Friday, October 4, 2024

What Was Left of Her A Story of Ghosts by Victoria Hattersley; Whirl of Birds Short Stories by Liana Vraijitoru Andreasen

 What Was Left of Her A Story of Ghosts by Victoria Hattersley; Whirl of Birds Short Stories by Liana Vraijitoru Andreasen 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews


What Was Left of Her A Story of Ghosts by Victoria Hattersley 

This is a summary of my review. The full review is on LitPick.

What Was Left of Her is very reminiscent of the old Gothic novels like Jane Eyre or Rebecca. It explores the outer atmosphere built on suspenseful austerity and the inner psychology of the troubled people within.

Two sisters, Cassie and Alex reunite after the death of their Aunt Lucie. While going through her house, the two recount their troubled and disturbed childhood with the loving but haunted aunt who raised them and their developmentally disabled potentially sociopathic cousin, Bella. While they remain in Lucie’s coastal home, strange things start happening. Cassie sees someone out of the corner of their eye, hears whispers, and things are mislaid. She is beginning to wonder if maybe Bella who was believed to have disappeared might still be alive. 

The characters inside are troubled miserable souls notably Cassie and Bella. Cassie is a recovering alcoholic with a fragmented memory. It’s hard to tell whether the ghosts are real and surround her or whether they are in her mind. 

Even though Bella is absent through most of the book, she is still very much in the family’s mind and consciousness. She was a seriously troubled woman who may not have been physically capable of controlling herself but also may have been and did not care. The description of her could go either way and is only provided by third person accounts from Cassie and Alex. 

The cousins' personalities and actions merge until it’s hard to tell how much of Cassie’s memories are accurate, whether they were things that Bella did or whether Cassie was projecting and who was haunting who.


Whirl of Birds: Short Stories by Liana Vraijitoru Andreasen 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Liana Vraijitoru Andreasen’s anthology Whirl of Birds Short Stories is an extremely difficult book that reveals complex narratives and themes.

It captures the abstract, the allegorical, the symbolic, and the metaphorical and turns them into understandable commentaries on the characters themselves and the societies in which they and the Reader inhabit. It's a book that isn't always easy to understand but it's impossible to get out of your mind.

The best stories are: 

“The Puppet Show”-This is a very creepy story that takes the whole “we are mere puppets on a string” metaphor literally. Kids enjoy a puppet show particularly the ongoing adventures of Princess Gina who gets in various cliffhangers that put her in peril. 

This is a very surreal short story that implies a theme of possessing someone's talent and soul. It's not a coincidence that Gina the Puppet shares the same name as Gina, who works for the puppet show and narrates the adventures. In the Puppeteer’s eyes, both Ginas are one and the same and he believes that in owning one, he has control of the other.

He controls Gina who is a brilliant performer and storyteller and tries to manipulate circumstances around her. He invites various male performers to play the character, Radu, to join them almost as though to test her fidelity. Each time they commit transgressions, the men disappear leaving Gina more isolated and dependent on the Puppeteer. 

Significantly, there are three men therefore three tests. Three is a magical number that appears often in fairy tales, like the kind of stories that the Ginas star in. The Puppeteer is writing his own story and controlling the narrative of Gina's life. He treats the human Gina like a character that does whatever he wants them to. She has no story beyond the one that he created for her.

The final pages show both the end of the Puppet Show and Gina's relationship with the Puppeteer. It depicts that the puppeteer can't control everything, that he is as much a pawn, a puppet, in larger games and larger stories that surround him. He can't control changing tastes, that children are always looking for the next big thing and once they find it, they throw out the old thing. He can't control when people get lives of their own and move on and away from him, in effect changing the plot. 

He especially can't control the outside world, when revolutions and violence can occur. Instead, he is left alone with his incomplete story and no one that cares or is even interested enough to listen to it.

“Stolen Light”-This story uses an ominous natural phenomenon as a metaphor for the family observing it. Jose Angel, a young boy, sees a mysterious cloud approaching Las Vegas. Terrified, many have theories but the boy has only certain things in mind. If the world is ending, he wants to get some nagging questions answered about his missing father.

What is particularly compelling and frustrating is the lack of answers that this story provides leaving events ambiguous. There are no definite answers to what the cloud is. In fact the characters' speculations say more about themselves than they do about the phenomena itself. 

Some say the cloud is a government experiment and it's a conspiracy. Others say that it's an impending alien invasion. Still others think that it's the Biblical End of Days. They act how most people would in such a situation. They make their own conclusions in the face of no answers or ones that they disagree with.

Jose Angel is like many teens. He wants his own life. He wants to satisfy those urges that he has for companionship and belonging. He is less concerned with the thing in the sky than he is with the things that are troubling his mind.

Among those questions are those about his father. He asked his mother about him and she gave non-answers which left him as confused as everyone else is about the cloud. Then conveniently an encounter might provide a solution but it only raises more questions and potentially puts Jose Angel in danger.

This story demonstrates how our thoughts can become cloudy with our own questions and speculation. We might get an answer but it may not be what we expected or liked. Sometimes it leads to more questions and makes things even cloudier.

“Whirl of Birds”-Birds usually represent color, flight, independence, and freedom. But sometimes they can also represent dread, violence, scavengers, predators, and death. This is what happens as Bianca is on a drive and is pursued by a very persistent flock of birds that keep following her towards an unpleasant encounter. 

The story is reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” as the birds hover around her. Bianca isn’t frightened of the birds. In fact she is enchanted by them and her own thoughts. She wonders where they come from and where they are going. She sees meaning in the sky but can’t yet articulate what it is. 

Her thoughts also drift towards various names like “Steve,” “Andy,” and “Sam.” We are not told of her specific relationships with these men though we can make inferences based on a phone call with Andy and that Sam enters her mind the most but dissipates upon encountering a car crash. These names suggest connections but quite possibly long gone ones of people who were once important to her but now no longer are. They flew away from her mind as she was driving down the road watching birds fly towards her. 

While the birds and Bianca’s thoughts suggest a liberating experience, there is something else that is at play. They could just as easily be symbolic of something more sinister. The birds are vultures, carrion eaters, usually associated with death. They circle over her car like they are waiting for something. Bianca, whose name by the way means “white” or “pale,” drives along with them, almost feeling spiritual and emotionally connected with them. It could very well be that she is symbolic of “Death on a Pale Horse” and it doesn’t care who the people around them are. They are just names that will come to an end soon, not people with experiences, stories. Her history with them doesn’t matter because it will end as all things do.

There is an eerie climactic encounter with an unnamed woman where once again we are told very little about which also parallels “Bianca and the birds as death” symbol. There is no personal connection and they are uncertain and afraid of each other. Bianca’s appearance frightens the woman but the story seems to apply that she is who Bianca is there for. She may resist but she will face Bianca, the birds, and death no matter what. 

“Mahogany”-This story is almost a modern day adaptation of the Greek myth, “Pygmalion and Galatea” in which a sculptor falls in love with his creation but this puts some commentary of modern life to the tale. 

Al, a woodcarver, is not a lonely bachelor like his ancient counterpart. In fact he has a nagging wife and disinterested kids. He has a life that Pygmalion might have envied of people surrounding him and he may have at one time loved. But life got in the way, voices were raised, comments were ridiculed, and arguments broke out. A family that might have been close once is disconnected from each other. They share a last name and a roof over their heads but that’s it. There is nothing but noise, misery, and despair. Al can only find silence and acceptance through his art.

Despite his assurances that he is not having an affair, Al is clearly in love: with his own creation. He carves a beautiful woman out of mahogany. This is someone who will not belittle, or disagree with him, will treat him well, and that can look, act, and say anything he wants. Like the puppeteer with Princess Gina, he has complete ownership of her. She is a fantasy, a story and it’s one in which he can create. 

However unlike the Puppeteer and Pygmalion, it’s a story that he would rather keep for himself. The Mahogany Figure represents the ultimate beauty represented in art. She can never be captured or possessed and certainly never be owned. In Al’s mind, he doesn’t want his carving to come to life, grow old, and become shrill, cold, and unloving. He wants to preserve her as she is, forever young, forever beautiful, forever innocent. 

“Driving With Sara”-This is a haunting story about age and loneliness and how desperate people sometimes do desperate things to make connections. The Narrator is an old woman who is irritated with her pestering daughter and diminishing life so she makes a connection with a stranger named Sara.

The Narrator realizes that her life is not what it was. It is breaking apart piece by piece from interests, to people that she once knew, to pets. She is seeing parts of her identity move away one by one. What is particularly sad and memorable about it, is that it is not from an illness like Alzheimer’s. These actions are caused by a daughter who thinks that she knows best and infantilizes her mother. The attention only seeks to isolate her and make her feel lonely. 

The Narrator’s connection to Sara is one of mutual strangers but she thinks that it gives her the love and support that she is looking for from her daughter. This woman is delusional but her mind is so troubled and traumatized that she can’t tell the difference between what is true and what she imagines about Sara.

The irony of Sara’s appearance is a grotesque and dark comic one that seems to put a fatalistic punch line to this poor woman’s life. In being unable to truly bond with her daughter, the Narrator seeks another very unhealthy and troubling bond with someone who is also rejecting her in her own way. Rather than acknowledging that, the Narrator would rather remain in this state than admit what is painfully true. 

“The Return”-Loneliness is also the culprit in this story of a father communicating with his daughter by phone. Unlike The Narrator and her mother who live a stifling isolating experience which leaves the mother longing for a connection that makes her feel less confined and lonely, Melvin’s relationship with his daughter, Ella, is already isolated. 

Melvin projects an image of a kind and efficient worker, but he is starting to slow down. His work is less noticeable and he is distracted. He slowly loses confidence and eventually his placement at work. As long as he had a role at the office, he was known but as it diminishes, he is made redundant, faceless, someone easily discarded. The job has deprived him of his humanity and left him alone and disenchanted with the outside world.

His home life is equally isolated. His wife is dead and he is separated from his daughter by distance. They only communicate by phone which Melvin hates. The results are that Melvin is desensitized and disconnected from the life around him. He is physically cut off from others, so mentally is as well.

He becomes involved with an experiment involving rats. This experiment is foreshadowed when he tells a disturbed Ella a story about rats committing violent actions out of love and respect. In his loneliness, he is personifying human interaction with animals. The things that he wants: love, respect, understanding, empathy are things that he believes that he sees in rodents. This isolation, unmet longing, and the desperate need to have those longings met cause him to go to extreme means to get them. Those means present a horrible lasting impression on Ella and the Reader.

“What Lingers”-This story personalizes one of the most historic tragedies by giving us two characters who experienced it and share an intuitive connection because of it. 

At first we aren’t told where Alex and Katya  are and what disaster has befallen them. There are hints with words like “radiation,” and references to the odd sky color and opening valves. The clues start piling up until proper names like “Pripyat” and “Three Mile Island” enter. Then it becomes more apparent what is going on and what the characters are experiencing. It’s a universal thing. No matter what the tragedy is, people who are associated with such an event will always feel connected to it.

Besides giving clues for the Reader to guess where they are, this approach demonstrates the humanity that such tragedies bring. It doesn’t matter when or where they are, but those who have been through them will share a bond of mutual survivors. It creates links of kinship that go beyond friends and family. 

Alex and Katya’s link is explored in an intuitive and possibly psychic manner. They are brought together by this tragedy and their relationship. Even though they are in another place, they recognize each other as someone who understands and has been through the ordeal. They reach beyond that memory and are able to connect on a more personal level. 

“Valley of the Horse”-This story presents an ominous energy found in nature and how it parallels grief. Zak is haunted by his various interactions with a judge and a dying horse on his way to and from work. 

Judge Ivy and the horse seem to be cut off from the edge of the world. Zak pities the horse who is clearly suffering and Ivy who can do nothing but watch her die. Their interactions run the gamut between casual, revulsion, indifferent, sympathy, anger, depression, defiance, and ultimately acceptance. Ivy is a man who wants to believe that he is doing his best for his horse and wants to be with her during his painful experience. He doesn’t want to hasten it, but suffer through it with her.

Zak is drawn to this man because he recently suffered the loss of his partner, April. Even though he is with someone else, his thoughts of April never diminished. Ivy and the horse are constant reminders of the person that he lost and the guilt that he felt for things that he did and didn’t do with April. In some ways, Zak is reliving his own experiences including the life that he didn’t have with her. Zak and Ivy are parallels in loss and the emotions that are associated with it.

One of the most telling moments is when Zak rages at Ivy and a crowd gathered around the horse. Since Ivy is a judge, Zak is calling him out on his treatment of the horse and how he can let her suffer. It’s a bit heavy handed, but he is also comparing Ivy to God, who is often described as a judge on why April died as well. He wants to know why she died and why Zak didn’t recognize the signs to help her until it was too late. He wants to know why he, like Ivy, just watched her suffer instead of helping her. 

“Exorcism”-The title suggests one thing but the text of this story tells something else. At first it appears that Mrs. Mitchell is the titular exorcist and she is there to extract a demon from Tony Reyes, a young man. That is not what happens. 

What we are given instead is a character study of a young boy through the perspectives of his father and his English teacher. They both share memories of Tony as they knew him. Mrs. Mitchell saw a bright, polite student who answered questions and had a deep understanding of literature. His father saw his son who was a happy jokester but became troubled, quiet, and withdrawn as though he were possessed. 

Senor Reyes’ descriptions of Tony’s subsequent behavior are eerie as it details a teenager who might be losing his grip with reality and sanity. He is troubled by voices and destructive thoughts. It’s a traumatic nightmare told from the point of view of an anguished parent wanting to take the pain away from his child but who is helpless with not knowing what it was.

It’s left purposely ambiguous whether or not Tony was possessed, showing signs of schizophrenia or depression, or was just simply acting out as a troubled teen. All that is known is that he is gone, was not the same person that he was before, and has left behind two authority figures who bonded with him but could not understand what he was going through. They had a limited frame of reference based on their own associations and experiences and were unable to communicate with Tony or find helpful solutions that may have saved him. Instead, they are left wondering why. 

“At Taft Point”-This story is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” in that it demonstrates the futility of blind obedience and never questioning what one knows isn’t right.

A group of tourists visit Taft Point. At first it seems like a pleasant visit to nature. It’s beautiful and imposing. There is a deep spiritual connection as the visitors feel God’s presence in the view around them. It's almost a meditative but disconcerting experience. 

There are hints that not is as it seems within the group. The women are dressed alike with long skirts and braids. There are a lot of children. They speak often of God and their leader gives a speech filled with metaphor and generalities but no specifics about the group or their motives. It’s not outright scary but it may put the Reader at a distinct unease that there is something that is off about these people. 

As the characters talk to each other, their reason for being there and motivation becomes clear. It is a terrifying experience not just because of what is being done but the willingness of the people to do it. There is a slight bait and switch as one of the group tries to disobey and one expects that those closest to them would rally to their side. Instead, they ally with the rest of the group, not the outsider leaving them to their fate as a final decision is made. These people are so driven by their leader’s view that they lost their free will and are willing to follow him to commit atrocities. 

This blind obedience is so prevalent in society today whether it’s through religion, politics, nationalism, philosophy, and any group that provides thought and identity. If one is so drawn to the group, they will surrender everything: friends, families, beliefs, faith, laws, work, country, relationship, money, intelligence, standards, morals, ethics, common sense, and finally their own lives just to be a part of it. The less they question and research only the sources that they are told to, the more likely they will surrender everything to someone who will profit off of them and end their lives rather than be seen as anything less than a deity. 

“Rabbit in the Hat”-One thing that this anthology has is an ongoing theme of people using their art to make their voices heard. This is particularly scene in this story of Bill Morris, who has worked in a museum for over 40 years and has shown artistic talent himself. His closest friends and colleagues attend an exhibition of his work. 

Many of the people use their frames of reference on how they see Morris: as a quiet unassuming single man that had been just there in their lives, faded into the background. They didn’t know him. They only knew what they saw in him. His real self is explained through his art.

Morris’ art covers three rooms. The first two are more ordinary, landscapes, still life. They represent the exterior. A man who quietly observed everything around them and was able to capture it. The words that no one heard, the man that no one saw showed them the outside world that he saw.

The third room explores a darker more subterranean consciousness inside Morris, one that is honest, naked, violent, sexy, and more real than what they had previously known. They are forced to confront their own secrets, inner lives, thoughts, and insecurities and lay them bare. It is a joke, maybe, but it is also a chance for Morris and the other characters to face their inner truths and authentic selves. 

“Sound Waves”-Another ongoing theme in this anthology is whether forms of communication brings us together or drives us apart. This one explores the power of changing technology as seen through radio. A spooky night at a radio program. DJ Charlie Tainter receives a mysterious phone call that causes his colleagues to question the man and where he comes from.

The entire setting is in the radio station during the program so it’s  a compact and limiting environment. Charlie and his co-workers can only go by the voice on the radio, the Internet, and Charlie himself to piece together what they are given. Charlie says one thing. The caller says another. The Internet says yet another. The accounts don’t tell a complete story instead it’s all accusation, denial, and information that is later discredited. It’s hard to tell what the truth really is and if the characters don’t know, the Reader certainly doesn’t. We are left to our own conclusions.

 It seems that this device, radio, like other technological marvels is created to be a source of communication. Unfortunately, it can only communicate so much. Fittingly, another form of communication is used, the Internet. Both can create and distort sound and images. Both can tell you what’s considered good or bad, right or wrong and shape views. They provide information as it is given not necessarily what is true but what people want to believe. Because of that, we don’t know what to believe.

A possibility is presented in the final pages, one that transcends space and time and relies more on imagination than information. It calls for the characters and Readers to think beyond what is laid out in front of them and look for possibilities that are beyond what they are told. Words, news, voices, information can be altered and subjected to reinterpretation. When faced with that information, a person should weigh their own options and look inward for what they perceive and believe. 





Friday, September 27, 2024

Tales of Whythenwood by J.W. Hawkins; Bedlam Trances by Nicholas Wagner; Two Anthologies Reach the Dark Side of Human and Animal Nature

 

Tales of Whythenwood by J.W. Hawkins; Bedlam Trances by Nicholas Wagner; Two Anthologies Reach the Dark Side of Human and Animal Nature 


By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: I have been reviewing a lot of anthologies this year. If you can't say it in a long novel, say it in a short story or novella and these authors do. Do they ever. 

Aside from being speculative anthologies J.W. Hawkins’ Tales of Whythenwood and Nicholas Wagner’s Bedlam Trances would have very little in common. Tales of Whythenhood is a fantasy about talking animals in an enchanted woods and Bedlam Trances is a Supernatural Horror and Crime Thriller about creepy people doing creepy things. But if we dig deeper, we discover that these books have a great deal in common. They are bleak looks that explore the dark side of human and animal nature. One is just more subversive about it than the other.

Tales of Whythenwood by J.W. Hawkins may be an anthology about talking animals, but don’t for a second think that it’s anything like Charlotte’s Web or Beatrix Potter. Think less Charlotte’s Web and more Animal Farm. Less Beatrix Potter and more Watership Down. Less Mickey Mouse and more Maus. It’s a very dark, at times disturbing and graphic fantasy novel that personifies animals with human traits and not very pleasant ones. Many of the traits that the flora and fauna represent include prejudice, avarice, wrath, vanity, aggressiveness, hatred, and vengeance. It is not some sweet adorable romp in the forest. Instead it is a commentary on human nature and it is forthright, savage, cruel, terrifying, beautiful, and captivating.

There are six stories total and the best are:

“Gerald the Mangy Fox”-What could be a decent variation of “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer” where a misfit who is judged by their appearance becomes a hero by helping the people who insulted them instead becomes much more subversive and yet somehow more honest.

Gerald is insulted by other animals, particularly the other foxes because they have beautiful coats and his is covered in mange. The foxes are also facing conflicts with the Great Oak, who is the leader of the Whythenwood. They resent having to give back to the forest what they take from it. Gerald, angry at the other fox’s treatment, starts a chain reaction that affects himself and the other foxes.

Gerald is reminiscent of human outcasts, people who are turned away by others because of their appearance or place of origin. Gerald, like many, grows to resent the treatment that he has been given to the point that he wants bad things to happen to his tormentors and doesn't care if they inadvertently happen to him. He is filled with anger and regret towards those who made him miserable. It makes him an outsider but it also makes him understandable.

We have all had situations like that where we were scapegoated and treated horribly like others. Better people often forgive them and work towards positive things in spite of or because of that derision. Most people to be honest simmer with anger and justifiable hurt. They hurt us so we want to hurt them back. Gerald is like that to the point that he makes deals with wolves and the Great Oak to get even with the other foxes. 

The final pages drip with irony as the results are not what any of the characters expected. It shows a reversal of beauty and ugliness where true natures are shown and exposed. It becomes a test of honesty, kindness, and mercy which reveal the appearance of the souls underneath. 

“The Fall of the Orchid Copse”-This story takes a strange but meaningful look at interconnectivity within countries and how much people claim independence but we are often linked by economic, political, and social interdependence. No one truly stands alone. People buy and sell goods and services. We live off of each other’s work and survive because of those connections.

Some animals of Whythenwood live in the Orchid Copse which is a specific part of the woods that operates by its own laws and regulations. It’s the time of year when the animals of Orchid Copse must decide which one of three animals, selected by the Great Oak herself, will be the leader of the Copse and whether the Copse is to remain an independent area or become a complete part of Whythenwood. 

This novella represents the way various nations are formed and the struggle that many face to become an independent country to themselves or to remain with a larger one and if so which one. There are many questions and arguments made by the various characters whether this is a flawed system or one that works. It doesn’t give any easy answers and allows the characters and Readers to decide for themselves.

Most of this story is seen through the eyes of Sriya, a fiery mongoose that questions this system that she has been given. She wants to know whether choosing only animals that are selected by the Great Oak is a real choice or whether it’s just the appearance of a choice. Is the Great Oak a dictator, an apathetic disinterested leader, or a loving parent watching her children? What does the Orchid Copse gain from maintaining its own complete autonomy from the Great Oak and what does it have to lose? 

Sriya represents the rebel, the one who recognizes the flaws in the system and has the passion to fight against and change it. When a violent action takes place, she is able to gather enough interest and a following for the Copse citizens to seriously consider breaking away from the Great Oak. But it comes at a great cost to their own freedom and security. 

Because it is based on the Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution of 2014, it also recounts what happens when rebellion falters and asks whether idealistic ideas are enough to sustain a community. It’s all well and good to break away from a government, but if there isn’t anything substantial to back it up and an actual plan in place, ideals and arguments are all that remains. 

“The Artfulness of Stupidity “-With all of the sweeping themes of politics, prejudice, and other important issues, Tales of the Whythenwood doesn’t lose sight of capturing good characters inside their fur and feathers. This is a particularly strong character driven piece in the anthology. 

In a colony of beavers, everyone does their part to build their dams and contribute to their community, everyone except Indoli. His outsider status, avaricious manipulative nature, and his insistence on obfuscating stupidity ends up causing problems for everyone in the woods, especially the beavers and himself.

Indoli, similar to Gerald and Sryia is also an outsider but unlike his appearance and his ideals, it is Indoli’s personality that makes him different. Instead of doing the hard work of his fellow beavers, he prefers to scheme and manipulate others. He plays dumb but is actually very clever in seeing problems and potential solutions. 

He is the type that knows where to point and put others in certain directions to acquire his own benefits, retain his own sense of leadership, or sometimes just to get even with others. He is a character who in other stories would become an outright villain. He could be reminiscent of corporate CEO’s or oligarchs who become wealthy not from their own merits, but from the labor of others. They control things from behind the scenes and are so drunk on their own power that they would rather hurt others, even if it means destroying all that they have worked for. They don’t see the danger that could backfire on them and in destroying others, they ultimately destroy themselves.

There is another possibility of Indoli’s character, one that is more positive towards him.Hawkins subverts those expectations of making Indoli a full villain by giving him certain character strengths and also a son, Pickwick whom he truly loves. Instead of being seen as a symbol of corruption and manipulation, he could also be seen as creative. He has a different mindset from those around him that causes him to function differently from the rest of the colony. He may not fit in, not because he chooses not to but because he can’t. This mindset allows him to come up with creative solutions that could be beneficial to the other beavers if they were implemented. Those traits that Indoli has gives him the ability to think and act differently, but also keeps him away from everyone else.

One of Indoli’s most positive characteristics is his love for his son, Pickwick. The young beaver is Indoli’s main confidant and sees the more vulnerable side that he keeps hidden from others. The two are at odds with Indoli’s means and methods, but they are still devoted as father and son. Pickwick doesn’t see a corrupt influence or an iconoclastic eccentric. He just sees his father. Likewise, Indoli doesn’t see a disappointment or one of the mindless herd working on the colonies. He sees his son. He gives Pickwick the love that he often felt was denied him by the rest of the colony and the Wood.







Bedlam Trances by Nicholas Wagner Bedlam Trances by Nicholas Wagner is familiar territory to the blog. It involves graphic horror in many different forms. Most of the stories focus on manipulation and control. One party uses violence and threats in their greatest extremes to control another. There is a feel of unease in each story as the truly violent means are executed and characters are left with broken lives, minds, hearts, and souls.

“Crown of Switchblades”-This story combines crime thriller with psychological horror and does both genres rather well. A criminal gang is caught up in a war between their employer and another upstart. What starts out as a crime spree of violence, public property damage, drunkenness, and debauchery becomes much darker as they run into a strange, morbid, and terrifying cult. 

“Crown of Switchblades” runs on two tracks and because of that the tone is drastically different. The first part is a black comedy along the lines of the Italian Job, Lock, Shock, and Two Smoking Barrels, or any Quentin Tarantino film. It consists of seedy characters having clandestine meetings, bodies tumbling out of cars, and plenty of f bombs shouted by no-hopers. It’s a grim but weirdly comic situation as the gang, particularly the main protagonist, Doss hit spots like pubs and football clubs as though they were just having a Lad’s Night Out rather than breaking the law on behalf of their leader. 

The story then takes a severe turn into something else as Doss and his cronies end up farther away from their city environment into a rural area dotted with abandoned buildings and metal sculptures called the pipe men. They then encounter the people behind the pipe men, a cult who is looking for someone called “The Prophet.” 

Once Doss encounters the cult, he is put in a situation in which he is not prepared. Before he and his friends were able to face these conflicts. They can deal with crime bosses, drug deals, and the occasional violent act. But this cult isn’t like that, they have darker purposes. They have no motives and they don’t care who fits their vision. They want to fulfill it and they draw Doss in a way that is incredibly bone chilling and ominous.

““The Tragic Events Befalling Lizaveta”-The darkness that these stories encounter carries over into the Medieval Era as Oresetes, a monk investigates some strange happenings in a monastery after a novitiate turns up dead. 

The murder mystery is effective as Oresetes and his superior, Wittelsbach investigate the murder and the various leads. The setting of the monastery is deceptively described in the first page which features children playing. It gives the impression of a good kind giving place which welcomes all. But the more that the protagonists visit the cold austere stone walls and the monks keeping secrets, the more an ugly side resonates. 

Things become more apparent when they enter an area called “The Hurting Place.” In a few pages, the secrets are revealed in a bloody violent confrontation. It shows the ancient outdoor Pagan subconscious inside the Gothic indoor Christian surface. It says that inside many law-abiding seemingly upright pillars of the community hides souls that seethe with wrath, sexuality, violence, anger, and hypocrisy.

“Notes from the Yucatan”-This is a very short story which makes the most of its setting to show the eerie sense of dread when one is out on an unfamiliar landscape and how it mirrors the dark souls that inhabit it. The Narrator is searching for a man named Sir Reginald with the help of a guide, Bartholomew. 

The setting has many descriptions of sinister trees, ruins, particularly pyramids, and harsh rain. It seems like the end of the world where someone is listening to every sound and seeing every shape and is in fear of what could be out there, whether it is animal or human. Whatever it is, it is coming for you. Worst of all, the body could be thrown somewhere and never be found.

The fear and paranoia in the setting is mirrored in the behavior of the characters that surround it. It  is like an Edgar Allen Poe story in which the Reader explores the Narrator’s fractured psyche and we see the violence in the main character is just as prominent as it is without. If anything it was even greater within the Narrator. He is not acting out of any motive or or reason. He is violent for violence’s sake, almost like a force of nature around him.

“Hecato’s Dream”-This story takes us to the decline of the Roman Empire.Two guards, Hecato and Rufus chase after an assassin and come face to face with their own mortality. 

This is set towards the end of an era and that is felt throughout the story. There are discussions about Gauls, invading armies, cults springing up, and lawlessness. The Empire that maintained such a wide control over various nations is on its way out the door. With that decline became a decline of structure, rules, regulations, defense things people like Hecato and Rufus were familiar with but had long taken for granted. 

Now during these times, bloody crimes occur but not in a way that feels justifiable or understandable, not for any specific reason. It is because there is no structure and the one that remains is so fatigued by the forces outside that they don’t care about the struggles within. If there are no laws, no one can be punished. If no one can be punished, there is no fear of being caught. Hecato and Rufus’ world is crumbling so they are taking what they can. They know that their time is short, just like that of the Empire and the only thing that they have left is their own violent avaricious angry urges that need to be satisfied. Once those are spent, they truly meet their ends in an afterlife in which they know but can’t accept that an inevitable end is coming. 

“Ceremony”- This story covers similar ground with “Crown of Switchblades” in which a seemingly badass group is undone by a supernatural presence and all of their braggadocio becomes a joke, whereas “Crown of Switchblades” excels in a shift in tone. “Ceremony” excels in dark comedy dialogue. Declyn, an investigator, is looking into  the rock group “The Raging Bastards. His lover, Misty, who is involved with not only him but the three guys in the group is his main contact. Declan’s time with the Raging Bastards begins with plenty of sex, drugs, and rock and roll and ends with blood, guts, and terror, especially after Misty disappears.

The key advantage is the dialogue. Many characters dance around the truth with plenty of strong language, sexual overtones, and violent metaphors. Many of the phrases like when Bastards member, La Roe sarcastically describes the group as “tree huggers preaching peace and love” brings ironic smirks. Other comments like “If I had your eyes, I’d drive us off a cliff” carry an edge of suspense undertones hidden inside the dark comedy overtones.

One of the more interesting aspects of the dialogue is the amount of foreshadowing. After the story is over, it’s worth going back and putting together the tantalizing clues that the characters dance around. The constant references to blood, animals, violence, and aggressiveness spill some of the tea before the entire kettle is knocked over. There are also warnings when people tell Declan that he should stay away and that he doesn’t want to know what Misty and the Bastards are up to. It’s one of those stories that lays the plot in front of you so when you go back and reread it, you think, “Of course, it was there all along!” 

The violence is graphic but detached in a way that makes it more grotesque or comic than scary. The moment when Declan reaches the truth is dripped in irony and gore. The final line is blunt in violence that comes out of nowhere leaving Readers to sort out the aftermath.




Thursday, September 26, 2024

The Adventures of Ruby Pi and The Aviation Girls: A Brief History of Flight, Nine Challenging YA Stories by Tom Durwood; Rupa and Her Fellow Geniuses Take to The Friendly Skies in Third Installment

 



The Adventures of Ruby Pi and The Aviation Girls: A Brief History of Flight, Nine Challenging YA Stories by Tom Durwood; Rupa and Her Fellow Geniuses Take to The Friendly Skies in Third Installment

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Rupashana Lal Pyradhakrishnan AKA Ruby Pi is back and she brought more geniuses with her. In this third installment in Tom Durwood’s The Adventures of Ruby Pi series, the girl geniuses who conquered the Geometry and Mathematical world now take to the skies. In The Adventures of Ruby Pi and The Aviation Girls, Readers are given nine stories in which characters explore flight in its many forms: through birds, kites, balloons, airplanes, rockets, and spaceships.

Durwood appeals to his strengths by giving good characterization, plot, and setting to help his young Readers understand the mathematical, scientific, and historical themes and concepts introduced in each story. He fits the role of an educator who makes learning fun. 


The best stories in this volume are: 


“The First Manned Flight”- In 1820, Germany, Anke had to use her recent invention of a battle kite to rescue her older sister, Romy, when she was kidnapped by a lecherous nobleman.


In his attempts to drill an educational lesson into his young Reader’s heads, Durwood never loses sight of telling a good story and here he gives an interesting protagonist. Anke is a multifaceted character. She is argumentative with her siblings during their daily routine but fiercely protective of them when it matters the most. She is lazy and slovenly but also industrious during her scientific pursuits. She is arrogant, dedicated, obsessive, curious, intuitive and brilliant, all of the things that make a good scientist and inventor and fortunately for Romy, a good rescuer.  


We get a glimpse of the scientific process as Anke uses trial and error to build her flying machine, calculate its trajectory, and use it to attack the fortress and rescue her sister. 


“Gia Finds a Love”-In WWII, Gia Tomasso a young Italian-American mathematician is called into service to partake in a secret mission to study the trajectory of Japanese fighter planes before they attack Aleutian villages in the Arctic. 


Gia is a sharp, memorable protagonist with immense brain power which she uses in her personal and professional life. She takes charge of the family finances to save them from bankruptcy and her only request before she takes part in this assignment is that her family’s debts are cleared so they now own their apartment building and business. 


The way that Gia takes part in the war effort is very strategic and analytical. She studies the photographs of Edweard Muybridge and is inspired to have step by step photographs taken of the Japanese aircraft. She and Tayra, an Aleutian hunter, fly to various locations to leave tree-mounted motion detector cameras. Then she studies the photographs to find the plane’s weaknesses. It’s a smart plan that ultimately pays off when her information is right on the money.


Besides Gia, the story is rich with other characters. There’s Tayra, who not only guides Gia but uses his hunting skills to save her life and becomes a love interest. Her handler, Sheila and colleague, Tessa show courage and sacrifice in times of great conflict. Above all there’s Daichi Yamada, a Japanese pilot who is on the offensive. He is someone who doesn’t have any extreme devotion to the Emperor (in fact he disagrees with him most of the time) and bears no animosity to the other countries, but he knows that he must serve his country. Daichi is also devoted to his girlfriend and keeps her picture in his cockpit for luck. It’s refreshing to take time in a WWII story to develop both sides of the conflict and see human beings instead of propagandistic stereotypes.


“A Corpse in the Moon Colony Saraswati”- One of the more intriguing aspects of this book is that Durwood is moving out of his comfort zone and exploring other subgenres in his work. The first story, “Flight of Birds” is a mythological tale with no humans that is told from the point of view of birds. The story, “A Corpse in Moon Colony Saraswati” leaves the Historical Fiction past and journeys into the future. It is a Science Fiction short story set in the year 2076 on a lunar colony.


Teen botanists, Mahi Jaat and Saanvi Yadav and their journalist friend, Dhruv  Masal discover a dead body while on routine assignment studying the produce, grain, and orchards in the Botanical Gardens. They receive permission to investigate the body, which is identified as a Russian security officer. The investigation leads them to discover some secrets and conspiracies involving those around them.


There are some memorable descriptions of the Moon colony itself and the details that such a place would have including the topography, industry, technology, population, sociopolitics, education and other facets. Durwood put as much thought into a fictional location as he did to his real ones. He also explores Mahi and Saanvi’s interests in magnetic flight, showing that even in outer space, there are always new theories to test, new inventions to try, and  new discoveries to make. 


Mostly, this is a top notch murder mystery where Mahi and Saanvi use their scientific minds and Dhruv’s communication skills to find the various clues and answers to their investigation. They are intelligent and clear headed enough to find a solution and dedicated to the pursuit of justice to reveal the truth.  


“Ruby and the London, Paris Air Race”- Of course, where would this series be without its eponymous protagonist, engineer, botanist, inventor, mathematician, scientist, genius, amateur detective, know-it-all, Rupa Lal Pyradhakrishnan? This time she is recruited by Lloyd’s of London to do risk assessment at the famed London, Paris Air Race. 


Her detailed notes on aircraft such as the Voisin, the Zeppelin, and the Wright Military are fascinating. She observes each airplane and provides a lot of fascinating information about the aircraft that was available in the 1900’s. Also to think that this was a few short years after the Wright Brothers took their first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina shows how quickly the idea of airplanes took and how engineers and pilots adapted and changed their original concept to fit their needs. 


Rupa also receives another assignment at the Race, one of espionage and suspense. While the race shows a positive side of progress this investigation gives us a darker more negative side. It reminds us that this time was also one of feuding countries whose simmering hatred for one another would soon explode into two World Wars. It also reminds us that those fascinating beautiful airplanes that were once technological marvels would later be used as weapons that would increase with every subsequent war. 


“The Price of Flight”- Rupa isn’t the only character to return in this volume. Another returnee is Isoke, the 18th century Beninese architect from the story, “Isoke and the Architect.” The previous story showed her ascendancy as she was recruited by Queen Nala to create and oversee the construction of water pumps. It ended with triumph for Isoke and a fine patronage from and friendship with the Queen. 

Now, Isoke’s status is diminished. She has been cast out from her village and forced to live in exile. She cares for an injured falcon and faces her own personal insecurities and inner strength. 


Isoke’s relationship with the falcon is beautiful as she tenderly nurses it and teaches it to fly. She also gains the courage and insight that she needs to return one day  to the village and fight for her position. 


Each story comes with notes and commentary from Durwood and other academics that lend their knowledge and expertise to the subjects. We learn more about the concepts that are written and where they fit in with a technology that will always be able to take off. 

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

September-October Reading List


 September -October Reading List 


Last month started well but illness, injury, bad weather, and a depressive episode postponed the finish until now. So this list covers both September and October


The Fourth Victim (A Belfast Murder Mystery Book 7) by Brian O'Hare 


Tales of The Whythenhood by J.W. Hawkins 


Among Stars and Shadows by Diane Farrugia


Buckingham Mockup by Asif Shaikh


Trigger Point (An Angela Hardwicke Science Fiction Mystery Book 5) by Russ Colchamiro


Whirl of Birds: Short Stories by Liana Vraijitoru Andreasen


What Was Left of Her: A Story of Ghosts by Victoria Hattersley*


BASH: Love Madness and Murder by Michael Bartos


Sailing By Gemini’s Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 3) by Katie Crabb


Bedlam Trances by Nicholas Wagner


The Serpent's Bridge (The Serpent Series) by S.Z. Estavillo


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Well that's it. Thanks and as always, Happy Reading.


















Tales of Whiskey Tango from Misery Towers by James Aylott; Politics, Love, Crime, and Weirdness Come Together in St. Louis Apartment Building


 Tales From Whiskey Tango of Misery Towers by James Aylott; Politics, Love, Crime, and Weirdness Come Together in St. Louis Apartment Building 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I am quite giddy over the fact that one of the frequent settings this year is my home state of Missouri. It is even better when books are set in St. Louis, the closest city to where I live and consider my home. James Aylott’s anthologized novel, Tales of Whiskey Tango from Misery Towers is the fourth book this year to be set in Missouri, following Somewhere East of Me by Samuel Vincent O’Keefe, The Girl in the Corn, and The Boy From Two Worlds by Jason Offutt. In fact the only books that I reviewed previously that had a Missouri setting were Shaare Emeth (The Gates of Truth) by T.A. McLaughlin, Toward That Which is Beautiful by Marian O’Shea Warnicke, Chasing Dragons: The True History of the Piasa by Mark and Laurie Bonner-Nickless, the short story, “Jewel Box” in Sympathetic People by Donna Baier Stein, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn from 2019-2023. So this year definitely made up for the minimal Missouri representation in previous years.

Missouri, particularly St. Louis, makes a heck of an appearance in Tales of Whiskey Tango. It is practically a character itself in a book that is filled to the brim with fascinating characters. It boasts of a group of fascinating weird characters that inhabit a St. Louis Apartment and deal with issues with love, politics, economics, and crime in the Gateway to the West.

In Missouri Towers, nicknamed Misery Towers, a downtown St. Louis Apartment that overlooks the Arch and the Mississippi River, a group of residents are contemplating their life choices: Nick Pipeman is standing on a bridge thinking of the crises that led to his despair; Colton Chesterfield III was the victim of a very strange crime and is currently inside a coffin alive; Mike Love is thinking about some serious love affairs and is racing towards the one who might be the love of his life; Daris Ballic is drunk and prepared to defend his property Missouri Towers with violence if necessary; Sam Robinson is in despair about an affair that ended; Butterfly wants to dance at her job and forget about her troubles; Gloria McKendrick is at the City Museum is anxious about an important decision regarding her love life; Tyrone Booker is covering his police beat preparing for what could be a rough night; Madison Stone is sitting on the rooftop of Missouri Towers observing the chaos underneath and the approaching storm on the horizon. 

The most important character is certainly the city itself. Readers are treated to the various tourist spots like The City Museum, Busch Stadium, The Arch, and Forest Park, and the Enterprise Center, and the teams like The Blues and the Cardinals. But we are given more than that. Aylott knows the city and its people.

We are immersed into the local culture like the food (toasted ravioli, gooey butter cakes, thin crusted pizza, and pork steaks), areas (the wealthy Central West End, suburban South side, working class North side, and impoverished East side, along with neighborhoods like the Loop, The Hill, Dogstown, Ferguson, Soulard, Clayton, Bellefontaine, and enough St. name schools and towns to fill an entire Catholic yearly calendar), colloquialisms (“Where did you go to high school” instead of college and the endless debates whether the state is pronounced “Missouri,” “Missoura,” or “Misery.”), music (many blues, alternative, and hip hop artists got their start there), sports (The Blues winning the Stanley Cup in 2019, The Cardinals winning 11 World Series), celebrities (Jon Hamm, Chuck Berry, Veruca Salt, and Nelly are shouted out), controversies (the tempestuous school board meetings and local elections, the Michael Brown shooting and Ferguson police protests, income inequality, the political division between Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats with most of Missouri on one side and St. Louis on the other). 

Aylott gives a total sensory journey for Readers to experience a city that, unless they are local, many may not think about very often. Once read about it, few Readers will forget this fly over city. They may even want to stop by and visit once in awhile.

Tales From Whiskey Tango is a brilliant ensemble of a novel that explores the characters through their interests, personality traits, obsessions, and occupations. They stand out in different ways. Their personal journeys connect with one another by various means. Mike Love is a real estate agent who compares his life to his favorite Bruce Springsteen songs like “Born to Run,” “Born in the USA,” and “Thunder Road.” 

Gloria is a trapeze artist, newly arrived from Kansas and is fascinated by rom coms, specifically those starring Molly Ringwald. Mike and Gloria are weighing a potential romance but workplace conflicts, old flames, and different expectations throw challenges their way.

Mikes’ boss Daris is a Bosnian immigrant turned naturalized citizen and is hyper aware whether he seems American enough to his employees and clients. He treats his properties and sales leads like they are battlefields and his agents like Mike and Nick are soldiers in a war. 

Daris’ top agent, Nick is considered charming but has some very odd fetishes that affect his relationship with Zoe, a former circus clown and Gloria's roommate and is involved in criminal activity that could jeopardize his career.

 Nick and Zoe and Mike and Gloria's romances are observed and gossipped about by Madison whose favorite activities are sunbathing topless and spying on her neighbors.

Sam has an obsession with prostitutes and when he has an assignation with Alice, his latest, he has a notion to make her over Pretty Woman-style to be an ideal companion. But Alice is no Julia Roberts. She gets very tired of being controlled.

 Colton is a billionaire and ex-con whose darker side and hidden disreputability come back to haunt him when he is caught in a bizarre crime involving Reginald, a desperate gunman and Butterfly, an aging exotic dancer. 

As Tyrone tries to keep the peace in a city that is simmering with hatred and racism, he has to get to the roots of various crimes that involve many of the other characters.

Tales of Whiskey Tango isn't afraid to explore the beauty and ugliness of its setting and characters. Everyone is left to their own devices to make choices towards their own conclusion. They and the city lie in wait. 

The book explores each character and what led them and the city into this precarious position where they are waiting for romantic closure, crushing despair, escalating violence, delayed justice, waiting for a decision, to move forward, to live, to fight, or to die. Just like those storm clouds in the horizon, the characters will come and decide fates that they had been moving towards.