Demons Also Dream: Summoned (Deadly Sins Book 1) by Ava Lock; Meta Dark Fantasy/Horror is Also an Effective How To Writer’s Guide
By Julie Sara Porter
Spoilers: Ava Lock’s Demons Also Dream: Summoned is not the first time that I have reviewed a How to Writer’s Guide disguised as a novel. That honor would go to D-L Nelson’s Lexington: Anatomy of a Novel which features author Nelson’s Historical Fiction novel about a British soldier during the Revolutionary War while giving us the process in which she created, researched, wrote, and edited said novel. Technically, Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series flirts with that concept as well, especially in the books, First Among Sequels and One of Our Thursdays Are Missing when Thursday’s adventures are put in book form and she has to contend with an even more fictionalized version of herself. Jen Finelli's Becoming Hero gives us a graphic novel in which characters argue with each other and the authors about the directions in which the graphic novel is going.
But Lock’s book Demons Also Dream, takes that step even further. She wrote an effective sharp witty satirical Fantasy but also offers advice how a Dark Fantasy novel should or shouldn’t be written by having the protagonists talk and argue about it during the action.
Our Literary Deadpools are Jocelyn B. “Joss” Wild, best selling Horror and Fantasy author, and Azazel, AKA Fury, a demonic genie, former lover of Lucifer, and Joss’s muse. Joss shares a psychic connection with Fury and Hell’s denizens so she can see what’s going on down there and this in turn gives her inspiration for her works. Joss however wants to write her final Fury novel and move onto other works. This does not sit well with her favorite subject as Fury questions Joss’ novel and what this untimely end would mean. While this is going on, Fury bids to collect a bounty on Roger Ford Garrison, the escaped soul of a news anchor who in life kidnapped, tortured, and murdered members of the LGBT+ community. Joss encounters April S. Showers, a fan and aspiring author who is not exactly the picture of perfect sanity.
Demons Also Dream is a Hell of a fun time, particularly because of its two leads. Joss is a cerebral sardonic character who probably would have preferred to experience Hell, demons, psychopaths, and psychic energy through the pages of the books that she writes. She would rather be an author of best selling novels and go to the bar to cruise for an attractive woman to sleep with. What she gets instead is Fury, an aggressive sexually charged denizen of Hell who lives up to her name. She reacts with passion and fury inspiring Joss with her experiences and her energy. It's a difficult life one of demonic encounters , kidnappings, torture, and frightening psychic visions but Joss endures it, reports on it, and even makes money off of it. The two bounce off each other really well in these insane situations in which they find themselves.
The book is ripe with deliciously juicy bits that add to the overall tone of the story. Lucifer is described as looking and sounding like George Clooney. Roger works for, what else, Fox News. Hell is less a place of torture than a place of ineffective bureaucracy. When April holds Joss captive she submits her to the worst torture imagined: she makes her read her unfinished sappy Princess Fantasy novel! This book is a hilarious and savage delight.
The best parts are the meta commentary which reveals that this is a smart novel about how to write a Dark Fantasy novel. Characters call attention to various plot points that happen particularly Fury. It's one thing to kill off a lead character as Joss was planning to do in her novel. But when said lead character sits up and argues with you about it is something else entirely. It's particularly good when in the end Joss changes the name of her intended book from Demons Also Die to Demons Also Dream implying that the book that we just read is the one that she wrote. It makes one wonder how Lock’s actual creative process went in putting together her book.
The most brilliant and savage commentary is when Joss reads April's manuscript which, let's just say, makes the Vogons from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Mentor’s William Lansing look like misunderstood literary geniuses. Rather than outright attack the banal work, Joss gives her captor smart advice. She tells her to make her Mary Sue protagonist more real by giving her flaws. Put her into a conflict that raises the stakes and changes her outlook. Happy endings are fine but make them well earned by having her struggle. This is all good advice that any author needs to hear and the fact that it is written inside a novel that plays with and illustrates these conversations is really telling
Demons Also Dream: Summoned is an amazing and effective Master Class on writing a novel that is Trojan Horse disguised as a fun and exciting novel.
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