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 and 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, Forest Park, 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 here), 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.

Weekly Reader: Towards That Which is Beautiful by Marian O'Shea Wernicke; Beautiful Spiritual Novel About The Different Ways to Serve Others and Share Faith

 Weekly Reader: Toward That Which is Beautiful by Marian O'Shea Wernicke; Beautiful Spiritual Novel About The Different Ways to Serve Others and Share Faith

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The title of  Marian O'Shea Wernicke's novel, Toward That Which is Beautiful lives up to its name. Actually, it can't be heading towards what is beautiful when the whole book is beautiful. It's a beautiful spiritual journey about a nun contemplating her vows and learning what it truly means to serve her God and helping others and herself.

When we first meet Sister Mary Katherine, she is fleeing a convent in Santa Catalina, Peru as though running away. She is leaving her convent and her duties as a nun behind. Tellingly while others call her Sister or "madrecita," the third person narrator refers to her as Kate. This little reveal already shows that Kate is a woman going through internal conflicts between her vocation as a nun and her feelings as a woman.

As Kate escapes, temporarily seeking asylum in the home of Peter Grinnell, an anthropologist, we are given flashbacks to Kate's life in St. Louis, Missouri, her calling, and work in the convent. It also introduces us to Father Tom Lynch, a handsome priest from Ireland and among the many reasons that caused Kate to question her faith and get out of town.

The most remarkable aspects of this book are Wernicke's attention to setting and character. I am from the St. Louis area and I love books that are set there that go into great detail about the city. Kate attended school in University City and college at St. Louis University. One of my personal favorite passages is when Wernicke described a date in which she and a boyfriend visited Forest Park and the Muny, the outdoor summer theater in Forest Park which actually has limited free seating for audience members. Going to the Muny is an annual summer tradition for many, including myself, and it's fun to relive it in fiction.

Peru itself is described in all of its natural beauty and struggles. The mountains in which newcomers suffer altitude sickness because of the high elevation are present. There is also the presence of the country's many problems such as poverty and political strife. The conflicts are revealed by the many locals who take coca to soothe their hunger and make them forget their troubles. 

Probably, the most beautiful setting is the one which gave the book its title. During her escape, Kate visits Achirana, a canal that brings fresh water from the highlands to the desert area around Ica in Peru. According to legend, it was created because the Incan ruler, Pachacutec, fell in love with a woman from Ica. She first spurned his advances but when he promised to do any favor for her, she told him to build a canal that would bring water to the Ican desert. Achirana literally means "that which flows cleanly toward that which is beautiful." 

Achirana is a perfect metaphor for Kate and her struggles with her faith and responsibilities. Like the woman in the story, she wants to create beauty around her by helping others. However, while the woman in the story is able to help others with the gift of water, she is also satisfying her personal self as well. She decides to marry a man who by honoring his promise also shows his dedication to others.  She can balance both her responsibility to her kingdom and to herself.

Kate unfortunately struggles with that dilemma, even before she falls in love with Father Tom. While in her novitiate training, Kate weighs what she likes about being in the convent with what she doesn't. She enjoys the fellowship with the other nuns and the spiritual closeness to God during Mass. But she questions many of the stricter policies such as silence and whether retaining a life of solitude is something for her.

This doubt continues during her time in Peru. She teaches English to the young people but wonders if her lessons are enough since she speaks little Spanish and almost none of Aymara, the indigenous language. She wonders if teaching the students a new language and bringing them closer to God through good works is enough when their bellies are empty, addiction is plentiful, leaders change because of political infighting, and their futures will be one filled with hard work, poverty, and hardship. 

She isn't the only one who feels this way. The convent forbids the nuns and priests from becoming involved with local politics but people like Father Tom do. He takes Kate among the Aymara to see what life is like outside of the convent. He is very knowledgeable about Peru's political situation and is in favor of revolutionaries who want to take the country back. This commitment to caring for locals beyond their spiritual salvation is a draw to Kate. 

Kate also has to struggle with her personal and emotional sides as well. One of the nuns leaves before she does and Kate finds that she left to get married. Her feelings towards Father Tom increase especially after she reads a love letter meant for her. The two don't do more than kiss, but the connection is enough to increase Kate's doubts.

While the romance between Kate and Tom is a factor, it is important to remember that it is not the only, or even the main reason for Kate's escape. Yes, Father Tom is the catalyst but she had issues with her convent life before she ever met him. 

Ironically, it is during her escape is when she feels the strongest connection to spirituality.

Outside of the convent walls, she meets various locals, vacationers, academics, revolutionaries, and other people. She also sees the natural beauty around her. Here is where she feels God's love in the water, trees, mountains, in kind loving people, in lovers, and children. He doesn't just exist behind walls.

Kate wonders if the secluded life of a nun is enough. Is she running towards a life with God or running away from life? In being a nun, is she only promoting her religion and not actually helping anyone? Are there other ways to serve God while holding to the important values without denying one's own pleasure? Can she live a life for others, develop friendships and relationships, and still maintain a spiritual nature? 

Toward That Which is Beautiful is about the journey that someone takes when they believe that they know what their spiritual path should be. They then realize that path could change and that they could find personal happiness and still feel close to their faith. In fact, finding the right path can be the most beautiful and spiritually filling act of all.

New Book Alert: Shaare Emeth The Gates of Truth (The Love of the Tayamni Book 3) by T.A. McLaughlin; Gender Identity, Sexuality, and St. Louis Setting Play A Large Part In Latest Tayamni Outing

 

New Book Alert: Shaare Emeth The Gates of Truth (The Love of the Tayamni Book 3) by T.A. McLaughlin; Gender Identity, Sexuality, and St. Louis Setting Play A Large Part In Latest Tayamni Outing

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Now we come the to latest volume of T.A. McLaughlin's The Love of The Tayamni series, a complex science fiction saga which covers ancient aliens, time travel, intergalactic warfare, racism, sexuality, gender roles, and everything else in between.

The first book, Love of the Tayamni, introduces the concept that the pagan polytheistic gods were an ancient alien race. They mixed their DNA with that of the humans on Earth and created hybrids that were half Earthling and half Tayamni. They possessed several abilities such as traveling through time which proved useful in their intergalactic war against the cruel and manipulative Potacas and Tlaloc species.

The first book centered mostly on Batresh, the daughter of the Matriarch, head of the Tayamni. Batresh is sent forward in time to 1960's Mississippi to protect Denny Shields, a young boy who is the reincarnation of the Matriarch and is destined to accept that role in the future. Many complex themes are introduced, but the main storyline is pretty simple. It concerns Batresh's struggles protecting Denny from the prejudices and racism of the era of which the Potacas and Tlalocs feed off.

The second book, The Judgement of Seth, expands and opens up the concepts explored by the previous book. This book concerns Namazu, Batresh's sister, who travels to other planets to protect the Tayamni and recruit other alien species to take part in the conflicts against the Potacas and Tlalocs.

Book #3, Shaare Emeth The Gates of Truth, is similar to The Love of The Tayamni. The plot is mostly set on Earth and ignores the intergalactic largeness for another story of prejudice and hatred, this time towards the LGBT+ community. Also similar to the first book, most of the action centers on a few characters in one setting. This time the main character that receives the most attention is Denny Shields, who is now a young adult living in 1977 St. Louis.

From the moment during the end of The Judgement of Seth, that Batresh asks the haunting question "What's a gay bashing?" it becomes apparent that the themes of sexuality and gender identity that were in the background in the first two volumes have come forward in this one.

Denny has fled his abusive Tupelo home and his hateful racist father to start a new life in St. Louis, Missouri. As a child, he had been abused by his father, who dismissed his interest in dolls and girl's clothing as "evil." It took until the second book when he is still a child to believe that he is not evil, his father is. 

The third book is set during Denny's adulthood where he has removed himself from his toxic upbringing but is still uncertain about himself and who he really is. Coming to terms with his sexuality, he breaks up with a female friend after realizing that he can no longer live a lie. Denny gets accepted into the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and makes some new friends, a few whom he finds very attractive. Meanwhile, Batresh, now in a new form, has caught up to the young man and hopes to guide him to his destiny. Denny also catches the ire of a young homophobe who has intergalactic influences helping him unleash his more violent tendencies.

This is my favorite book in the series for many reasons. One  reason is deeply personal. My family moved to the St. Louis area in 1992 and of all places, this area feels like home to me. So I am filled with childish glee whenever I read something with a St. Louis setting. It's fun and personal when you recognize the place names in which the author describes. 

I know about Powell Symphony Hall with its red hallways, walls, and seats. I have been to Forest Park with its free Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, and Zoo (in keeping with the time period the Art Museum, in the book, hosts the famous King Tut exhibit.) I visited the Jefferson Expansion Memorial AKA The Arch though fear of heights and crowds with closed in spaces have kept me from taking the elevator. (Unfortunately, I haven't yet been to the new improved downtown area and would love to see what they have done with it.)

I recognize streets like Grand, areas like Soulard, and places like the St. Louis Central Public  Library and Washington University.

The shoutouts to the area are brilliant and allow Readers who aren't familiar to picture it in their heads and experience it vicariously. Readers who have lived there will have fun reliving a place in which they are familiar that is now inhabited by intergalactic aliens.

The other reason that this book is the best in the series so far is McLaughlin's treatment towards the characters by overlapping their personal journies with the larger science fiction aspects that go into play.

Most of this book's plot is something that can be found in any genre: the search for identity, discovering who a person is and where they fit in their world. We, the Readers, know  where Denny's future is headed as do the Tayamni, but he doesn't. He has dreams, flash backs, and maybe flash forwards of being the Matriarch, but he doesn't understand them. Even if he did, right now, he is more concerned about the current issues of being an adult: finding his own path, getting a job and earning money, and forging new friendships and romantic relationships. This is where Denny is right now and McLaughlin is in no hurry to push him forward. In fact, it becomes clear that what Denny perceives as typical experiences could turn out to be important lessons that he will learn and put into practice one day as the Matriarch. After all, his experiences in Mississippi and Missouri teach him a lot about equality, understanding, acceptance, and unity, traits which will be very useful one day.

Denny is on a journey of self discovery and part of that is learning about his sexuality and gender identity. He explains to a friend, Bob, that he was kicked out of his home at 16 years old after his father tricked him into reading a book by a gay author. On his own, Denny read works by authors like Oscar Wilde to realize that his feelings are perfectly normal and innate. It is the heteronormative society that is flawed in their lack of acceptance of different facets of sexual experiences and gender identities.

While in St. Louis, Denny befriends various men like Bob and David, who introduce him to the night life like Llewellyn's and Herbie's, the latter of which boasts that it's one of the few gay clubs with clear and open windows. (Since homosexuality was considered illegal until the late '60's to early 70's, many gay themed bars and nightclubs had covered or blackened windows so no passerby could peek inside and see who was hanging out there.) 

One of the most powerful symbols in the book is Shaare Emeth, The Gates of Truth. Denny sees this sign when his friend, Naomi takes him to a synagogue shabbat and he sees the gates for the first time. He sees it right before the congregation erupts into a hateful rhetoric against Southern Baptists and anyone else who isn't like them (not unlike the church services of Denny's youth which he gladly left). Observing the Gates of Truth, Denny finds his own gateway. He realizes that he must live his own truth and live honestly as an out and proud gay person.

While Denny is going on this personal journey towards truth and self discovery, the science fiction aspects are also apparent in the book. Batresh, assuming the form of Miriam, a fellow Chorus member, has an extended conversation with her late mother's spirit. She reminds her of her task to watch Denny, the vessel which houses her essence. Batresh also discovers things aren't always as they seem as a nunnery near Fontainebleau College is revealed to be a secret organization of female Tayamni who use the convent as a front for their real mission and deity worship.

Of course, the Tlalocs rear their ugly hateful heads when one is bound to Charles, whose homophobic tendencies lead to violence.. This book implies many of mankind's hatreds and prejudices are inspired, egged on, and fed off by the Potacas and Tlalocs. The sad truth is, in reality, humanity doesn't need such outside influences from outer space. We are more than capable of being cruel, divisive, hateful, and violent on our own.

Shaare Emeth is the next step in an involved and fascinating series. It is clear that another volume is on its way and judging by a conversation with McLaughlin, there will be others. If the attention to character, theme, and detail in setting is as brilliant as the first three books, it should be a great, exciting, and well written experience.