an inhuman desire to hack a human body to pieces.

There are some interesting twists to the story. Since it is set in New Orleans, we get motifs like voodoo and jazz. Voodoo presents the only supernatural link in the story and even that might just be within the minds of those who believe in it. It also makes sense that in absence of any physical legal help to stop the Axeman, the boys would turn to more esoteric means. Voodoo is a large part of New Orleans life but it is also held in suspicion by non-practitioners. There is something supernatural and eerie about it, the type of thing that would draw someone like the Axeman. The boys are using one unusual potentially dark path to capture one unusual dark person. 

Jazz music also plays a large part most prominently practiced by Vincent's brother, Peter. It not only plays into the physical location but the time period as well. Jazz is improvisation mixed with deep emotion like pain, anger, sadness, and love. While popular, it was also controversial and considered an outsider’s choice of music like rock or rap would be later. The kind of music someone who stands on the outside fringes of society would listen to.

It's also worth noting that Peter is a WWI veteran. This is the time of the Lost Generation, when soldiers returned home with deep trauma. Where flappers and college kids decided to live freely without a care. It was a time where people were aware that life could end at any moment, so might as well grab all that you can. This deep emotion is played by someone who saw death up close and killed people because his government told him to. Maybe Peter feels a disturbing connection to the Axeman, an understanding about what it's like to live on the outside fringe, with longing and emotions that he can't express openly, and living with a violent and bloody past. 

These stories deliver scares to the characters and the Reader making their sleep a truly unpleasant one.

The Girl in The Corn (Girl in the Corn Series Book 1) by Jason Offutt; Set Up is Just as Chilling as The Climax in This Contemporary Fantasy

 

The Girl in The Corn (Girl in the Corn Series Book 1) by Jason Offutt; Set Up is Just as Chilling as The Climax in This Contemporary Fantasy

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Warning: Before I begin this review, I insist that you read my review of the book, Boy From Two Worlds as this book will reveal important spoilers in this series. I will also reiterate that this review contains MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!!

I find it an interesting experience to read a book series out of order. Sometimes, it can be very confusing. Sometimes, it can be tedious if the exciting parts happen in the earlier volume so we have to encounter the exposition. Other times, it actually makes the books better especially if you think of them as though they were meant to be written out of order. 

An example of the latter experience falls in The Girl in the Corn by Jason Offutt which is actually the first book in Offutt’s two part series but is actually the second book that I read in the series after its follow up Boy From Two Worlds. Reading the two books in the proper order works in a linear storytelling fashion in which the plot points are introduced, conflicts begin, action builds up to a climax, the events expand in the next volume, characters evolve, the scope of the threat expands, solutions are given, and resolutions are made. 

But Offutt gives his books a unique gift in which they are just as well written out of order as they are in. Instead of thinking of the books as an ongoing series, one can instead look at Boy From Two Worlds as the main book that tells the important story and Girl in the Corn as the prequel that sets up the situation retroactively. They can be read in order or out of order and the Reader would still be just as fascinated either way. 

In Boy From Two Worlds, a mass murder committed by Bobby Garrett sets up a chain reaction that includes the birth of his son, Jakey, by a woman named Marguerite Jenkins, the disintegration of the relationship between Thomas Cavannaugh and his girlfriend Jillian Robertson, and a series of strange events that get stranger. It is eventually revealed that there are fairies that are violent predators who feast on human flesh and live for their suffering. Jakey inherited some of their powers which the fairies want to take full advantage of in their campaign against the mortals of St. Joseph, Missouri

Girl in the Corn takes us back in time to when 6-year-old Thomas first encounters a fairy in his mother’s garden who tells him that he is special. The fairy girl appears throughout his life telling him that he must defeat Dauor, a dark creature from her world. Meanwhile we are introduced to Bobby, who pre-murder is a teenager with violent impulses that are nurtured by a mysterious creature who takes the form of a Girl Scout. Throughout the years, Thomas and Bobby are encouraged, tormented, cajoled, persuaded, and shaped by these strange creatures who eventually pull them into a battle between supernatural forces, the lives and souls of many, and their own sanity. 

One thing that Boy From Two Worlds did well was expand the universe. Weird things didn't just happen to Thomas or Bobby. They happened all over St. Joseph. Through that we got to explore the town itself and particularly its obsession with Wild West outlaw/infamous native son, Jesse James. Exploring the daily realistic life of St. Joseph's residents builds up tension when the otherworldly action begins.

The supernatural incidents vary including bloody ritualistic murder, cattle mutilations, abductions, lost time, mass murder. If you didn't know going into the book series what happened in the first volume, you would be led to believe that anything could be responsible for the strange happenings.

Instead of expansion, Girl in The Corn focuses on intimacy. The events specifically happen to Thomas, Bobby, or someone associated with them. While we lose something in the setting, we gain something in character. It is not so much the supernatural invading an unprepared small town as it is the supernatural affecting two specific young men who happen to live in that town.

Through their separate experiences, the Reader is given contrasting characters that will end up confronting one another. 

When Thomas first encounters the fairy, he is a little boy. She appears as a sweet innocent little girl, one who promises to befriend the young boy. She plays on the portrayal of old fairy tale concepts where fairies were seen as beautiful,helpful, charming, adorable, and innocent creatures. 

As Thomas matures, his meetings with the fairy become more intense and less fanciful. She now appears as a troubled young woman who appeals to Thomas's good guy helpful personality and his insecurities about being average. She builds up his confidence by saying that he is destined to fight Dauor. This plays on Epic Fantasies where ordinary people are given the Chosen One narrative where they are the ones destined to fight evil for…reasons. Of course, this book is a clever subversion of that trope because it asks the question whether the figure predicting the heroism can be trusted and whether they have ulterior motives for what they do.

As with Boy From Two Worlds, Girl in the Corn builds on different genres. While Thomas's journey compared to Fairy Tales and Fantasy novels, Bobby’s story is more grounded in Occult Supernatural Horror. He comes from a religious family and has his own complicated spiritual beliefs so the fairy builds on that. It first appears as a disembodied voice that builds on Bobby’s anxieties and fears of God's judgment. Bobby begins to commit violence to silence those ever growing fears.

As Bobby ages, his spiritual encounters become angrier, more fierce, and graphic. They are reminiscent of his diminishing mental state and growing blood lust. It takes on horrific images like the body of a murdered girl to taunt and rage at Bobby until he does what it wants. If it weren't for knowing what would happen in the next book, it could be entirely possible that this fairy is in Bobby's head. But since we do know, it's a matter of seeing where it's going to go before it reaches its foreseen explosive conclusion.

Reading the series backwards, turns this book into an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. We see all of the sides and colors and are waiting for the whole image to show. “Okay we see Thomas and Bobby,” the Reader might think. “What about Jillian and Marguerite? When is Jakey conceived? What about the mass murder?” All of those questions are answered and the pieces fit in ways that make the Readers look at them differently in Boy From Two Worlds or deepen understanding in the second book if we read them in the right order.

Cleverly, Thomas and Bobby's journeys seem to be a battle of good vs. evil but once they face those final confrontations, those lines are less defined. The two young men realize that they were led to this conclusion by not only the magical influences but by their own choices. They were given great gifts to see another world, obtain intuition and knowledge, and to decide what to do with that information. In reading the two books, it becomes apparent that the trouble didn't start with a mass murder in a hospital. It started when a six year old boy met a fairy and chose to follow her.

The Boy From Two Worlds (The Girl in the Corn Book 2) by Jason Offutt; Contemporary Fantasy Brings Magic and Macabre to Missouri

 The Boy From Two Worlds (The Girl in the Corn Book 2) by Jason Offutt; Contemporary Fantasy Brings Magic and Macabre to Missouri

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: I love Contemporary Fantasies and I am always interested in books set in my home state of Missouri, so I feel like Jason Offut’s The Boy From Two Worlds was written specifically for me to read and review. It definitely delivers the magic of a Contemporary Fantasy and the macabre of a Supernatural Horror to the Show Me State.

In 2016, Bobby Garrett rigged a chain of explosives which resulted in the deaths of 462 people in St. Joseph, Missouri. Found at the center of the attack were a couple, Thomas Cavannaugh and Jillian Robertson, and Marguerite Jenkins, who was pregnant with Bobby’s child. One year later, Marguerite gives birth to a boy, Jacob AKA Jakey and Thomas and Jillian move in together. 

Over the next four years some strange things start happening. There are cattle mutilations. Some people are mysteriously murdered in a very horrible and graphic manner. A transient mumbles about some dark force coming. Jillian is acting very distant from Thomas and has a very bizarre conversation with his mother. There are parts of Thomas’ past that he doesn’t remember such as something traumatic that he blocked out, but has to do with his girlfriend. 

Then there’s Jakey. Ever since he was born, there has been something off about him. He has dark eyes with no irises and very sharp teeth, some of which he had at birth. Marguerite laughed when he came out and the boy was born with no umbilical cord and navel already intact. As if his physical abnormalities weren’t odd enough, there’s his weird precocious behavior. He is quite knowledgeable in mature subjects and has a taste for violence. He has a sadistic sense of humor that frightens many around him. It’s no wonder that Marguerite is afraid of and withdraws from her own son. Eventually, all of this creepy weird stuff culminates with the discovery that there is ancient magic afoot and fairies that will use it. But these fairies are far from the pleasant wish granting Disney fairies. Not even close. 

This book is a Grimm Fairy Tale combined with a Stephen King novel and I couldn't be happier that it's set in Missouri. It cannot be overstated how perfect the setting is for a book like this. Not just because Offutt lives in Maryville so knows the territory. Not just because it's my home state which is a huge draw for me. It's because of how much Missouri’s basic averageness plays into the thematic elements of dark sinister supernatural things happening to ordinary average people and scaring the living Hell out of them.

Don't get me wrong. Missouri has its charms with lovely natural settings and interesting tourist spots, and definitely has a complicated and fascinating history. Not many cities like St. Louis boasts a zoo, an art museum, a history museum, and a science center with free general admission and an outdoor amphitheater that hosts musicals during the summer and has free seating. I'm proud to live in the St. Louis area even when I don't agree with much of the right wing politics. But I will also admit there is no better state that emphasizes the “mid” in the Midwest and the “over” in flyover state. 

Missouri is a very thoroughly Midwestern state. Middle of the country. Middle of the road. Very average. I mean a more traditional setting for a Fantasy or Horror Novel would be possible. Take Louisiana which must have "a belief in the supernatural" written in their state constitution. California is certainly off beat enough.  Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft   made quite use of the dark fantastic natures of their states of Maine and Massachusetts respectively. But Missouri is noted for not being very noteworthy.

 State residents may have favorite spots but non residents don't go out of their way to come here. They drive through on their way to other more interesting states. Michael Che summed it up in an SNL Weekend Update monologue: “Missouri is the Show-Me State as in Show-Me-the-Way-to-Chicago.” It is probably only surpassed by Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, and Idaho in overall average normalcy and blandness. Missouri is probably the last place that you would expect something weird, spooky, or particularly magical to happen which means it's perfect.

The clever selection of Missouri as the state setting is only augmented by Offutt choosing St. Joseph for the city. St. Joseph is the home of one of Missouri's most infamous residents, Westerns outlaw, Jesse James and St. Joe is not a town that will let you forget it. The house in which he lived and died is now a Museum dedicated to the outlaw's life and career. Visitors can see his grave, whose epitaph is quite colorful in describing James's death at the hands of Robert Ford. They can even see the bullet hole in the wall that came from Ford's gun and killed James. There are Jesse James Festivals nearby. It is not an understatement that St. Joseph has a huge crush on the man.

The point is not so much outlaw fascination (though come to think of it, that might be a factor) but the idea of locals turning anything into a tourist trap. In my review of Somewhere East of Me by Sean Vincent O'Keefe, I wrote about those strange tourist traps that are found in out of the way locations in flyover average states. They are like these off the wall eccentric bright spots in what would otherwise be an endless sea of boring roads and rural farmland. Not only that but there is something bizarre, off putting, even macabre about them. When you stop to think about it, it is weird that a town pays such tribute to a man who was known for robbing and killing people. 

That's what The Boy From Two Worlds explores: the weird, macabre, and ultimately scary in a very average ordinary basic location. It explores how the people are unprepared for this weirdness. They would be content to work, go to the grocery store to shop and catch up on local gossip, binge watch their favorite show, have a drink or two, and spend quality time with their family or friends before going to bed. 

They are unprepared for a very human tragedy in which a psychopath with skewered views takes multiple lives. They are even less prepared for the otherworldly events that happen afterwards. They are plunged into a nightmare which subverts everything that they ever thought and believed. No wonder that the human characters suffer from alcoholism, addiction, PTSD, Depression, parental withdrawal, paranoia, Schizophrenia and other issues. Even Jakey’s earlier sociopathic tendencies which cause his mother to withdraw from him could be symptomatic of the bizarre otherworldliness which manifested itself before he was born.

The Boy From Two Worlds excels at using its creepy images and storytelling to subvert our expectations. When we first learn about the Garrett Murders, the book has shades of a Psychological Thriller. We also see Supernatural Horror with the strange potentially not human child and the brutal cult-like murders. There are even traces of Science Fiction with the appearance of cattle mutilations and abductions where the victim recalls bright lights, painful surgical experiments, and lost time. Like the characters, the Reader thinks they know where the plot is going based on information from other genres. Then we are left surprised by what approaches.

However, the Horror elements don't end once we learn that Fairies are involved. If anything, it makes things worse

The book has plenty of magic and magical creatures, but it reminds us that these creatures are powerful, menacing, and extremely dangerous. These Fairies have sharp teeth, shape shifting abilities, duplicitous ethics, and a hunger for human flesh. They are less animated family friendly Fairy Tale Faire Folk and more graphic nightmarish early Celtic and Teutonic legend creatures. They are powerful, immortal, hungry, deadly, obsessive and have a whole town of delicious mortals to play with and feast upon. 

The Boy From Two Worlds is a Dark Fantasy that knows exactly how to scare its Readers and offers the right setting in which to do the scaring.

Tipani Walker and The Nightmare Knot by Jessica Crichton; A Dream Come True for Fantasy YA Lovers

 

Tipani Walker and The Nightmare Knot by Jessica Crichton; A Dream Come True for Fantasy YA Lovers  

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Now, we come to the second Jessica Crichton novel, Tipani Walker and the Nightmare Knot. If possible, it is actually better than Dr. Fixit’s Malicious Machine, particularly in terms of setting. character, most notably with its protagonist, Tipani Walker, and themes about the difference between living in fantasy or accepting reality. 

12 year old Tipani Walker has a difficult home life. Her father is in a coma. Her mother falls into a drug addiction which is provided by a man that Tipani calls The Spoon Man. She is frequently bullied and made the victim of a cruel prank at her school Science Fair. She stops inside an antique store and meets its eccentric owner, Piper, who gets her interest by appealing to her talents of making complex knots. After experiencing vivid dreams and some strange encounters with mysterious creatures, Piper reveals that Tipani is a Weaver able to travel through Time and Space into what Piper calls the Day Knot (memories) and the Night Knot (dreams). As a Weaver, her job is to protect people’s dreams. During her dream travels, Tipani encounters various characters both friendly and unfriendly, most notably Cassie, a girl who may or may not be part of a dream or a real person, may be in a lot of trouble, and might need Tipani’s help. 

This book is a veritable feast for the imagination. While Dr. Fixit’s Malicious Machine subverts Children’s Book expectations by giving us a very grim dark parallel universe, Crichton puts us right into those expectations of a magical fantasy world and weaves an excellent challenging story around it. I am someone who is fascinated by dreams, dream psychology, dream interpretation, and astral travel so this book definitely appeals to those interests. 

The Dream Worlds that Tipani visits alternates between whimsical and terrifying, beautiful and horrible, fantasy and horror. They’re mutable and constantly change landscapes, characters, and situations depending on what either she or the Dreamer is going through. The longer Tipani stays in a dream, the scarier and weirder it becomes. This is symptomatic of when a Dreamer enters different levels of REM sleep, they have less control over their dreams and their subconscious thoughts and fears manifest themselves. 

There are many chapters that show this. In one trip, Tipani and her guide, a doll named Chicken, encounter the Spoon Man who is transformed into a monster. He is terrifying by playing into Tipani’s fears and insecurities about abandonment and loneliness. Then upon escaping, Tipani and Chicken meet Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, the characters from the eponymous poem by Eugene Field. The poetic trio are charming, kind, and helpful. Their wooden shoe boat sailing among the stars is the stuff of childhood nostalgia while the Spoon Man is the stuff of childhood fears. Exploring the dreams is a trip into Tipani’s mind and discovering what comforts and frightens her, what she hopes for and what she wants to run away from. This book is a fascinating psychological study wrapped inside an engaging YA novel. 

Crichton’s characters are as rich as the setting. There is the kind and helpful Piper who is a wise teacher and a potential father figure. Chicken gives plenty of assistance with a touch of sardonic humor. Cassie is in a quandary of her own, forced into playing a role in which she is unhappy to play and only able to truly be herself within her own mind and through her friendship with Tipani. The Spoon Man is a monster who knows what those around him fear and worry about and doesn’t mind using it against them. 

Tipani by far is the most intriguing character and is a brilliant protagonist. Since she is 12 years old, she is certainly an angst filled adolescent who at times cops a bad attitude but with her difficult home life, it’s easy to understand why. After all, if you are facing some of the most difficult years of your life, your father is ill, mother stopped caring, and you are surrounded by classmates who want to fight you if they so much as look at your direction, you would probably not be in the best of moods either. 

Tipani is also a very intelligent and persistent girl. Once she is introduced to the concept of being a Weaver, she is curious and willing to participate. She recognizes the responsibilities that she has in helping people through their dreams and fighting their inner fears. In fact, when she befriends Cassie through her dreams, she wants to find her in the real world to see if she needs help in her waking life as she does in her dreams. 

Tipani's intelligence is already realized even before she becomes a Weaver. Her interests lie in creating complex knots like the Not Knot (unable to be untied except by the one who tied it) and learning to undo other knots like the Rapunzel Knot (long and wrapped in braids). This gives her the ability to analyze and recognize patterns, a talent that is helpful when she recognizes patterns within the dreams. This knowledge comes in handy when she has to stand up to the monsters that torture Cassie and herself. 

For all of its monsters, fears, magic, and whimsy, Tipani Walker and the Nightmare Knot is a very powerful story with some very strong things to say about the nature of dreams and reality. Sometimes our lives are terrible and we want to live inside our dreams. There we live the way we want and if things don’t work out, we can always wake up. But it’s not enough to live inside of dreams and memories. Tipani realizes that she has to take action to find and rescue Cassie, to encourage her to live her truth, and for herself to fight her own battles. Once dreaming is over, it’s time to start doing. 

With a memorable setting, commendable characters, and brilliant themes, Tipani Walker and the Nightmare Knot is a definite dream of a YA novel. 

New Book Alert: To End Every War (Book One) by Raymond W. Wilkinson; Complex Occult Academia Feminist Fantasy of Female Friendship is the Best New Book of 2023

 

New Book Alert: To End Every War (Book One) by Raymond W. Wilkinson; Complex Occult Academia Feminist Fantasy of Female Friendship is the Best New Book of 2023

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Well the year is over. Time to close it and open the next one with a bang and a review of the best new book of 2023. That honor goes to Raymond W. Wilkinson’s To End Every War. It's a complex superb Occult Academia Feminist Fantasy novel about a group of women who represent different species in their world and are united for the common cause of building peace and stopping war between the various people and nations.

In 1901, Vespa Academy is the most prestigious and well respected university. Students all over their world attend alongside classmates and faculty of different species. There are Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Fairies, Selkies, Giants, Abraxas, Kitsunes, and Centaurs, to name a few. Many of the countries in which they come from are at war with each other and they all have a shared history of domination and oppression.

 During her first year at the Academy, Esmeralda, the Human Duchessa of Vespa is determined to do something about it. She arranges for four women from different species to be roommates to open up potential friendships and communication and to put an end to the various wars that surround them. After all, if people fear what they don't understand, then understanding is what needs to happen.

Besides Esmeralda, the potential roommates are: Viatrix Corna, a scholarly and devout Dwarf whose parents are professors at the Academy, Zabel Lusine, a quiet and mysterious Elf who is hiding various secrets from her past, Kirsi Takala, a wild Selkie (a water creature like a siren) who is struggling with her addictions, and Alya Panosyan, a serious minded and stern Abraxas (half person half-bull) who has spent much of her life fighting and isn't quite ready to lay down her weapons. Other characters also become important to this newly made quintet like Kamilla “Kam” Ruszo, a saucy Human/Fairy hybrid sophomore who is on academic probation, Bernie, Esmeralda’s loyal assistant, Violeta AKA Doppel, a look alike and spy for Esmeralda, Dina, Alya’s more reserved sister, Erna, a bullying Giant and Warden, and Snow, a naive Centaur. Through their tumultuous first academic year, these women study, attend classes, fall in love, learn things about their families and their world, suffer great loss, achieve mighty victories, and cultivate a deep friendship that changes all of them.

To End Every War is a strange combination of Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and Mary McCarthy’s The Group. It is an Epic Fantasy with amazing world building and wide sweeping plots. It is also a first rate Women's Fiction novel in which each character experiences personal struggles, challenges, and conflicts that changes their outlook and strengthens their bond with each other. 

Each character is masterfully explored as individuals and as a group. Not in some time have I read a novel about such a memorable team of friends and thought, “I wish that I could be one of them.” The lead seven characters: Esmeralda, Viatrix, Zabel, Kirsi, Alya, Kam, and Bernie are rich and vibrant in a way that transcends genres and makes these women relatable and identifiable to their modern day Readers. There is not a weak link in the chain. 

To illustrate the interconnectivity of the characters, Wilkinson inserts some clever narrative approaches. Incidents are repeated across chapters so each of the main female characters have different interactions and responses to the same events. 

One incident involves Esmeralda, the four future roommates, and Bernie meeting each other on the gondola that takes them to the Academy. They have some serious disagreements and a burst of magic caused by an unwilling Zabel stops their infighting. 

Another incident occurs during a school gathering when the protagonists are faced with various personal, familial, and political complications. It culminates in an assassination attempt and the discovery of a betrayal and a potential conspiracy.

These events are recalled by each character giving her own perspective based on her personality, experience, and biases. Their encounters reflect different emotions such as defensive, rational, anxious, irate, worried, curious, self-absorbed, preoccupied, confused or hopeful among others. It's rather like having several eyewitnesses giving their own accounts of the same event. You probably would have several different versions that describe the basic facts of the event but pepper it with their own assumptions and feelings about it. 

Say a two-car collision is seen by five people (including the two drivers). All will agree that two cars hit each other and the name of the street where the collision occurred but there will be five different versions of who hit who, the amount of damage, the trauma that occurred, and the emotional impact. 

The character’s different perspectives of the same events develops them as representatives of their separate homogeneous communities, students involved in a wider diverse community, and women who are questioning their societal roles, life goals, and separate identities.

The world building is detailed and sneakily subversive. Like many other fantasy works, To End Every War, has a map to provide visual information about the world. It's beautifully illustrated and looks very familiar. The outline depicts some recognizable features such as a large country in the east that covers almost that entire half, a chain of islands and a large peninsula to the north, and a boot shaped nation in the south. Yes, it's actually a refurbished map of Europe. That and the fact that the years are organized similar to how they are in the western world, during the school year of 1901-1902, suggest that To End Every War is not set on a completely new fantasy world, but an alternate version of Earth. Perhaps the time and place setting and the theme of countries in constant war is also a reflection of our history, specifically during the World Wars. Maybe the union of the female characters to work out their issues with communication and discussion rather than weapons and declarations echoes the real life formation of organizations like the League of Nations and United Nations.

It is also very important to note the academic setting of the book. It's no coincidence that the opening features several women leaving their individual countries to encounter each other on their way to college. Going to college is not just an educational experience as students use their studies and major to prepare for their chosen career and life trajectory. It is a social experience as they leave home, taste independence, meet other students and staff that are different from them sometimes for the first time, and become involved in important causes that they become passionate towards. 

In this new environment the characters have to spend a lot of time together, talking to each other, fighting, learning, and gaining a wider understanding. In meeting other people, the characters look at their old worlds and countries with less affection and unwavering loyalty. They recognize the flaws within their nations and how they contributed to the constant state of war that they have been in for generations. They also become aware of those who benefit and profit from the species’s division. They realize that in the various conflicts, their nations failed to unite against a real enemy that might be larger, hidden, and more powerful.

This is a wide sweeping Epic Fantasy with strong themes of developing connections across borders, obtaining knowledge and wisdom through learning and education, and achieving peace and strength through unity. To End Every War is also a strong Feminist novel about the importance of creating and developing a foundation of sisterhood. Vespa Academy is co-educational and there are plenty of male characters. In fact, many are paired off in the end (and the male characters are just as well written as the females). But this is definitely a woman's book. The female characters are the stars and are rich with nuances, development, and good writing. They embrace leadership opportunities within their species and cultures and are individualized by their personal journeys. 

The main characters have their previous world views shaken. In fact, what stands out is not the epicness of political infighting, magical quests, secret conspiracies, and sweeping battles. It's the individual journeys and internal changes that make the book. This is not an Epic Fantasy novel that happens to star female characters. It's a Woman's Fiction novel that happens to have an Epic Fantasy setting. Characters use magic and fight with weapons, but they also fall in love, attend class, fight with family members, and rely on each other for physical, mental, and emotional support.

As they go through these experiences, each character develops and changes. Esmeralda, an idealist, learns how to be an effective leader and future ruler for all people not just her own. Viatrix discovers some heartbreaking revelations about her family and the Dwarves in general that alters her once arrogant worldview. Alya learns that strength can be found in peace and to trust those she thought were her enemies. Kirsi makes an effort to get off of her self-destructive path and gains a more positive forward thinking outlook. Zabel reveals her troubled background and accepts assistance from her friends. Kam learns to reconcile and gain closure with the two halves of her heritage. Bernie steps out of Esmeralda's shadow and makes her own voice heard.

There are wonderful moments as the characters interact with each other strengthening their emotional ties. Viatrix is asked to be Kirsi’s minder, a task in which she is first unprepared but then results in a deeper understanding between the two. Alya and Zabel’s people are sworn enemies, but Alya helps Zabel through a mental breakdown. Kam uses her skills of sneaking around forbidden areas like the Academy’s Dark Library to find important information that will aid Esmeralda and the others. Esmeralda is very protective towards the other women. Bernie is the chronicler of this account and capture her friend's voices and actions out of love and friendship. The main characters in To End Every War are wonderfully written as striking individuals that form into a perfectly working team.

To End Every War combines the immense world building of an Epic Fantasy and the intimacy and emotional core of a Woman's Fiction novel to create a masterpiece that transcends both genres and inhabits one of its own.

Weekly Reader: WOAD by James Isaac; Return of The King is Not As Great As It Seems

 

Weekly Reader: WOAD by James Isaac; Return of The King is Not As Great As It Seems

By Julie Sara Porter

Spoilers: Many variations of the Arthurian legends say that King Arthur never really died. Instead, he was taken to Avalon to be healed and sleep until such a time when his country and his people needed him. This myth is written in various books, films, TV, and has been endorsed by various members of British royalty. The Plantagenet family used this legend as proof of their divine right to rule. King Henry VII was so enamored with Arthurian myth that he named his eldest son, Arthur so an eventual King Arthur could once again sit on England's throne. (That however was not to be since Prince Arthur died at a very young age and Henry VII was succeeded by his younger son, Henry VIII.).Of course there is the comparison of President Kennedy's administration to Camelot. Whether or not Arthur existed historically, his legend has proven greater than the reality.

Many believe that Camelot and Arthur represent a golden age and that if Arthur really could return, those cherished days of chivalry and heroism would also return. However, some adaptations suggest that maybe Arthur's return is not something to be celebrated. Instead, it might be something to be feared. That is the premise behind WOAD by James Isaac, a historical fantasy that takes a very critical look at how the alleged Once and Future King would act in a world that changed around him but he did not.

Isaac's version of King Arthur, called Artos, is more based on historical interpretation that he was a Celtic warlord in the 1st Century battling the Romans, rather than the Medieval king of the enchanted Camelot. Because he's based on the historical Arthur, we read nothing about the other usual Camelot cast of characters. So there are no mentions of Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, Morgan LeFay, Morgause, the Lady of the Lake, Mordred and the rest.

Instead, Arthur fights alongside real life warriors such as Boudicca to fight off Roman legions. However, Arthur still has connections to fairy origins from the mythical land of Avalon.

During what should be a victory, Arthur fought against the fairies and creatures of Avalon. He also argued with the Celtic goddesses like Cerridwen and Andraste to the point of denouncing them. He then takes on the mantle of God himself, living an immortal life and plotting for centuries to gather an army that will obey, revere, and worship him and will fight his fairian enemies. 

Artos's ruthlessness and tyranny increases until by the Victorian Era, he practically runs a part of East End London that is next to a gateway into Avalon. His far reaching ambitions are threatened by Victor, a human who guards the entrance between the human and fairy world, and Sol and Shammy, a pair of street urchin con artists who have stronger ties to the fairy world than they originally thought.

Isaac's book is a brilliant deconstruction of the Arthurian myth, portraying the character as a harsh, arrogant, destructive tyrant. Artos is someone who is unyielding in his views that have been honed through centuries of interacting with humans and fairies. He is always in battle, looking for an enemy to fight and someone to defeat. Whether he is in the Middle Ages, the English Civil War, or the creation of the British Empire, Artos has seen plenty of battles and forces his leadership towards those around him. 

This outlook combined with the bitterness obtained over the centuries are enough to drive Artos insane and give him a self righteous tone that sees everyone who is not with him as being against him. 

He is not above using devious means to gain followers. He takes in orphans and unwanted children not out of the goodness of his heart, but to raise them to be his willing army that are practically brainwashed to follow his fanaticism.

 Artos has ceased to just become a warlord or king. He declares himself a god and demands total obedience and worship.

Suddenly, the return of an over 1,0000 year old king to fight for his people doesn't seem like a good idea when he plans to destroy the kingdom and everyone in it so he can rebuild it in his own image.

There are many who see through the image that Artos is trying to convey. The most prominent character to challenge him is Sol. Sol originally started out as a street kid who was involved in a gambling con game with Shammy, his partner and would-be girlfriend. Like many others in the East End, he sees Artos as a leader until he encounters Cerridwen who tells Sol the truth about Artos's motives and goals and Sol's own birth (none of which will be revealed in this review). 

Sol's conversations with Cerridwen seem to echo a brainwashed cult follower becoming deprogrammed to reject the life that he once followed without question. He sees the truth of his upbringing and questions his allegiance to Artos. However, he becomes more determined to fight against him when his friend Shammy's developing figure and maturity don't miss Artos's attention. 

WOAD tells us that sometimes what often makes myths is nostalgia. While many long for a return to a simpler life with larger than life heroes, we fail to account for changing times and attitudes. What may appear acceptable in one era can be cruel in another, and a hero in one time could turn into a villain in another. Perhaps instead of looking for a physical return to the past, perhaps we could embody those values of courage, honor, kindness, and devotion in our own lives. Sometimes the real hero is inside us.

Weekly Reader: Fancy Fanciful Fantasticality Book 3: Enchantment Now Enshrouds by Francessca Bella; The Fantastical's Third and Best Adventure Takes Her Into a Scientifically Engineered Fantasy

 Weekly Reader: Fancy Fanciful Fantasticality Book 3: Enchantment Now Enshrouds by Francessca Bella; The Fantastical's Third and Best Adventure Takes Her Into a Scientifically Engineered Fantasy 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: A few decades ago, there was a trend that combined Science Fiction and Epic Fantasy. They did this by showing us an agrarian fantasy world of elves, wizards, dwarves,dragons, and feudalism. The Reader at first thinks it's a fantasy world that they are reading about but then the author drops several hints that it is actually a Science Fiction novel set either on a Post-Apocalyptic Earth or on another planet colonized by former Earthlings. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and The Chronicles of Shannara by Terry Brooks are some such examples. 

In her third book in the Fancy Fanciful Fantasticality series, author Francessca Bella shows the point where the transition between Science Fiction into Fantasy begins. How once extinct magical creatures like fairies are genetically engineered and how some Earthlings begin to reject the technological future lifestyle that brought so much chaos to their world. Instead they revert back to a magical pre-Industrial following. This is all observed by Calista Soleil, the Fancy Fanciful Fantasticality and Overseer of Port Sunshinescence in what is the best so far in Bella's series.

While doing her usual duties, Calista hears rumors that creatures like fairies, demons, elves, and magic users have reappeared on Earth. Conceding that it would be interesting to see such creatures, she doesn't hold the rumors in much stock. However, she comes face to face with the truth of those rumors when Marius, a refugee, hides in her private quarters after telling her about some strange happenings in a forest down on Earth in which people enter but never return and are never found. So Calista and Marius go down to Earth to investigate the trouble. Along the way, they meet several characters who would be more at home in a Fantasy novel like Triella, a young woman who sports a pair of fairy wings, and Caimana, a woman who claims that she's a sorceress.

Here is the first book where Calista's more positive character traits outweigh the negative ones. In fact, much of her earlier uncompromising, arrogant, cold, sometimes polarizing behavior can be found in many of the characters that she encounters. Marius for example displays some arrogance as their adventures continue. He makes unwise choices that puts himself and the others in danger. Triella and Caimana have some Science Vs. Spirituality debates, similar to the ones that Calista herself had with Lavender in Overture for the Overawed.

Serenity, a young Earth girl put in Calista's care during this adventure, carries some of Calista's curious, adventurous, and overly emotional behavior.

In fact, Calista often has to be more diplomatic in her leadership skills. Here she shows it by listening to her team's concerns and keeping them in line while also disseminating the latest problems from Earth locals. She has definitely matured as a leader and we have seen a shift where she is less of the protagonist who is always considered right, but the leader of an ensemble of brilliant multifaceted characters. In fact, Triella and Caimana were the best characters in this volume. It's great to see other characters shine (pun not intended) just as brightly as the Overseer of Port Sunshinescence.

What is absolutely the best part about this book is how Science Fiction takes that right turn straight into Fantasy. Magic, religion, and mythology have always been in the background of the Fancy Fanciful Fantasticality series. There are cults that worship the sun and moon. In one book, Calista has a vision of a phoenix. She is even revered and treated like a Sun Goddess. However, many of these elements were subtle and could be handwaved by scientific methods. 

Enchantment Now Enshrouds is where the line between Science and Magic is blurred implying that within a few generations, that line could disappear.

Triella is not an actual fairy. She was human but she had been genetically engineered with wings and can harness energy. That is confirmed in the text.

However, we also have Caimana, a sorceress who says that she has studied magic through books. Whether she is reading science books and channeling energy is never revealed. The point is that in the future there are still people who believe in the old, supernatural ways, and prefer to call it magic. We have two different looks at how legends and myths are created: either by man made events misinterpreted by future generations or by old ways that people were once in tune with but have forgotten about. 

The society in Enchantment Now Enshrouds is in a transitional period where science is creating a decline in progress and in a few generations, that decline will disappear. Science and technology will be rebranded as magic. Creatures once thought to be nonexistent will be created not by supernatural means but by geneticists with too much curiosity, pride, and time on their hands. Then in a few generations, they will become those creatures forgetting that they were once ever regular unengineered humans.

Also the fact that most of the setting is the woods is also important. The woods was always the dark forbidden place where the protagonists were forbidden to go in legends and fairy tales. The witch could be in her cottage listening for lost children. Dwarves and other magical guides could hinder or help travelers on their Hero's Journeys.

 The wolf could lie in wait for an unwary traveler. A circle of mushrooms could have been a ring of fairies dancing and luring a human to their realm. Don't get me started on all of the horror movie characters that hide in the woods before they strike. 

Anyway, the woods is a deliberate choice setting for the majority of Enchantment Now Enshrouds. Calista lives in a futuristic colony which gets its power by the sun. She is a woman of the future. 

In the forests on Earth, she is confronted with the past of myth and legend. It is unknown and as frightening to her as the untamed woods were to the villagers who first told oral stories warning the children to stay out of them.

Just like in those stories, Calista and her team find an untapped power source in the woods  that tests many characters' honor, virtue, and resistance against temptation. Some succeed while others fail. But it also shows that the myths, legends, fairy tales served another purpose.

 They weren't just created to build imaginary worlds or to frighten the listeners and Readers on a cold winter night. They were meant to call attention to traits that society considered admirable like valor, wisdom, empathy, dedication, and so on. Those that used them to achieve those goals are the ones worthy to be called heroes. Those that don't, well often have to wait for a postmodern revision novel for their story perspective to be told.

Enchantment Now Enshrouds combines beautifully the worlds of science fiction and fantasy. It shows that transition in a way that is hard to figure out and easy to visualize what could happen next.

Weekly Reader: Tales From The Hinterland (The Hazel Wood) by Melissa Albert; Delightful Blend of Horror and Fairy Tale Is The Best Anthology of 2021 So Far

 

Weekly Reader: Tales From The Hinterland (The Hazel Wood) by Melissa Albert; Delightful Blend of Horror and Fairy Tale Is The Best Anthology of 2021 So Far

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Somewhere on the corner of Horror Ave. and Fairy Tale St. lies Melissa Albert's Tales From The Hinterland. This is an anthology that is filled with many modern and very fractured fairy tales. However, and I cannot stress this enough, these are not Disney style stories for the kids. These fairy tales are creepy and sinister with plenty of blood and scares. These are more like fairy tales in the way that they were originally told and subsequently written by The Brothers Grimm. Yes, they are scary but also enchanting and mesmerizing. It is hard to put this anthology down once it is started.

 The best stories are:

"The Door That Wasn't There"

This story begins the creepy factor already. It starts with the common trope of the deceased mother/loving sisters/wicked stepmother combined with the concept of the forbidden doorways that you are not supposed to go through. 

Once Anya, the elder of two sisters, opens the forbidden door it involves a great and terrifying sacrifice. This sacrifice makes you wonder whether the flat good lead in most fairy tales may not be as good as she appears. Anya's trip through the doorway is enchanting but like most magic deals contains a price. It's just the cost of the price that is rather chilling particularly the lengths that Anya goes to achieve it.

"The Clockwork Bride"

You ever seen one of those old fashioned toy stores in movies with porcelain dolls and clockwork toys and thought it would be neat to go through the store or buy one? Well this story suggests that watch out. You may not get out of that store ever again, at least not without someone buying you.

A mysterious toymaker comes to town with an impressive array of clockwork toys. Brother and sister, Eleanor and Thomas see the toys up close. When they return, Eleanor wishes that she could escape from her boring impoverished humdrum life and enter the toy's world. Forgetting what type of anthology that she lives in, Eleanor follows a hare that looks like one she saw at the display. Thomas follows her and they see toy soldiers and ballerinas grown to life size. Unfortunately, the clockwork world is too mesmerizing and they realize too late that they can't get out. Even long after Eleanor grows and has a child, the Toymaker calls to her.

There is an almost uncanny valley feel about this story featuring toys that look real but aren't and children that were real but now are not. It's the type of setting that even Chucky would stay away from.

"The Skinned Maiden"

One of Albert's best traits is to take a familiar story and give a creepy original spin towards it. This one is a variation of the Animal Bride story. The usual version sees a beautiful woman out at night next to feathers or an animal skin. A man watched her and falls in love. He confiscates the skin or feathers until she agrees to marry him. She does and he hides the original form from her. Years later, one of their children tells the woman that they found out where the skin or feathers were. The woman goes to find it and leaves the house never to return, sometimes taking the children with her.

The variation found in "The Skinned Maiden" is not so melancholy or pleasant. Instead of going quietly into that good night and returning to her animal form, The Maiden instead starts sounding more like the Ghost Woman in "The Golden Arm" Story ("Who has my golden arm??"). She threatens her husband becoming more monstrous. Then in the end, she takes on a very fearsome nightmarish appearance forcing her husband to admit his theft of her skin and forcing of their marriage before she completely destroys him.

"Alice Three Times"

This story is similar to the changeling tales in which a child is born with some unusual powers or traits. Usually, those traits either allow the magical child save a kingdom and fall in love or become destructive for the child, parents, or future spouse. In this version, it's the latter.

A princess is born as a result of an affair between the queen and one of her courtiers. She is a very strange child with very hollow black eyes and the ability to speak at two months old. The queen decides to give her the very "unroyal" name of Alice. (I guess no one told her that one of Queen Victoria's daughters was named Alice. Oh well, as past experience has told us, any fantasy with a protagonist named Alice is going to lead to a bizarre otherworldly time.)

As Alice grows rather quickly, she frightens people with her eerie stare, precocious intelligence, and physical abuse towards her siblings. The queen wants to send her daughter into exile, but the king is starting to have extremely improper Woody Allen-esque thoughts towards his stepdaughter.

This story appeals to Albert's strengths of writing interesting female characters in this fantasy anthology. The story becomes a one on one battle between mother and daughter. Alice has her strange uncanny powers and the Queen has her cunning and influence. The two are memorable as they vie against each other pitting their family and potential suitors as arsenal against the other. 

"The House Under The Stairwell"

If there was a story that carried the adage "Be Careful What You Wish For" this would be it. Isobel, the eldest of three sisters has a broken engagement so she does what any heartbroken young woman would do: she and her sisters prick their fingers and let the blood spill on the briar overgrowing the grave of a woman called The Wicked Wife.They will then dream of the man that they will marry.

The younger sisters dream of conventional husbands while Isobel's is less than conventional. She dreams of a masquerade ball in which a man approaches her in a fox costume. Each night she dreams of the strange dance under the stairwell and her Fox Suitor. She is also haunted by a ghost woman whom Isobel believes to be the Wicked Wife. She at first thinks that it's just a reoccurring dream but she becomes nervous when her sisters become courted by men who look just like the ones in their dreams. 

This is one of the best stories in the anthology. The Fairy World underneath the stairwell is the right combination of enchanting and terrifying. Instead of being the beautiful other world found in modern fantasy films like Lord of the Rings, it hearkens back to the old Celtic and Teutonic folk tales where the Fair Folk can be seductive and deadly.

There is also a strong theme of collaboration between women that runs contrary to many of the other stories like "Alice Three Times" and in some respects "The Door That Wasn't There." The strongest characterization is between Isobel and The Wicked Wife. The Wicked Wife reveals that she has been maligned with a bad reputation over the years and she wants to save the younger Isobel from making the same mistake that she did and has had to live with for eternity.

 

"The Mother and The Dagger"

This story reveals how a monster is made. It begins in an almost poetic opening delivered in second person which invites the Reader to listen through an open window and follow a bewitching voice calling them to a cabin decorated with bones. Of course in true dark fantasy horror tradition, that voice is the last thing that they will ever hear.

Albert then backtracks to tell us the story of a queen who longed for a child and made a deal with a sinister witch. The queen gets her child but all ends up not going well and the queen slowly morphs into the Mother, the creature spoken of in the opening of the story.

There is almost a melancholy towards The Mother as she is driven by sadness and longing. Her murderous impulses seem to spiral out of control as she wants to hold onto what she can never really have: a child to remain with her.

"Death and The Wood Wife"

Many of the stories in this anthology like "Ilsa Waits" and "Twice Killed Katherine" deal with encounters between the protagonist and Death. Usually, the encounter requires action, fighting Death. This story requires the protagonist to outsmart Death.

A princess is the youngest of eight children. All of her siblings died before she was born and her mother died in childbirth. The princess is very wealthy but very peculiar looking with skin the color of green leaves. When she grows, she has many suitors. One of her suitors speaks in riddles and is implied to be the Son of Death. Death's Son is ready to claim his bride. The princess turns him down and marries a woodcutter. When the woodcutter dies as well, The Princess is ready to take on Death and Son.

The Princess's confrontation with the Death family is not one of strength but one of cleverness. She denies that she was the woman that the Son attempted to court saying that she is simply a "wood wife" and nothing more. She uses verbal clues and riddles to ascertain the Son's motives against his father. She is able to use her wits to save herself, her husband, and escape Death's kingdom.

There are many great and terrifying stories in Tales From The Hinterland that mix horror and dark fantasy with the classic fairy tale genre. This odd combination of cross genres make this the best anthology, if not the best fantasy novels this year so far.