Buckingham Mockup by Asif I. Shaikh; Humorous, Satiric, Warm, and Spiritual Journey of Hiding From The Law and Finding Oneself

Buckingham Mockup by Asif I. Shaikh; Humorous, Satiric, Warm, and Spiritual Journey of Hiding From The Law and Finding Oneself 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Asif I. Shaikh's Buckingham Mockup walks a thin line between humor and joy, satire and spirit, something to laugh at and something to think about.

Alan Haworth went on the run via plane with embezzled drug money. He makes an emergency landing on the island of McCoypuri. He befriends the various locals including Andrew and Marta, a couple that look after Alan during his arrival, Sikander and Hannah, who own Lala’s, the restaurant and hangout, and Laladip, a politician with designs on expansion. Alan becomes involved with his new surroundings while plotting an escape and getting more money.  But he begins to really like the place and people.

Buckingham Mockup takes a tone that might seem uneven but is also meaningful within the distinct divisions that separates them. It starts out as a satirical and even silly crime and political caper. It then takes a strange turn and becomes a meditative and spiritual journey towards finding oneself in a greater place than they were before.

While he is in McCoypuri, Alan plots to get enough money and plans his escape. He can't help but see the criminal possibilities for such an isolated island with plenty of resources, locals, and tourists to take advantage of. He acts appalled by that thought, but often goes back to it as though he may not mind the financial advantages that such a venture could bring. 

He is someone whose criminal history is somewhat laughable as he was a low level grunt who knew that he was in over his head but wanted to make a fast buck. When things got too dangerous, Alan fled for his life and crashed a plane into McCoypuri. If not for his new friends, his escape would have been a short one. It's a good thing that he becomes involved with various legit businesses because he was an incompetent criminal.

Alan is practically rescued and tended by the locals and is torn between his growing loyalty towards them and his own ambitions. He becomes involved with Sikander’s social media presence and local activism. He works with Laladip’s campaign and PR ops. He encourages Hannah's volunteer work and embraces her social consciousness. He also makes Laladip’s a home away from home. The longer that Alan stays in McCoypuri, the more that he feels accepted and involved.

There is a deeper spiritual connection that is understated but still captivating. Alan gets into deeper discussions with characters about altruism, faith, acceptance, and feeling a part of something greater than himself. 

The title Buckingham Mockup describes a model or rendering of a design or product that shows how it might look and function in real life. In the book, it is built for a hotel that Alan envisions for the island. It also serves as a double meaning for Alan himself.

The Alan that we meet at the beginning of the book is the design and model. He gives the impression of being shallow, materialistic, and longing for excitement and easy money. As Alan’s journey continues, we see the real Alan: the one who is empathetic, connected, involved, active, generous, centered, and calmer. In making plans for his new home, Alan realizes that he actually is home.

 

Somewhere East of Me by Sean Vincent O'Keefe; Quirky and Contemplative Road Trip Across the U.S. and Into One's Memories and Soul

 

Somewhere East of Me by Sean Vincent O'Keefe; Quirky and Contemplative Road Trip Across the U.S. and Into One's Memories and Soul 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Sean Vincent O'Keefe’s Somewhere East of Me is a road trip novel that brings plenty of weirdness, plenty of heart, and plenty of wisdom. It's the type of trip where the characters that you meet early on are not the same ones that you encounter later.

Jake coasts through his life with his ex wife,Angel. He then receives a call from his sister who informs him that their late mother's body is being exhumed from her South Carolina cemetery and they need a family member to witness it. Jake is unwillingly chosen so he drives from Colorado to South Carolina and along the way encounters some bizarre stops, kooky locals, and unwanted memories of his troubled past.

Somewhere East of Me is a book that is part quirky humor and part contemplative character study. We learn a great deal about Jake’s life before he takes his trip. He barely ekes out a living by writing content for various websites, buying and selling stuff on Craigslist, and living off the residuals of his one published novel which was well known enough to have been made into a horrible movie. He shows some signs of talent as his previous novel shows. On his trip, he meets people who have actually read and liked it. He also produces an interesting article about the inner child that receives a lot of buzz. These are flashes of talent which are buried under dry cynicism and a world weariness caused by a lifetime of scraping by. 

Jake’s relationship with Angel alternates between charming and frustrating. It’s sweet that the two former spouses are still in each other’s lives enough to live and work together and to speak well of each other even when the other is not present. But they also recognize each other as a crutch and a relationship that should have ended in a clean closing rather than just hanging on out of habit. The flashbacks to their meeting and how their relationship evolved from romance, to marriage, to divorce, to this awkward semi-”divorced but not really” phase reveals who they are and why they stay together. They hang onto one another as though they still need that Band-Aid against the outside world. The relationship may not be wise or healthy but it’s all that they have.

The highlight of the book by far is the road trip. Anyone who has driven cross country will recall the small towns with weird names, the seemingly endless roads, the off road restaurants and diners, and the strange tourist traps. It’s definitely a fun vicarious experience and a great mental vacation for those who are curious about the so-called flyover states. From Colorado, to Kansas. Missouri, Tennessee, and South Carolina, the Reader is treated to the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the various states. It’s enough to make one want to pack their bags, rev the car, and drive cross country with the top down. 

One  of the quirkiest chapters is when Jake visits Prairie Dog Town, a tourist spot which is what it says on the tin: a home for prairie dogs designed to look like a small town. It is a fun scene that explores the eccentricity of people who can make a tourist site out of anything. It’s tacky, silly, funny, creative, original, and upholds that kind of unique spirit that these towns and their residents are known for. 

Jake also encounters many of the locals, mostly in dining spots. They vary from helpful and kind to taciturn and morose. Jake and the locals share interests, thoughts, goals, motives, memories, and advice.

 

The trip becomes a counter to Jake's relationship with his family. Flashbacks explore Jake’s complex and troubled relationship with his family, particularly his late mother. We experience why Jake turned out to become the hollow husk that he is and why he feels compelled to return to a home in which he was unhappy. His love hate relationship with his mother is tantamount to the person that he later became and in some ways wants to move beyond. This trip is a means of coming to terms with his upbringing, how it hindered his current life, and how he can let go and start over with new fresh insights. 

 It’s interesting that in the final analysis, Jake develops close bonds with strangers on his trip more so than he does with members of his own family, perhaps because there is a distinct lack of baggage and dashed expectations. The locals give Jake some insights into his own character and peer into his relationship with his mother in a mature and nuanced way.

By the time Jake reaches South Carolina, he has reconciled his past of unease, sadness, and disappointment with his recent present of someone who has actually seen life instead of just floating along within it. This experience permits him to take charge of his life, let go of his past, and finally plan for a real future. 

The Crystalline Crucible by Adam Rowan; Witty and Satirical Treasure Hunt with A Quirky Cast of Seekers

 The Crystalline Crucible by Adam Rowan; Witty and Satirical Treasure Hunt with A Quirky Cast of Seekers

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Crystalline Crucible could be considered one of those treasure hunt adventures in the tradition of Cameron Jace’s Anne Anderson and Avanti Centrae’s Van Ops Series. Though instead of going for thrills, it goes for laughs. Instead of the prize being an ancient and valuable object or buried wisdom, it's a few minutes of Internet fame.

Max Jacobs is definitely an odd one. He is an amateur treasure hunter who belongs to various social media groups where members look for hidden prizes. Max’s latest hunt is for the Crystalline Crucible, a prize offered by a mysterious organization that is rumored to be the Illuminati. To help him, Max recruits two acquaintances: Rosie Shaw, his would be girlfriend and Khalil Ahmed, a coworker and rival.

Everything about this book is both odd and strangely adorable in its oddness. The treasure hunt itself has some intriguing clues that require knowledge and accessibility to various English locations. (It’s a good thing England is a somewhat small country so the Crucible hunt can be completed in such record time. One can only imagine how long the hunt would be if it was set in the United States.) Max and Co. find themselves in some pretty uproarious situations to achieve the clues. The book begins as Max breaks into a local museum to receive a clue, only to be arrested and  interrogated, and to later learn that the actual clue was on the museum’s website all along.

The hunt is made even stranger by the hunters themselves. The emphasis on most hunts is wealth and knowledge. There is some potential wealth that could help them. Max wants to provide funding so the local library won’t be shut down. Khalil wants to support his family and get some dangerous gangsters off his back. Rosie wants to travel the world and fulfill a lifelong dream by having her children’s book published. But equally important than the money that they hope to gain is the fame. If they find the Crystalline Crucible the trio will achieve the pinnacle of niche success: the achievement of looking cool among their army of social media treasure hunting nerds. You have to take the victories where you can find them. 

Naturally a strange hobby would feature strange people pursuing it and we are given some weird ones. Max is probably the strangest of the trio. He is obsessed with Medieval history, carries a sword, and speaks in faux Middle English. The treasure hunt gives him a chance to fill out his quixotic fantasies of being a hero on a noble quest. His obsession with certain things like trivia and the Miss Marple series add to his overall quirkiness.

His treasure seeking cohorts are quite colorful themselves. Rosis is a Math teacher and is called to lend her expertise when the clues become numerical and analytical. Rosie’s fascination with trivia is greater than Max’s own to the point that she is the founder and leader of a group called the Quizties who participate in trivia tournaments and she is just as obsessed with that as Max is with finding treasure. Her children’s book consumes her thoughts so much that she sometimes visualizes her friends as anthropomorphic animals. 

Khalil is somewhat of the normal one of the group but he also has his eccentricities. He is a photographer and first encounters Max during a nightly photo session of the local area. Partly because of his history with criminal activity and partly because of his suspicious personality, he is on the lookout for any sort of rivalry, competition, or troubling activity. Even something as innocuous as working in a co-op market causes him to sense conspiracy when he is forced to work with Max and then when Max recruits him to join the hunt. The subplot concerning Khalil’s involvement with gangsters gives a dark perspective to a book that did alright without it but it also emphasizes Khalil’s different status from the rest of his friends. They live in their fantasy world of medieval quests and anthropomorphic animals. He lives in a grittier, more realistic world of a crime thriller. He can’t hide in his imagination like they can. He has to face the violence especially when his friend’s lives are in danger. 

Much of the humor of the Crystalline Crucible lies in the meta commentary. This book knows what genre it is in and what tropes are at play and they acknowledge them even by adhering to and playing with them. When Max and Khalil agree to join forces, Max scoffs that this doesn’t mean that they will become friends bound together by their journey. Of course not even a few chapters later, they admit to becoming friends. When Max receives some disappointing news at the end, he lampshades the “it’s the journey not the destination” cliche right before he gains some enlightenment from his search to show him that yes it was the journey. The meta commentary is both parody in pointing out the tropes and respectful by paying them a touching tribute. 

The Crystalline Crucible is a fun delightful read in which Readers might find that treasure can be found in a good laugh just as well as in a  hidden bejeweled objet d’art.

New Book Alert: Asparagus Grass by Adrian Deans; Surreal Satirical Science Fiction Reveals The Aliens Behind Earth's Scenes

 New Book Alert: Asparagus Grass by Adrian Deans; Surreal Satirical Science Fiction Reveals The Aliens Behind Earth's Scenes

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Since Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Science Fiction has shown us that if an alien invasion is ever upon us, then we should look for some unassuming idiot because apparently that idiot is the galaxy's pick for the one who will save us all.

The Idiot Du Jour in Adrian Deans' Asparagus Grass is Mitch Kuiper, a gardening assistant in New South Wales' parks department. Besides cleaning up the grounds, his daily activities usually consist of trying to stay out of his super Garrett's bad side, avoiding suck ups like Timmy O'Toole, drinking with his best mate, Cam, and sleeping with any woman who looks his way. The sleeping with is what gets him intergalactic interest because he slept with Martina Vader AKA Marty Mindshadow. Marty works in the office of the parks department and is considered drop dead gorgeous but strange. 

It is only after they are together does Mitch realize how strange Marty actually is. She takes him in a mini shuttle, called a shell, and takes him to a space station  to tell him the truth. She is part of the Aelur, an alien race that lived on the Earth for thousands of years. However, another race, the Xyk, took over Earth by using their own greed, ambition, and dominant nature. Because of this, the Aelur plan to destroy Earth. Mitch manages to get a negotiation that if the current head Xyk is taken out then Earth will be spared. Marty and the other Aelur agree except now Mitch has seven days before the planet goes boom boom bye bye.

Asparagus Grass is one of those novels that will describe the potential end of the world but does so in a satiric or farcical light to keep things humorous. Part of the humor is in its lead character. Mitch is the last guy anyone expects to be a savior of anything, which Marty insists means he's perfect. The Aelur are a race that believes in equality so much that no one strives for leadership positions. They consider that a Xyk trait. Mitch definitely is not leadership material. In fact, he only attends a leadership seminar because his boss, Garrett, cajoles him into it.

 Most of Mitch's actions consist of either making dumb decisions or getting out of them through chance and luck.

In one chapter, he decides that Marty's news is so grave and could put him in danger, that it would be best not to tell anyone. In the very next paragraph, what does he do? Tell Cam after a few drinks. He also foolishly sleeps with another woman, Lisa, and continues to talk to her even after he learns, oops, she's a Xyk.

He's supposed to be a hero. No one ever said that he was smart.

Marty is also a fascinating character. At first, she appears to be a vapid and spacy airhead, or possibly has ADHD, but when she reveals her truth, she is a lot smarter than many give her credit for. She becomes a source of wisdom for the information that is going on but she also lives a hedonistic lifestyle free of Earth restraints. She boasts of many lovers and doesn't care if Mitch has any (though certainly gives him an "I told you so" about Lisa). In fact, she says that because she spent so much time on Earth with hedonists, she developed her vague "Mindshadow" persona. 

Asparagus Grass has some fun with conspiracy theories by making the Xyk members of a secret organization that of course plan on taking over the world. Of course, they happen to be meeting right when the infamous Bilderberg group is also meeting, leaving Our Heroes to infiltrate a protest group against them. They have to find out which Bilderbergers and protestors are really Xyk and where the ones who are Xyk are having an even more secret meeting. The plot points and twists are enough to give one a headache.

Despite that the book is mostly played with laughs, there are some genuine moments of suspense. The fact that the Xyk could be anyone that they know definitely carries a lot of paranoia within the characters, not to mention that a character who was once very friendly is now ready to kill them because their Xyk Overlords insist on it.

There are also some moments of genuine warmth between Mitch, Marty, and the friends they make on their journey. It isn't just one laugh per page. There is time for plenty of other emotions.

Asparagus Grass is one of those books that describes a potential end of the world but does so with plenty of humor so the Reader doesn't mind.

Weekly Reader: Cloud Cover by Jeffrey Sotto; Deeply Realistic and Emotionally Challenging Novel of a Gay Man's Struggle with Bulimia and Search for Love

 

Weekly Reader: Cloud Cover by Jeffrey Sotto; Deeply Realistic and Emotionally Challenging Novel of a Gay Man's Struggle with Bulimia and Search for Love 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: According to the National Institute of Health, about one in three people struggling with eating disorders are male. However, there isn't as much focus on how the disorders affect men and boys. In the almost six years that I have reviewed this blog, I have only encountered two books featuring male characters with disorders. The first Lost Boy by Rawiri James featured a boy trying to overcome his mother's death by retreating into Anorexia Nervosa. However, it becomes misguidedly tied into a superhero subplot as a way to almost create a barrier between the Reader and the more serious subjects.

Cloud Cover by Jeffrey Sotto is the second book. It's a very realistic and deeply thought and felt novel about a gay man's struggles with bulimia as he pursues love for others and his own self-worth.

Tony is a 29 year old office worker/creative writing teacher who just broke up with his boyfriend. While giving writing advice to his students at a community college, listening to his favorite classical music pieces, trying to interpret his boss' "business"-ese, and clubbing with his friends, Tony is becoming dangerously concerned about his appearance and weight. 

He constantly counts calories on every bite. He runs straight to the bathroom after eating. He is obsessed with how he looks to other men and is afraid of being judged.

However, despite his insecurity, he actually does find a potential partner. Antonio is a painting instructor and drag performer. He astounds Tony with his charisma, charm, and outgoing fearless personality. But the more Tony starts to get to know Antonio, the more he continues to question his self-image and heads down destructive patterns. 

There is a lot of humor throughout but it is rooted in sarcasm and bitterness from Tony about his situation. While looking at potential dates, he sees an overwhelming amount of "guppies" gay yuppies who wear "suits like spandex." "They look like Ken dolls," Tony says warily, amazed that many of them are younger than him.

He also has a seriocomic conversation with his therapist in which he weighs the different types of men who turn off other men. Tony mentions that many of his acquaintances don't like other men who are too effeminate, overweight, or "too Asian" which Tony feels particularly singled out thinking that he checks all of those boxes.

One of the funniest running gags involves Tony and his boss, Jell-O. Jell-O is a veritable cornucopia of office cliches like "synergy," "outside the box thinking," and his favorite "quantify and cut." Tony's job appears to be translating Jell-O's requests and turning them into something useful. While these moments are hilarious, they also show that Tony is concerned about his employment situation and tries to be a good worker to make his life meaningful and useful.

He has stronger exchanges with his students showing that he has a skill for education but does not have the financial opportunity to do something that he is good at. He has to settle for an office job which does not make use of his best talents.

Like many do, Tony tries to overcome his loneliness with self-deprecating humor but the humor reveals more about his insecurities and inner thoughts than if he said them out loud. In taking a funny approach to sizing up himself to other gay men and revealing his disenchantment with his job, he reveals how harsh that he can be with his own self-criticism.

These insecurities of comparing himself to other men and discontent with work are part of what compels him to become bulimic. He can't always control what his boss tells him or how others feel about him, but he can control his weight. 

Tony's bulimia is he believes hidden from others but it is a central point in his life. Many nights out are filled with anguish as he debates how much he can eat before he rushes to a toilet. It's wrenching to read about his conflicting emotions between sitting and eating something without worrying how many calories it is and counting the seconds until he can go home to purge. The conflict between obsession and self-love is very real.

Tony and Antonio embark on a loving relationship which could be a healing factor and it is for a time. Tony is drawn to and maybe somewhat envious of Antonio's self confidence and daring. Antonio can wear drag and turn life into a performance. He can even participate in a pageant and put himself forward. Tony loves that about him, but is also wary of it too. 

Antonio is a supportive boyfriend. When he discovers Tony's illness, he tries to get him help. But the kinder Antonio is, the more self-conscious Tony feels. He feels that someone like him doesn't deserve love.

Even the end is painted with reality. It's not a complete downer but it suggests that more work needs to be done. As much as Tony grows to love Antonio, this relationship is not the cure. Antonio is not the cure for ending Tony's bulimia. Tony is the cure for ending Tony's bulimia. To do that, he needs to look at, accept, and love himself first.

Weekly Reader: Mysterious Aisles (The South Hertling Chronicles Book 1) by B.G. Hilton; Hilarious Send Up of Superheroes, Ghosts, Conspiracy Theories, and Stores That Are Actually the Den of Evil

 

Weekly Reader: Mysterious Aisles (The South Hertling Chronicles Book 1) by B.G. Hilton; Hilarious Send Up of Superheroes, Ghosts, Conspiracy Theories, and Stores That Are Actually the Den of Evil

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Last year, I thought that Champagne Charlie and The Amazing Gladys by B.G. Hilton was one of the craziest, weirdest novels that I ever read. A Steampunk Science Fiction Adventure novel, it had a madman who wanted to destroy the moon, bat and badger like aliens living on Earth and assimilated into typical English citizens, Irish pirates ready to take out English nobility, a stage magician with a wand that had real magical powers, and a dowager noblewoman who used her nobility as a secret identity for her real self as one of Britain's most renowned crime stoppers.

Now, having read Hilton's Mysterious Aisles (The South Hertling Chronicles Book 1), I have come to realize that Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys was simply the warm up act. Mysterious Aisles dials up the crazy, weird, bizarre, and silly up to eleven. This book is brimming with supervillains and heroes, drunken ghosts, demigods, conspiracy theorists, magic portals, and a store that is actually a den of all evil.

 Refrain from the obvious (and somewhat accurate) Wal-Mart and Amazon jokes. For once, it isn't about them.

If you peer close enough and I'm talking with a magnifying glass peering very very closely, you might find a coherent plot in this book. At least in all of the madness in Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys, there is something of an actual engaging and suspenseful story involved. With Mysterious Aisles, it's more of a string of random weirdness, one silly goofy event and character after another that gets sillier and goofier as the book continues. By the end, I expected The Colonel from Monty Python's Flying Circus to show up, break the fourth wall, and say this book is too silly.

But plot is not what we come for in these books. We come for the funny and the weird. That's what this book delivers. Boy, does it deliver.

The main protagonist of Mysterious Aisles is Axel Platzoff, AKA Professor Devistato, a retired supervillain. His days of plotting world domination are over and now he works at the Handy Pavilion, a hardware and outdoor enthusiast store. Unfortunately, Axel's customers include Captain Stellar, Axel's former archenemy who is now going into maudlin detail after his boyfriend dumped him. Stellar and Axel's relationship is less of a villain/ hero and more like two acquaintances turned reluctant friends who see each other and bicker all the time. It's similar to the animated series, The Venture Bros which also shows superheroes and villains having reluctant friendships with each other when off the clock or during retirement. 

Besides Axel, Handy Pavilion is also staffed by other specimens of weirdness. There's Laura, a new hire, who after an accident becomes the new superhero on the block. Bruce, a former contractor, who now haunts the store as a ghost, a drunk foul-mouthed ghost. Zorbar Ofthechimps, a staff member, was raised by chimps. Gwen Harper has a magical connection to wood. Angela and Sadie McGregor, twins who take the good twin/bad twin dichotomy to the next level. Buck Dusty, a wannabe cowboy, works in power tools and has a lot of knowledge of different dimensions. Karl Wintergreen, owner of a nearby stationary shop, writes a business newsletter that is actually filled with his conspiracy theories about the Illuminati and the Trilateral Commission. Norman, a young employee, has divine family connections. Seamus, a garden gnome, comes to life during the full moon. Nalda, a killer cyborg from the future, works in Arts and Crafts. Did I mention this store was weird?

Besides the weirdness within, there's also weirdness outside. Handy Pavilion is in frequent rivalry with the nearby DIY Barn. Rather than the conventional means like sales, business acquisition, and better advertising, this corporate rivalry is more like war between countries. The stores resort to such means as kidnapping and explosions to cut the competition.

 It turns out that DIY Barn is actually DIY Evil because it apparently is a trans-dimensional portal that welcomes evil  demons, spirits, and  so on. Handy Pavilion has to battle for more than just awesome savings and friendly customers. They have to battle for souls.

Both DIY and Handy have their go to person to commit the nastier deeds. DIY has the Phantasm, a mysterious figure (who ends up being not really that mysterious)  who covertly spies on and sabotages the Handy Pavilion staff (though really not that covertly).  Many of Handy's more ruthless endeavors are overseen by Axel, who even though he is officially retired from the supervillain game, is glad to put his talents to good or bad use.

Mysterious Aisles is a book that has a joke on just about every chapter and page. Some don't make sense and don't have to. They just have to be very funny and they are. It's the kind of book where when Handy Pavilion needs the assistance of a plumber, two somewhat familiar characters appear. Two sisters named Maria and Luigina. I said somewhat familiar. 

We also learn that Norman is the most recent child of Zeus. Isn't it nice to know after thousands of years, the king of the Greek gods still can't keep it in his robe? All of these character traits add to the overall humor.

There are also hilarious interactions between characters. When Stellar is drunk and heartbroken about his recent breakup, Axel comes up to him and the two act less like opposite sides of good vs. evil and more like the last two guys to exit the bar during last call.

My favorite interaction is Karl's Newsletters which are supposed to mostly be accounts of local business news and sales but are really just platforms for his craziest conspiracy theories that are then edited and mostly redacted by Claudia, his hapless editor. Karl and Claudia's war of words is uproarious particularly when Karl personally insults her and she comments "Redact this!" Then she leaves a particularly damning accusatory conspiracy theory in just so she can sit back and see what happens.

Then there are the moments that mock the entire plot and the conventions of the genre that this book is in.

One character goes into an overly long diatribe about how the store rivalry is only a small part in a larger plan. Unfortunately, this character's rambling is so boring and confusing that the others (and the narration) lose interest. Something tells me that come Book 2, they are going to wish that they had paid attention.

Mysterious Aisles is what it is. It's crazy, weird, and hilarious. It's not to be taken seriously. Just taken with a good sense of humor and a huge pound of salt. You're going to need them. 

Weekly Reader: Avoiding Aiden by Chris Cole; M/M Romance Leads To Journey of Self-Discovery

 

Weekly Reader: Avoiding Aiden by Chris Cole; M/M Romance Leads To Journey of Self-Discovery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Just in time for Pride Month. 

Chris Cole's Avoiding Aiden is a sweet, moving, funny, traumatic, and heart tugging novel of a man who discovers love after his boyfriend breaks up with him and goes on a personal journey of self-discovery.

Aiden is a college student doubling in English and Human Resources and as he mentions in his first sentence "being dumped f#$_&@g sucks." His boyfriend, TV news reporter Carter broke up with him. Aiden dreads the inevitable conversation that would result. ("Oh hey Aiden how's it going?" "Oh great, literally anybody in my nightmare! Just picking up a few last minute things for dinner." "Same here. Hey how's Carter doing?")

His friends, Elyse and Charlie convince the depressed Aiden to go clubbing with them allegedly to see Charlie's drag performance but also Aiden could be hooked up with someone else.

Aiden is introduced to Jude, an English teacher. They have a cute and funny conversation about what vegetable and superhero they would be and what brings Jude to town to teach classes. ("You're here on purpose?," Aiden said, surprised that anyone would choose to live in his home state of Idaho.) They sleep together for a night and get along afterwards enough to exchange text messages while Jude gets into a serious relationship and Aiden goes to visit his four siblings who set him up with various unsuitable dates. After his eventful summer ends, Aiden returns to school and is shocked to discover that Jude is his English professor! As if that wasn't enough, Jude just ended his relationship and is still interested in Aiden. It gets better. Jude's ex is also Aiden's ex: Carter!

 Avoiding Aiden alternates between touching and humorous, sometimes both at the same time. Aiden concedes that his family is unique with the eldest Brett as the only straight sibling who feels the pressure of being the only family member that is able to biologically continue the bloodline. Aiden also has a trans brother,Riley, who is hypersensitive about any signs of prejudice and two sisters, Sarah and Shenoah, who are a lesbian and bisexual respectively.  

They also had the two most understanding, accepting, and supportive parents that are unfortunately deceased. Aiden goes through tremendous guilt and loss over his parent's deaths and has a hard time coming to terms with the grief, even well into adulthood. This grief is part of the reason that Aiden is so self critical and uncertain in relationships.

Aiden loves his siblings but sometimes resents their micromanaging of his love life.When they hear that he's single, they set him up with dates when he visits.  They turn out to be disasters from Porter who likes using his tongue too much, to the well endowed Noah who gets possessive after only one date, to Patrick who "can't do complicated" and Han, who Aiden just doesn't feel the same way about them. Through this wild summer of reconnecting with siblings and having the worst rebounds possible, Aiden continues to text Jude so it's clear who he is really interested in. 

Even when Aiden is reunited with Jude, things become even more complicated. With Jude being Aiden's professor, they realize that they could cross several boundaries that could cost Jude his job. There are hints that the issue is less of a student-teacher relationship but that it's a male professor-student relationship. That there is a double standard and if one were a female, the issue would be swept under the rug and most would look the other way. Aiden and Jude realize that every moment that they are together must be kept under the strictest confidence . It's up to them to decide if their relationship is worth fighting for and holding onto despite the potential outcome.

There is another complication: Carter.  He's still in the picture and despite Aiden trying to get over the breakup, it's clear Carter hasn't either. However while Aiden tries to move on in a healthy manner, Carter becomes obsessive. In one chapter, he does something to Aiden that changes the focus of the book entirely. It is a traumatic event and it clearly shows that Carter has jumped way over the moral event horizon. It also shows Jude's loving and protective nature that he cares for and supports Aiden during this whole ordeal. 

Aiden also emerges from this ordeal as a more mature and thoughtful person who is ready to open up his heart and get into a real relationship. 

Aiden also learns to be more honest with himself. In avoiding relationships,he was avoiding himself. He avoided the parts of himself that made him emotional, self conscious, insecure, and feel like he is incapable of love and being loved. When he accepts himself, that's when Aiden knows that he can accept love. Accepting Aiden.

Weekly Reader: We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This: A Memoir of Missed Connections by Donna Y. Farris; Heart Breaking and Inspirational Memoir About Second Acts in Life, Career, and Love

 

Weekly Reader: We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This: A Memoir of Missed Connections by Donna Y. Farris; Heart Breaking and Inspirational Memoir About Second Acts in Life, Career, and Love

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: F. Scott Fitzgerald was certainly wrong. There are second acts in American lives. 

Donna Y. Farris' book, We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This: A Memoir of Missed Connections is all about those second acts when a person rediscovers themselves after much disappointment in work and love. They find happiness in a new life filled with a fulfilling career, and devoted love.

Farris' book begins after her elder daughter, Sienna left for college. This transition caused Farris to feel loss and depression. She was left with Sylvie, a daughter that she loved but couldn't always communicate with. She also felt that her relationship with her husband, Jim, was growing stale and the two barely tolerated each other. While she had a talent for sales, the only positive thing that she found about her job with a finance company was that the commute was shorter than the previous one.

 To cheer herself up, Farris accompanied a friend to a Kripalu Yoga Retreat. The poses, meditative techniques, and the spiritual connection gave Farris  a new perspective. She became inspired to become a yoga instructor.

After her announcement, Jim's worst behaviors came to light. His partying with friends and condescending nature towards Farris' yoga studies were bad enough. The final straw occurred when Farris discovered that he sent flowers to and had an affair with another woman. Time to file for divorce.

After going through the loss and stress of ending her marriage, Farris took her yoga teacher training course seriously. She also began writing articles for The Elephant Journal. 

After some reluctance, she tried online dating. After a few early attempts, she clicked with Mario, a single father. They went through the usual dating conflicts and the childrens' struggles before a real romance and partnership developed.

Now in most books, usually novels, this would be the end of the book. Farris has a career that she genuinely loves and finds herself in a good relationship with a loving, understanding, and supportive man. The final page says, "The End." Credits roll and light comes up. Unfortunately, in real life endings are not so tidy. They only end with the author deciding that it is over. 

In fact, Farris' career change and close relationship with Marco occurs in the middle of the book. So there is a lot of pain, stress, and anguish left to go for Farris to reveal.

Even Farris' career change is written realistically. During her first visit, Farris isn't even sure that she likes Yoga. Her minivan with its "MINIDVA" license plate clashes with Priuses and Subarus and their "Kindness Counts" and "Coexist" bumper stickers. She remembers the old Sesame Street sketch, "One of These Things is Not Like the Others." 

She also felt uncomfortable doing poses. She muttered sarcastic comments under her breath and dreamt of walking out. But then she got past the initial discomfort, and began to use many of the practices such as writing about her issues in her daily life. She remembered how much she loved writing. An instructor also told her that "how we are on the mat is how we are in life…If we want to make change in our lives, the mat is the place to practice. It is where transformation begins."

Yoga however is not a quick fix or a bandaid for Farris' life. Her blog title 12 Months to Zen(nish) says it all. Farris still had to deal with depression, anger at her ex, bad dates, and the stress of single motherhood. An hour on a mat isn't going to change that. However, yoga gave Farris the capability to move forward in her professional and personal life. 

Farris also has to deal with stresses with her family and romantic relationships. She learned some surprises about her parents that caused her to rethink how she viewed them, particularly her distant mother. It also caused her to rethink how she raised her daughters. The realization that her parents and by extension herself are human and are more than they thought allowed her to become closer to Sienna and Sylvie.

Farris's relationship with her daughters and Yoga practice helped strengthen her in one of her biggest challenges. This also proves that life, unlike literature, can throw things at us even when we think that the plot ends on a high note. No sooner did Farris, Marco, and their blended family come together, wedding bells were on the horizon, then they were hit with a health scare that shook them into another troubling crisis. This health scare also changes the tone of the book. It started out as a seriocomic memoir about a divorced woman starting over but becomes a tearjerker about facing hardship and illness just when you least expect it.

Sometimes with memoirs and autobiographies, the book can't always end with a happy finale. Sometimes the end of a life is the end of the book. Sometimes, the only lesson that we can learn is to find the courage and strength to move on.

New Book Alert: Lakshmi and The River of Truth: A Fairy Tale For Adults by Paul Chasman, Illustrated by Jerry Kruger; Fantastic Funny Seriocomic Satire Fantasy For The Modern Era

 

New Book Alert: Lakshmi and The River of Truth: A Fairy Tale For Adults by Paul Chasman, Illustrated by Jerry Kruger; Fantastic Funny Seriocomic Satire Fantasy For The Modern Era

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: There are times when real life is so bizarre and strange that satire is almost unnecessary. All the satirist has to do is let the people or the situation speak for themselves. Sometimes the situation is so obvious that all one has to do is change names around and even the least intelligent of Readers could make the obvious connection. 

Satires could often be microcosms of their own society's problems so reading or watching the satire gives Readers and Viewers an idea of what the concerns were at the time and sometimes parallel them to modern issues. Jonathan Swift's mock essay, "A Modest Proposal" suggested that a way to solve Ireland's famine problems was to eat the children. The film Dr. Stranglove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb used double entendre and parody military lingo to portray the Arms Race as nothing more than a measuring contest between men in charge of the superpowers to show off their umm virility.

 The film Network not only satirized television in the 1970's but became a pretty good precursor to what exploitative entertainment could be seen today. Charles Dickens humorously made fun of institutions such as Chancery court and the educational system by portraying those who go through them as witless fools bound to a system that doesn't work. 

Works like MASH, Catch 22, and the movies The Great Dictator and Duck Soup make fun of war and those who promote it. Using a childhood fantasy like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Phantom Tollbooth gave Lewis Carroll the freedom to mock Victorian etiquette standards and protocol in the former and Norman Juster the ability to make fun of willing ignorance and to promote an appreciation for learning in the latter. And where would be without shows like Saturday Night Live to make fun of the news week after week? 

These satires make us laugh and see how ridiculous some situations and people really are. We laugh and we may nod our heads and understand the real point that they are trying to make. Sometimes we get mad and want to fight against the system. But first we laugh.

To the satires of the past, we can add Lakshmi and The River of Truth: A Fairy Tale For Adults by Paul Chasman with illustrations by Jerry Kruger. It is one part fantasy adventure in which a young woman travels to an enchanted land and encounters people and beings not unlike those we encounter every day. It is also one part savage biting satire that throws shade at many people and events that these dream figures represent.

Lakshmi Jackson is having a dream. (No seriously, the book never tires of telling us that this is definitely a dream.) She dreams that a character called Virtuous Liar (a walking oxymoron) tells her that she needs to find the River of Truth. Well since this is her subconscious and she has nothing better to do, she sails on the Boat of Bob  to search for the River. Along the way, she meets a lovable dog called Special Ed whose only goal is to have his head scratched and catch  balls that Lakshmi throws. She also meets various other strange characters with eccentric ideas. However, to reach the River, Lakshmi must avoid the dastardly Mr. Bigly, an orange skinned con artist who runs this Dream World like a failed business, uses all the buzz words to keep his supporters happy, sucks up to and admires dictators, and his supporters practically deify him. (I can't imagine who he is can you? I'm sure the answer will Dawn-OLD on and TRUMPet out at me.) Bigly's biggest supporters are a group called Mark Question and the Question Marks, conspiracy theorists who spread libel and wacky theories that make Bigly look good. (Hmm another one whose real life counterpart is very Questionable. I would take a guess but they probably wish to remain ANONymous.) Yes, it's that kind of book.

Chasman clearly had a lot of fun with the fantastic and satirical aspects to the book. Lakshmi is named for the Hindu goddess of luck and prosperity and seems to meet with some fortunate luck along the way. Of course, since it's her dream, she can control it.

 Even Chasman's constant repetition of Lakshmi being in a dream is delightfully skewered so Chasman could hand wave plot inconsistencies like Lakshmi going from one place to another in record time and not giving a set up for some characters who just appear out of nowhere. It's a dream so the illogic is very logical. 

In one chapter, Lakshmi's legs stretch and she suddenly grows to reach the clouds in the sky. Another passage features the third person narrator, well Chasman, telling us that "time" is not a concept in this world and that events can take place in seconds or years. Some characters ruminate whether they are characters in a book and are being jerked around by an author for his amusement. (Good question, Chasman!). I haven't seen an author have this much fun playing with time, spatial dimensions, and fourth wall breaks in a fantasy landscape since The Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde.

There is one plot point towards the end that could cause the Reader to question the reality surrounding the dream. It could be something that Chasman neglected to mention previously or it could lead to the whole thought of whether Lakshmi was really traveling in this dream world and the narrator's insistence that it was a dream could be a Strangely Specific Denial. It could lead to where the dream ends and reality begins. It's the one part where the thought, "Relax it's only a dream" may not work or even be necessarily 100 percent true.

Then there's the satire. Even travels to fantasy worlds are mocked because of Cashman's insistence that the book is simply a dream. But what stands out are the parallels of various characters between the dream world and the real one experienced by the Reader. There is the Hospital for the Ironically Challenged where people who don't get irony, humor, and satire are treated. However, the pompous doctors there don't seem to get it either. One doctor goes into a long paragraph in which he cautions people to use brevity and to not monopolize conversation while of course talking for a long time and monopolizing the conversation. These chapters make fun of people who judge others by standards that they themselves cannot fit into. Think of all the times when someone says that a person who gets offended needs to "get a sense of humor" and then they themselves are easily offended when they are being made light of.

There is The Classical Orators League, an organization whose members deliver speeches that are almost entirely quotes from someone else. When Lakshmi gives a moving speech of her own, the members are impressed but dismayed that the speech was hers alone. These passages mock those who hide behind intellectuals, artists, and other influential people of the past claiming to speak for them and refuse to think for themselves or formulate their own opinions.

One of the best chapters takes place in the Metaphor Hotel in which everything is a metaphor that stands for something else. Various paintings like Van Gogh's Starry Night, Wood's American Gothic, Mona Lisa, and Adam and Eve wax poetic about their own symbolic meaning. Many characters disagree about the various meanings behind things such as whether Moby Dick symbolizes man's hunger for God like powers, Ahab's desire to dominate nature, ambivalent nature towards spirituality, or ambiguity towards sex. Lakshmi is bemused when the proprietor asks if a hotel room symbolizes "security of a mother's womb, a prison, one's inner psyche, or spatial design." ("It represents a place where I can get a bath and a good night's sleep," Lakshmi quickly remarks.) 

Besides being a former English major myself who is often guilty of over analyzing art and literature, what I found most enjoyable about this section is how it makes light of the desire to find hidden meaning in everything. How when we try to analyze something, we don't stop and appreciate what it really is, a beautiful piece of art, a classic book, or a comfortable bedroom. This chapter is foreshadowed in the introduction where Chasman imagines a conversation between Freud and Jung over the analysis of dreams and Freud uses his "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" quote. Sometimes an object is just what it is, no more no less and finding metaphor gets in the way of appreciating it.

Chasman however saves the most fun satirical bite for Mr. Bigly and his followers, particularly The Question Marks. The parody is so obvious at times that this Reader sarcastically said, "Too subtle" more than a few times. For example there is a moment where Mr. Bigly actually shoots someone in front of his followers and they justify his reasons behind it even though the person was innocent and just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is based on the real life Mr. Bigly's assertion that he could "shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it." (Who would follow a man like that? It staggers the I-MAGA-nation.)

Of course, the Question Marks are avid conspiracy theorists and they trot out a certain theory involving a ring of Others (liberals, POC, anyone who isn't them) allegedly doing unspeakable things to children in the basement of a pizza parlor without any real evidence of such a crime. (The PIZZA GATES are open wide for speculation.)

Then there is Sophia Wise, a woman who rivals Bigly for leadership but whom the Question Marks shriek comments about her personal life and insist that there is something fishy in her emails. (I searched HILARY-ther and CLINT-yon for her real life KAMALA- HARRIS-ons but have come up short.) Like I said, sometimes real life is so bizarre you just have to let it speak for itself.

While humor is present there are some darker aspects towards Bigly's hold on his followers. When she first meets them, Lakshmi sees that they are standing on their heads. Why? Well because Bigly told them to and ignoring the advice of doctors, medical experts, scientists, researchers and their own common sense, what Bigly says is good enough for them. There is also a time when Lakshmi herself is swayed by Bigly and takes part with the other Bigly supporters in a violent defense of their Orange God-figure. (Oh heck, Chasman is satirizing the MAGA response to COVID and the January 6 Insurrection!)

What is scary is not so much what happens, but how a seemingly innocent person like Lakshmi can get swept up in propaganda and other people's words. It's easy to be on the outside and point at how foolish others can be easily swayed. It's harder when we learn that we are just as susceptible as anyone else. 

At first I thought that it was strange that this dream world, this biting savage satire of modern times would leave out the Internet and Social Media, such important touchstones in our times. But then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Dream World is like the Internet. In fact, Lakshmi and the River of Truth could be one giant metaphor for the world seen through the guise of social media. Think about it, it is filled with know it alls, pseudo intellectuals, conspiracy theorists, and people who like to argue, harass, and threaten more than come together to share common interests. Those are often the voices that speak the loudest and can often skewer what is real and true. Lakshmi's search for the River of Truth could be our desire to look beyond the shouting, the name calling, the propaganda, the cult mentality, the harassment and find what is honest, real, and true. Sometimes it's difficult to find the real nugget of Truth underneath all of the noise but this journey suggests that the find is worth it.

If I'm wrong, then I would like to book a single room at the Metaphor Hotel please…. Yes, yes it symbolizes a place of security from the outside world and an inner sanctum for deep thought…Ocean view preferably….Yes, it symbolizes a journey into the subconscious….

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.