Weekly Reader: Everlasting Spring Beyond Olympus Volume 2 Colton and Blue Star by Francis Audrain; Sequel Mostly Better Than The Original Everlasting Spring Book

 Weekly Reader: Everlasting Spring Beyond Olympus Volume 2 Colton and Blue Star by Francis Audrain; Sequel Mostly Better Than The Original Everlasting Spring Book

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Francis Audrain's previous volume in The Everlasting Spring Beyond Olympus series, Benjamin and Boudicca was an incredibly uneven work. It recreated the leadership and independence in Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, but it came to a screeching halt when Benjamin, a newly converted Christian found himself in Britain and spent most of his time trying to convert the queen to his religion rather than actually helping her fight the Romans. It was clear that Audrain cared more about pushing an agenda rather than telling an engaging historical fiction or even an accurate one (especially since Christianity didn't enter Britain until centuries after Boudicca's death). I suggested that it might have been better if Benjamin encountered a historical character that actually did convert to Christianity or at least a fictional character.

However, Audrain's second volume, Colton and Blue Star, improves on that. While Christianity is a huge part of this book, it is relegated to the background with characters letting their actions and values represent their religious beliefs rather than constantly talking about them. It also presents a fascinating novel with characters living through times of great change and turmoil and how they survived through times of emigration, violence, harsh conditions, war, and racism. Except for a few respects which I will get to later, it is mostly a better volume than Benjamin and Boudicca by far.

The book begins in 1820-40's with Fiona Daley, an Irishwoman who loves to study the history, literature, and legends of her country, particularly the story of Boudicca (who is implied to be her ancestor, tying the two books together). With Protestants taking land and harassing Catholics, Fiona and her parents decide to emigrate to the United States. On the boat, both of Fiona's parents die and she falls in love with Aaron Patrick Cohan, a sailor. They marry and Fiona gives birth to their son, Colton Patrick Cohan.

Fiona and Aaron are pretty interesting characters who unfortunately don't get as much time as they should. It would have been nice for the book to focus on them a bit more or better yet, Audrain made a second book about Fiona and Aaron and made Colton and Blue Star the third book.

Well Colton is a good character as well and this book deals mostly with his adulthood where he moves to the west, gets involved with the Civil War, and falls in love with Blue Star, a beautiful Native American woman.

Colt goes on his own after he kills a man who raped his mother. As many do, in the mid 1800’s, the young man goes west. From a historical perspective, one of the best moments in the book is when Colton is in St. Louis. He sees several steamers and covered wagons all with the same destination as him. It is awe inspiring and at the same time sad at the thought of a country on the verge of expanding and eventually causing the decline of the environment and the people who lived there first. It is possible to feel both hopeful and in despair about the future that we know is coming. 

There are plenty of moments of historical or religious diatribe where the action stops and someone explains something, usually some form of exposition that slows the plot and even some of the characterization, but thankfully it’s not as present or as distracting as it is in Benjamin and Boudicca. Mostly the exposition serves more of a purpose than to give a sermon to the characters and by extension the Reader. Instead, it is used for educational purposes like when Fiona is teaching Colton about his country’s history and why she and her husband immigrated there or as a backstory like when Colton’s friend, Jim Hunter explains about his travels and why he is going west. The exposition can be a bit tedious but does show that Audrain certainly did his homework in writing his novel and inserting his fictional characters in this historical setting. Perhaps, he loved the research so much that he couldn’t bear to part with it so he inserted it into the dialogue as history lessons.

The plot doesn’t get moving again until Colt goes on the Oregon Trail (1980’s kids will surely recall the many bouts of dysentery and cholera, snake bites, and drowning in rivers along the way). There are some interesting details about the costs of horses and wagons, how doctors treated the patients on the trail, and the appearance of a Pony Express rider. There is also a real sense of place and setting as the wagoners travel from Missouri, to Kansas, to Nebraska, and so on. Plains, plateaus, flora, fauna, and weather are present in many paragraphs. The intent of the setting is to recognize the vastness of the lands that surrounds and overwhelms the characters. 

Thankfully, the book does not vilify Native Americans. In fact, it emphasizes how friendly and peaceable most encounters between Natives and European Americans actually are by showing trading exchanges and Natives guiding the white people along their path. In fact the few “Indian attacks” in the book are shown to be isolated incidents, rivalries between tribes, or specifically in self-defense because the European-Americans attacked first. 

Colt is, like I said, an interesting character. In the beginning he is intelligent through his history lessons but also awestruck on the trail. Everything is a new and exciting experience for him, so he learns by example. He also shows tremendous courage when he goes to help Yomba, a Shoshone chief, save his daughter, Blue Star, who was kidnapped by a rival tribe of Paiutes. 

Though cleverly, we are saved from a typical fight because Colt is taken out easily, is resuscitated by a nun, and learns that Blue Star, who is helping to nurse him, escaped on her own accord. Our hero, folks, rides a horse and gets knocked out! Clearly, there are moments to show that Colt, while eager and brave, is still out of his element and is capable of messing up and making plenty of mistakes. He also has a temporary attraction to the gold other riders have found but thankfully it doesn’t drive him to the extreme avarice and addiction of gold fever that many of the miners in California and Alaska would succumb to. Instead he settles in Virginia City, Nevada and agrees to be the partner and bodyguard to Bill Stewart to help keep the peace in Virginia City (an extremely tall order as there are plenty of violent shootouts, Southern sympathizers taking the Civil War to the west, and con men taking advantage of newcomers). 

Unlike Benjamin and Boudica, Colton and Blue Star don't just talk incessantly about Christianity. Colt acts according to his beliefs. Coming from a family that was treated horribly in their home country, Colt has a natural aversion to slavery so sides with the Union and the belief in making the United States free and equal for everyone. He also has to show a lot of honor and integrity by upholding the law against various people who want to take the Civil War to Virginia City. 

While Colt may not be tempted by gold, he is tempted by other interests, showing that though he bestows Christian behavior he is far from saintly, perfect, or self-righteous. He briefly returns to the east, discovers the fate of his parents, and enlists in the Union Army. After being wounded, he enters into an affair with Virginia, a nurse. Colt’s dalliance with Virginia squeaks by because he is under the impression that Blue Star returned to her tribe and married, but he has very little resistance in engaging in an affair with the other woman. In later chapters, it does not go unnoticed and leads to subsequent results.

While Colt is well written, Blue Star does not fare as well. She is written as beautiful, kind, quick-witted in learning to speak English and effectively communicating with Colt and other white people, strong-willed in escaping from the Paiutes on her own, and loyal to Colton who becomes her lover. However, she is treated more as the object rather than the subject. She does not get a point of view chapter and even disappears from the narrative for a time. Most of her thoughts and actions are interpreted by Colton so she is often deprived of her agency. She shows some spunk in later chapters when Colton is assigned to keep an eye on Confederate sympathizers and saboteurs. She learns information by talking to Confederates and provides it to the Union, but she is still often seen as helpless and needing rescue by Colton. It is a sharp contrast to the woman who escaped from the Paiutes and walked her own way from captivity to freedom. 

It could be since Boudicca was such a strong protagonist in the previous book, that anyone after her would falter. But Fiona is an effective lead in the beginning of this book and even gets the POV in the first two chapters. In Virginia City, there are plenty of well written women that are capable of representing themselves such as Julia Bulette, a Madam who helped build the Virginia City community. Fun Fact: Prostitutes often helped build many of the western towns and communities, using their money to build buildings like stores, schools, and churches. They eventually became influential businesswomen and community leaders in their own right. Their contribution was so important that these prostitutes were part of the reason that Wyoming was the first state to grant women’s suffrage. It’s great that Audrain includes this bit of true history in his writing. 

So Blue Star’s uneven characterization and exclusion in telling her own story is even more evident with better women written about in her own book. Audrain should have developed equal time to his heroine as he did in his hero, alternating their perspectives as he did with Benjamin and Boudicca.

Colton and Blue Star deals with much of the hardship and sacrifice of the time period, of living and surviving in an unknown land and fighting to hold the country together. There are plenty of deaths and great sadness, but there is also a strong sense of community, love, family, and friendship that can be found during those times. 

Weekly Reader: A White Hot Plan by Mike and Ayan Rubin; Suspenseful Tense Thriller About Hate Groups and Domestic Terrorism

 Weekly Reader: A White Hot Plan by Mike and Ayan Rubin; Suspenseful Tense Thriller About Hate Groups and Domestic Terrorism

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Despite what Right Wing Media would like to say, domestic terrorism based on white supremacy is still very much alive and well. The hate crime shooting in Jacksonville, Florida is one such example and is only the most current. In 2022, the Southern Poverty Law Center identified 1,225 hate and anti-government extremist groups, 109 of them are white supremacist, in the United States. The groups and individuals that focus around former President Donald Trump, argue against his indictments, and create conspiracy theories that paint Trump as some sort of innocent victim or a Messiah for their delusional religion have made these hate groups more noticeable and willing to come forward. The presence of social media has also allowed members to come out from behind the fringes, their white robes and hoods, and secret codes and meetings to display their hatred openly. Hate groups never disappeared. They are just now upfront and mainstream.

So yes with that environment, it is easy to see why a psychological thriller like Mike and Ayan Rubin's A White Hot Plan would be so timely.

Starner Gautreaux has just been reassigned from his position as a police officer in New Orleans to become a deputy in tiny Petit Rouge Parish, his old hometown. He expects the job to be mostly writing tickets and pulling over drunk teens. Not like solving murders and stopping gang fights of his past. 

Starner's boredom is about to come to an end when he pulls a dead man away from his exploding tractor-trailer. Another man gets shot in the head at his used vehicle parts store. A school bus driver is poisoned by gas. 

It doesn't take long for Starner to realize that these murders are related. While Starner and his colleagues are working at solving these murders, a White Supremacist group has plans for a future terrorist attack, one that will make the news and that no one will ever forget.

Starner is a good lead for a book such as this. He is very reminiscent of Jarod Huntington, protagonist of Lee Allan Howard’s recent thriller, The Covenant Sacrifice. Both left their rural communities behind for the big city only to return and face the prejudices that they thought were left behind. 

In Jarod’s case, he is a gay man returning to a town whose residents appease a supernatural demon by sacrificing an LGBT person. The sexuality theme is more of a subtext underneath the supernatural front. In the case of A White Hot Plan the prejudice is front and center. Monsters and demons are unnecessary when human villains operate on their own prejudices, biases, and hatreds. 

Starner knows the racism that surrounds him and that investigating these murders will be an uphill battle. He knows that even though Petit Rouge Parish has plenty of residents, both black and white, that many neighbors still hate one another because of their skin color and some are willing to put that hatred to violence even if it is against someone that they have known their whole lives. 

This is the type of thriller where we get the protagonist and antagonist’s perspective so we get inside the mind of the hate group members, in particular its leader who goes by the name of Precept and Kenny, a newcomer who is slowly climbing the ranks. We see their aliases, so no one knows anyone’s real name. We see their secret codes, messages, and signs of recognition so they know who is part of the group and is privy to their plans. 

Thankfully, A White Hot Plan takes the perspective from the antagonists, but they are not portrayed sympathetically. We might understand why they joined such a racist group and how the thought of white supremacy acts like a poison that corrodes the soul and destroys whatever reason that they might have. But they are fanatic, cruel, delusional, and so driven by their hatred that some are willing to die for it and if this plan comes to fruition, they just might. 

This process of capturing the protagonist and antagonists’ points of view puts  the Reader ahead of the law enforcement but only up to a point. We know who they are. We know who they killed. We know why they are doing it. What we don’t know until the very end is what is their final objective and how they are planning on achieving it. When their final plan is set, it is every bit as chilling and gripping as the build up predicted. It is definitely a tense several chapters long event that propels the narrative into a tense chase between Starner and the white supremacists. 

A White Hot Plan is definitely suspenseful and thrilling. The most frightening part is in a highly toxic divisive world where the very definition of racism is challenged and many won’t even permit it to be talked about, this fictional scenario could very easily become fact.

Weekly Reader: Offset Children of the Gulf Written by Delvin Howell Illustrated by Hans Steinbach; Despite Some Flaws, An Excellent Continuation to Bimshire's Legendary Heroes and Villains

 Weekly Reader: Offset Children of the Gulf Written by Delvin Howell Illustrated by Hans Steinbach; Despite Some Flaws, An Excellent Continuation to Bimshire's Legendary Heroes and Villains

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: When last we left the island of Barbados AKA Bimshire in Delvin Howell and Hans Steinbach's Offset: Mask of the Bimshire, Kyle Harding studied a form of martial arts that uses a sugar cane as a weapon.

With his new friend, Damien Collins and a group of friends and family members including his kid brother, Damien, Kyle had to face human gangs and various monsters from Bajan myths. Most frightening of this rogue's gallery is the Heart Man, a man transformed into a creature who removes hearts from his victims and Mrs. Pringle, a witch who transformed and controlled the Heart Man.

In the second volume, Children of the Gulf one year has gone by. Kyle and the others are trying to adjust to a normal life. But now some potentially supernatural events such as someone disappearing into thin air and Kyle being attacked by invisible enemies suggest that Bimshire's legendary monsters have returned to fight Kyle, "The Inheritor." Kyle has to fight both human and supernatural enemies while Collins and young Damien have their own encounters that set their own fates and destinies. Kyle also receives some unlikely help from Sniper, a former enemy to face the latest group of villains.

The Mask of Bimshire is a great volume. Children of the Gulf however is good but not great. It has some great terrifying moments and many of the characters, particularly the supporting ones, receive more depth and twists in their individual paths. However, it stumbles particularly with antagonists who are not as interesting or as memorable as those in the previous volume. Perhaps The Mask of Bimshire's excellence is a detriment to Children of the Gulf. The first volume left such a memorable impression that its successor either had to match it or falter. Unfortunately, in this case it pales in comparison.

In this volume, the supporting characters really shine through when their own paths are revealed. Collins discovers that his chance meeting and friendship with Kyle might not be coincidental after all when he is recruited by a secret organization known as the canecutters and is taught abilities that could help Kyle or cause him even more trouble. Their divergent paths may pit Kyle and Collins against each other.

Sniper, an antagonist from the first volume, shows some depth and vulnerability in this volume, saving Kyle a couple of times and questioning his life as a pelt-ing (a gang member that throws bottles at victims). He seems to emerge as an anti-hero and potential frienemy of Kyle's. Sniper could end up becoming a potential future sidekick if Kyle and Collins end up at odds. Sniper's trajectory is good, but Collins is a great character and his and Kyle's friendship is one of the highlights of the series. It's just a possibility hanging in the air.

Damien Harding however has a more potentially disturbing development. He is also being noticed by the dark spirits and they see potential in him. Damien is also going through a rebellious questioning phase against Damien and their guardian, Mr. Beckles. Damien begins meeting the spirits in secret and appears to be starting a darker nature. We could see the young boy develop as a potential villain selling his soul to the darkness around him. There is a potentially terrifying future for this young man.

Unfortunately, because the supporting characters are built up more in this volume, it emphasizes more how bland a lead Kyle is. There is one great moment when he reunites with a relative and instead of greeting them with a warm hug, he lets them have it for this destiny that Kyle ended up inheriting that he didn't ask for, wasn't consulted on until he was left alone to deal with it, and puts him and his friends in constant trouble.

However, except for this moment, Kyle does very little except fight villains. It was like once his hero story was revealed, there was little left for him to do, so instead the other characters got built up.

Kyle isn't the only character who is a distinct letdown. The villains are nowhere near as developed as The Heart Man and Mrs. Pringle in The Mask of Bimshire. For the most part these villains are practically interchangeable and their backstory isn't as compelling as The Heart Man's bargain with Mrs. Pringle in the previous volume. There are some pretty creepy moments when some sinister little spirits called the baku demand payment. But they aren't as memorable as the Heart Man's terrifying transformation from regular guy to heart stealing monster.

Also, this volume does a major misstep in failing to recognize a regular primary antagonist in Mrs. Pringle. She was a sinister delight pulling the strings behind the Heart Man's actions and viewed Kyle as an "Inheritor" and worthy opponent. Unfortunately, she is removed anticlimactically and her full potential is never realized. 

While there is some supernatural presence throughout this volume, it mostly remains in the shadows and isn't fully involved in the characters which means the dark and light magic in the previous book gives way to more physical action fights which are nowhere near as compelling or entertaining as they were before. That could be the point as the real villains may be saved for next time. But these antagonists are pretty lackluster.

Sometimes the second volume in a book series has greater characterization by developing the characters' journeys and widening the ensemble. Sometimes it has a weaker plot because it contains repetitive fights and little resolution to be saved for the next volume. In Children of the Gulf's case it has both: better development but a weaker plot and antagonists. That averages out to okay but could be much better. At the least the flaws aren't large enough to get in the way of good expectations for volume three.

New Book Alert: Dark Beauty by Blake Rudman; Twisted Tale of Twins Tarnished Beauty, Ambition, and Sudden Fame

 New Book Alert: Dark Beauty by Blake Rudman; Twisted Tale of Twins Tarnished Beauty, Ambition, and Sudden Fame

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Blake Rudman's Psychological Thriller, Dark Beauty, is a twisted tale of a pair of twins who are tarnished by ambitions for beauty, fame, wealth, and revenge.

Identical twins, Tessa and Kristin Morgan are on the eve of superstardom. The former models turned actresses are coming off the premiere of Dark Beauty, a critically acclaimed box office hit film that is already receiving Oscar buzz. Well most of the acclaim is directed towards Tessa who is being hailed as the latest discovery since Jennifer Lawrence. As for Kristin, well "wooden" and "erratic" are some of the kindest comments. The twins' argument is interrupted by a stalker who sprays acid on both twin's faces leaving them with physical and eventually mental and emotional scars. Most of the book takes us to the twins' lives before the accident and sudden fame and their lives afterwards.

Dark Beauty does the usual theme of the good twin vs. bad twin, but thankfully subverts expectations by giving Tessa and Kristin subtleties and facets that break stereotypes to be interesting individuals who are caught up in a continuous rivalry and duality that probably has been going on since the two shared a womb.

Chronologically, Tessa and Kristin first appear during their senior year in high school when both are seen as pretty, popular, and smart but Tessa is favored by their parents and peers while Kristin retreats into sullen rebellion. It gives the impression that Kristin at one time tried to be as nice and scholarly a girl as Kristin, but the comparisons wore on her so she gave up and stood away from her sister in a self imposed isolation. 

Ironically, after graduation Kristin wants Tessa to join her in a modeling career instead of going to UCLA and medical school to become a doctor. She says that it's because twins are a rare angle for agencies, photographers, and advertisers to explore, but it could just as easily be that she believes that Tessa has the same ambitions and desires that she does and wants to share the glamorous life with her. 

Tessa however has her own goals and identity to discover. She has wanted to be a doctor since she was five and loves her sweet boyfriend, Daniel so she is ready to start her own life. But Kristin is a narcissist, along with displaying symptoms from some other mental disorders suggesting that she is a very troubled woman. Kristin only considers what she wants so she spikes Tess's bottled water with LSD so she'll bomb her final exam. So her only option is to leave UCLA and join her sister into the modeling field.

Of course, Tess gets the laugh when their careers change from modeling to acting. Tess works hard to study her role of the bad sinister twin in the movie (no doubt by a slight case of Method acting by taking on her sister's attributes to play the role). Kristin however falls into addiction and partying with an endless stream of men which affects her performance. Tess who never wanted to be an actress or model gets praised while just like when they were kids, Kristin is ignored.

While Tess is mostly hard working, kind, and intelligent while Kristin is scheming, self-centered, and aggressive there are times when their personalities don't shift so much as their good/bad twin dichotomy becomes fuzzy. Tess at times behaves very cold and self righteous especially regarding Kristin's behavior. Kristin displays a self-sufficiency and a sharp mind that allows her to survive despite adversity.

Perhaps this is why Tess is able to play the part of the bad twin in the movie so well. She isn't playing her polar opposite based on her sister. She is playing her own subterranean thoughts, things that she always wanted to do but hid behind a good girl veneer. After the scarring, she retreats into her self-pity and depression. It is only when she discovers what Kristin has been doing that she takes control of her own life. To do that, she has to be as angry, controlling, manipulative, and scheming as her sister. She has to out-Kristin Kristin in reality not in cinema.

Kristin herself shows much of her strength and self-sufficiency in her post-scarring. Ironically, without Tess around she shows a great deal of intelligence and control of her life instead of being thought of as always second to Tess. Her career after the scarring is too juicy to get into but it displays not only her dark nature but her ability to put herself forward, away from her sister. 

The twins' confrontations are as tense and suspenseful as accusations are made and secrets are revealed. Together they reveal the beauty and the ugliness inside the darkness.

Weekly Reader: Legacy of Heroes by Daniel P. Riley; Character's Real Identities Outshine Their Superheroics

Weekly Reader: Legacy of Heroes by Daniel P. Riley; Character's Real Identities Outshine Their Superheroics

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Maybe because I am sick of superheroes everywhere, but when the superhero's real life identity and problems are better written than their super identity and fights with villains, that's not a good sign.

That's the problem facing Daniel P. Riley's Legacy of Heroes. He gives us three interesting characters then puts them in a typical hero plot that is trite and leaves very few surprises or excitement.

The protagonists are three teenagers with different abilities. Dasani Watson suits up as the newest version of Paragon, as a tribute to the original hero who lost his life saving Dasani years ago. James Lassiter is followed by a demonic figure that hides in the shadows and is barely controlled by James. The third member is Amy Price AKA Shriek AKA Crescendo who was once a member of a supervillain gang but now uses her power of making sonic sounds for good when her old gang abandons her. 

The three are assembled by Martin Lieberman, journalist and friend to the original Paragon. He wants to turn the trio into the latest superhero team to take on various villains like Amy's old gang and enemies of original Paragon's.

Individually the trio have some great moments that revealed their personal problems and struggles. They are actually more interesting in their conflicts with their placements and teen problems then they are with their fights against their super antagonists.

Dasani is still grief stricken over the deaths of his parents and of the original Paragon. Even though he only met Paragon once, it was such a monumental moment that changed his life forever. Living with his grandfather and struggling to take the role of his hero, gives Dasani a sense of reality of a world in which heroes are all too mortal and can't always be found in reality. Dasani has to look for the heroism within himself.

James has some pretty frightening passages with his companion, The Shadow Man. In a way, he is similar to someone with a severe mental illness like Paranoid Schizophrenia, PTSD, or Dissociative Identity Disorder. He can't always control his darker aspects. Sometimes it lives independently and does things that James is often against. The Shadow Man makes James feel isolated from his new friends.

Amy has to deal with leaving a toxic group and getting her life back in order. She was frequently abused and knew that she was only being used because of her abilities but as a runaway estranged from her parents she had few options. She is intimidated by the gang leaders, Comedy and Tragedy (called because they wear the comedy and tragedy theater masks). Amy isn't able to cut herself off from the gang until she is abandoned and found by James and Dasani. There she finds people who understand and accept her.

The trio start strong until the team heroics begin. There are some interesting costumes and characters that they face, notably Amy's old acquaintances Comedy and Tragedy. But they are lost to the typical plot points found in most superhero tales: the fights where they are overpowered, then come together stronger and united, the moment when one of the good guys gets kidnapped with their weaknesses exposed, the history between these new enemies and the good guy's mentor, and the twist of one of the villain's secret identity. Of course, the climactic ending reminds us that this is only the beginning. It's all regular and even boring with no new approaches to the plot. So much so that I forgot many of the plot angles almost as soon as I ended the book.

We've seen it all before and with the exceptions of the trio's individual backstories, the rest isn't really that super.

 

Weekly Reader: Weep, Woman, Weep by Maria DeBlassie; Female Driven Dark Fantasy Takes on La Llorona

Weekly Reader: Weep, Woman, Weep by Maria DeBlassie; Female Driven Dark Fantasy Takes on La Llorona

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The legend of La Llorona is one that is frequently recounted in Mexico and the American Southwest. The legend is about an indigenous Mexican woman, usually named Maria, who fell in love with a Spanish conquistador or vaquero. They became lovers, married, and she gave birth to two children. One day, Maria caught him with another woman and in a rage drowned her children. Consumed with guilt, she drowned herself. She is then cursed to roam the Earth forever to find her children. Her ghost is usually heard wailing from grief and is seen dressed in a wedding gown and veil. The story goes that if she is seen and heard by water, someone, usually a child or a young single woman, will later drown. 

La Llorona's story has been told in art, books, movies, music, and various tv series. She is one of those fantastic characters from American myth and legend that has entered the national lexicon like Bigfoot, the Ghostly Hitchhiker, the Jersey Devil, Champ the Lake Champlain's monster, The Bell Witch and others. 

Some have interpreted her story as a criticism of colonialism with the Spanish conquistador controlling the indigenous La Llorona and leading to her death. Others have interpreted it to be a feminist tale of a woman drowning by the patriarchy around her. It is an interesting story and opens up many possibilities of what it means and says a lot about the culture that it comes from and the people telling it.

Weep, Woman, Weep by Maria DeBlassie gives her interpretation of the legend from the point of view of two Mexican-American women who are afraid of but at the same time drawn to this mysterious ghost.

Two women, Mercy and Sherry, live in a small desert town in New Mexico near Esperanza. They are dealing with the challenges of puberty and exploring their sexuality while discussing the legend that haunts them.

In this version of the legend, the women who La Llorona drowned don't die. Instead, they become shells of themselves, docile, obedient, God fearing, and submissive women. Mercy thinks of it not as a "drowning but a baptism." Things get worse when as an adult, Sherry is the next woman to go through this odd transformation. Could Mercy be next?

Mercy is the first person narrator and it's clear that she is a woman in great pain and filled with anger. She is surrounded by poverty, domestic violence, and a strict patriarchal society. Sherry has no idea who her father is and often keeps away from her alcoholic mother and her pedophiliac boyfriends. Mercy's father abused and walked out on her and mother, causing her mother to retreat into depression. It's a sad existence in which Mercy and Sherry just survive and dream of better things like marrying rich and wealthy men, traveling, having great careers, and living in big beautiful houses.

They live such dysfunctional lives that when they see Sherry's aunt and her boyfriend, they are surprised that he doesn't beat her. Instead, he kisses her. They have never seen an adult couple act loving and affectionate towards each other in public, even rarely at home.

Mercy tells her story with a dry cynicism that displays a world weary humor. She describes Esperanza as a place "where you went when you want to be forgotten by the place you came from." Her interpretation of the La Llorona story is that the spirit "regretted giving up her power to a man. And she regretted being bested by him….Instead all he brought her was more shame."

Of the women who had been transformed by La Llorona, Mercy describes them as "Jesus loving self-righteous prigs who called themselves Spanish-the closest thing to white they could be ... .Their eyes were forever red rimmed like they'd been crying though they never did. That's because their hearts stopped once they were baptized, and feelings were left at the bottom of the river along with their souls." 

Mercy and Sherry try to avoid being seen or taken by La Llorona, but constantly talk about her. Mercy does everything that she can to not transform like the other women around her do. She makes a blood pact with Sherry that they won't be like the other women. Mercy works on a farm because she is a hard worker and also to take on seemingly "masculine" work to make herself less likely to become one of La Llorona's victims. 

It's significant in this version that those that are taken by La Llorona do not die. Instead, this is more interpreted as a living death, the death of the women's personalities and individuality. 

La Llorona is a metaphor for the patriarchal society in which Mercy and Sherry live. The women's transformation causes them to be willing participants in the system around them. They are like Stepford clones deprived of their thoughts and independence. 

There's a possibility that La Llorona isn't real and is the product of a developing mind filled with PTSD from her abused past and anxiety about womanhood in such a restricted situation. After all, since the women's transformation is described as a baptism, it could be a reflection of Mercy's feelings towards religion, particularly Christianity, and the limitations towards women when they follow such dogma. They go to church, get baptized, and conform to the patriarchal society surrounding them. 

As she matures, Mercy has few options: allow La Llorona to take her and conform, retreat into depression, alcoholism, and defeat like hers and Sherry's mother, or live an independent life. In retaliation against the spirit and the patriarchy around her, Mercy opts for independence.

Mercy lives on a farm outside of town that she runs herself. She makes herbal and homeopathic medicines and health and beauty aids. The price that she has to pay for rebelling against the society around her is to live outside of it. She is referred to by the locals as a "spinster, "whore," and "witch" (which she wonders how someone can be described as both a whore and a spinster). Mercy lives a lifetime of solitude knowing that La Llorona (or her fears and anxieties) is out there waiting for her to drown. She also tries to maintain her friendship with Sherry even though they have emotionally grown apart and Sherry is in an unhappy marriage with an abusive philanderer. She leaves gifts and words of strength and encouragement. 

In trying to live her life to spite La Llorona, Mercy ends up living her life more authentically than most other women around her.

Weep, Woman, Weep transforms the legend of La Llorona into a feminist novel of women who are given the option of falling into the patriarchy or turning away from it and be themselves.

 

Lit List Short Reviews: Authenticity: Poems by Lesley Day; Wolf Weather by Miles Watson; Reflections in My Magical Mirror: Lessons of Love from the School of Life by Ivan Figuero-Otero, M.D.; Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure by Robin Robby; Abraham Lincoln Tribute: His Life and Legacy by Zaki J. Doudak

 Lit List Short Reviews: Authenticity: Poems by Lesley Day; Wolf Weather by Miles Watson; Reflections in My Magical Mirror: Lessons of Love from the School of Life by Ivan Figueroa-Otero, M.D.; Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure by Robin Robby; Abraham Lincoln Tribute: His Life and Legacy by Zaki J. Doudak 

Authenticity: Poems by Lesley Day

Lesley Day's book of poems, Authenticity, explores many emotions like depression, grief, loneliness, fear, and solitude. She captures them all with raw, naked, and honest confessional poems that dare the Reader to feel what the Speaker is feeling.

From the first poem, "Nothing More Than A Prick," Day reveals her ability to capture those feelings through life changing moments. The Speaker reads through diary entries from when she was younger. The entries are from a 14 year old's perspective revealing her first experience with what she perceived as heartbreak.

The Speaker mocks her naivete and realizes that as an adult, she has experienced real loss and heartbreak.Day writes, "Who knew the flowing streams of tears, in reality, were only puddles?/Who knew the stones that weighed me down were only tiny pebbles?/Who knew I would one day envy feeling so strongly over something so trivial?" Now that she felt real sadness as an adult, the Speaker realizes that what she felt as a teenager was a mild mere pinprick compared to how she feels now.

Many of Day's poems deal with specific moments that cause great stress and grief and elicit strong emotional responses. The poem, "I've Been Here Before" deals with The Speaker's lover's suicide. Day transitions the lover's point of view from second to third person. In doing so, she wants to compartmentalize his troubled symptoms and the rest of his personality.

In one stanza, she says that "he" aimed a gun at her head. Then she changes perspective by saying, "Now I know that wasn't you/And I'm not saying that's what I think you'll do/But/Eyes,looks, tone of voice, and the rambles of a mind that is temporarily not your own/Triggers something inside/I see it flash before my eyes/Only this time?/He's not in my line of sight/It's you.." She wants to believe that the person with the gun, the one who ended his life, was a different person than the one that she fell in love with. She knows however that they were one and the same. The Speaker is struggling with her own complex feelings of guilt and blame over his death.

Day's poems reveal the various symptoms of depression and grief and how they affect those who have to endure them. "She Comes at Night" explores one of the Speaker's"enemies": insomnia. Day personifies insomnia as a clever enemy, something that sneaks into the Speaker's thoughts, races like a train, keeps her awake, and inspires her. The Speaker knows that this is unhealthy and the energy that insomnia temporarily gives her tapers off. Day writes, "Thoughts are no longer clever, and they make less and less sense/As the days drag on/My mind is foggy and overworked/I'm drowning, as I grasp for sleep/I'm sinking/Waiting for unconsciousness to save me."

The Speaker's battle with insomnia is an ongoing struggle in which she keeps fighting for her mind's sake.As many who have Depression can tell, it's not always dealt with or expressed in the same way. Some people take to their beds and can barely move. Others try their best to hide it. "Functional" describes someone who hides her depression behind function. The Speaker goes out, works, and interacts with others. Many would believe that she doesn't have it. She even tells herself that she's fine, but knows that it's there. She lies to herself until she no longer can. She refers to her depression as "controlled claustrophobia." "You know it's there," Day writes. "You recognize its presence/You feel the itch of panic tingle its skin/But you will yourself to breathe/And tell yourself that you will be okay/You don't allow yourself to scratch the itch/Because it will only make it spread."

Besides being functional,The Speaker describes her depression as a "sometimes " thing. She doesn't always have the symptoms, but when she does, they hit hard. Perhaps The Speaker's depression is so powerful because she doesn't always feel that way. If depression was always there, perhaps it could recede into dullness whereas when it comes and goes, it comes on sharp, fast, and painful.

While Day's poems can seem bleak, they also present ways of coping with stress and depression. The poem, "Quiet in the Spaces," gives the Speaker the comfort of solitude. It says, "I don't enjoy the rush of life/Not rush as an emotion/But rush as in not enough time/You see/I need time/I need it to savor the quiet moments/The ones found in the spaces/Between the significance of a day." Day reminds the Reader that sometimes the most chaotic minds need those quiet times and safe spaces to reflect and just be.

Another positive coping mechanism can be found through reading and writing. In "Addiction to Lines," the Speaker reveals her addiction to "blank journals." With those journals, she can share her thoughts, express herself, and confide her troubles like a friend. The poem says, "They sit in a pile at my shelf/And when I look at the different colors melding together, I feel safe/Their silent presence is comforting/I'm no longer anxious about running out of lines/I feel confident that there will be enough for my thoughts to sleep." The Speaker is able to put her thoughts and emotions into her journals so they can provide some comfort and even control over them.

The book, Authenticity, puts emotions, especially the hardest ones to feel,together to create a whole soul. The poem, "Painted Colors" compares the soul to a painting that displays the various colors of emotions. Each one is painted in, carefully and precisely. It's an ongoing process which changes each time. The poem says, "Strokes of color do not come easy/Nor do they come quickly/But all it takes/Is one small blink/To paint black over all the colors/And drench this soul in darkness." This poem reveals what's inside the mind and soul of a person with depression. There will always be a bit of black inside them that will never truly disappear and can sometimes feel overpowering. However, that's not all there is. There are other colors, other emotions, that surround the soul and make it complete and authentic.

Wolf Weather by Miles Watson

Miles Watson's latest short work is a chilling atmospheric Dark Fantasy Horror that shows that there can be much to be feared in the cold woods during winter.

Crowning, a soldier of the Empire's Legion. Since Dagamin the Restless obtained the throne after conflicts between warring kingdoms. Dagamin decided to expand his kingdom far into the North. There isn't anything out there but wolves, he insists.

Unfortunately, they aren't just any wolves as the human-like howling and the wolves walking around on hind legs can attest. Then Crowning's fellow Legionnaires keep disappearing and the wolves' numbers increase. 

Wolf Weather is not long, only 62 pages, but like Watson's other works like The Numbers Game, The Devils You Know, and Deus Ex, he is an expert at capturing a really tense moment with plenty of atmosphere and not a lot of exposition. Aside from the bit of information about the preceding wars, and the current empire, we aren't told much about the political climate. We get some implications especially towards the end that all may not be well in this empire and that's all we need.

This is told from the point of view of Crowning, a Legion soldier, the type who follows orders. He doesn't see anything wrong with the Empire until he is faced with the possibility that encroaching on other lands might not be a good idea especially when the locals are not happy about it. 

The book is filled with descriptions that highlight the tension and isolation that Crowning feels during this story. The North seems cut off from the rest of the world because of the cold snowy landscape. Even when he is with the Legionnaires, there is a feeling of loneliness and despair. It gets worse as the other soldiers disappear and Corwin is literally and metaphorically cut off from everyone and everything that he knows.

One of the more interesting aspects is how Wilson writes werewolves. Their links between their human and animalistic natures are revealed and actually are even balanced. In most werewolf tales, the human side is not in control, usually not remembering or regretting their actions. Here the werewolves know what they are doing and why. It is almost seen as a reclamation between humans and nature that these half-human half-wolves have accepted their wild natural side and live their lives away from the structured human world. 

Corwin's encounter with the werewolves changes his outlook. He struggles to retain his humanity and his identity as a Legionnaire. However, his encounter with the werewolves causes him to question his loyalty, his placement in society, his own natural instincts, and the Emperor's ambitions. It culminates in a climax when Corwin has to face the truth of who he really is and what he really wants.

Wolf Weather is a short work but an interesting one with great atmosphere, characterization, and an interesting outlook at magical creatures who have been sidelined long enough.

Spirituality 104: Reflections in My Magical Mirror Lessons of Love from the School of Life by Ivan Figueroa-Otero, M.D.

I haven't read the other books in Ivan Figueroa-Otero's School of Life books so that would probably make his book, Spirituality 104: Reflections in My Magical Mirror Lessons of Love from the School of Life more comprehensive and expansive. However, Reflections in My Magical Mirror, is a short book that captures various lessons and advice from the previous books. Without the other books, the chapters are very thin and shallow with the content.

However they are also helpful and easily digestible if the Reader wants to read an uplifting quick chapter that reflects a problem that they are going through. 

Each chapter is the same. It begins with a quote from one of the previous School of Life Books. Then Figueroa-Otero continues with an interpretation of the quote from a spiritual perspective. Finally, he offers an exercise based on the quote in the chapter. It's formulaic but easy for Readers to determine which chapter may fit their particular situation.

For example Chapter 15 focuses on the quote: "We are like rivers that always flows (sic) to God's greatest ocean of love." Figueroa-Otero then compares the quotation to holograms where an original image can be replicated by its parts. The information is stored into each part to create the whole image, so each part makes a whole.

He also uses natural imagery to articulate the quote. With the one mentioned in Chapter 15, Figueroa-Otero compares us, humanity, to individual rivers flowing into the great ocean of the Universe. We are not separated. What affects our individual rivers affects the ocean and vice versa. 

The exercise encourages the Reader to visualize love flowing through them like water from a river into an ocean. It is designed to remind us that we are a small part of the universe and that we should share our love with those around us. 

Reflections in a Magical Mirror is slanted towards a more Biblical perspective. Figueroa-Otero uses quotes from the Bible such as "Whatever you did for my brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). However, the emphasis is not on Christian Salvation, so much as it is on helping others and being kind. It is easy to replace the Christian rhetoric with any other spiritual path that talks about kindness, generosity, love, selflessness, and feeling spiritually centered. 

Reflections in My Magical Mirror is not a long book but it is one that is very helpful when you want a few minutes to clear your mind and fill your spirit.

Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure by Robin Robby

Robin Robby's novellette, Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure is a humorous and slightly romantic science fiction in which Jane Austen takes a trip to the future.

In 2061, New York, Fred, his friend, David, and fiancee, Clara have access to a time machine. So where to go? Well Clara is a huge Jane Austen fan having read her books several times and played Marianne Dashwood in a stage production of Sense and Sensibility. So for Clara meeting Jane Austen would be like meeting a favorite rock star. Plus, she died in 1817 at the age of 41 of either Addison's Disease or Hodgkin's Lymphoma. So the trio decided to dress in their Regency best and meet Austen at her home as she is beginning her final novel Persuasion, take her to the future where she can be treated with modern medicine, and return her to live a full productive life. Unfortunately, they don't count on Austen's overwhelming curiosity for this new futuristic world or Fred's growing affection for a certain English Regency era novelist.

The highlight of this Sci Fi Rom Com is Austen herself. She stands out from everyone else with her much more elevated speech patterns. When they ask her about her health, Austen replies "If I had not been suffering from such an annoying back pain, yes, I would turn back and bid you good day. But you have gauged my curiosity to no end. Whatever ends the pain."

In fact her manner of speech stands out that when others, particularly Carla, emulate her speech, it intentionally seems fake. They are playing a role while Austen lives it.

Among the more delightful moments are when Austen observes the future. She is like an amazed child on their first Christmas morning. The lights, the people, and the modern buildings. No wonder she is "quite intoxicated." She is also amazed at the sociopolitical change of women in occupations that weren't dreamt of in her day, such as doctors, attorneys, and academics. Even Austen herself had to take credit for her own books as "A Lady." She is amazed and flattered that people from the future would know and admire her so much that they would want to see her (after she recovers from the initial shock that people from the future could travel to the past in the first place). She knows that her life was not in vain and that her "sketches" will be remembered.

It is her amazement and spirit that attracts Fred. At first he is cynical but willing to go along with the trip to impress Clara and one up David who built the machine. (In fact, he gets tired of David bragging about building the machine). The more time he spends with Austen, the more he sees someone who hides a rebellious nature behind a prim exterior. One who uses her works to satirize and ask direct questions about relationships hidden under convention. One who now sees those imaginative efforts and her legacy pay off. One who observes human nature and is able to put those observations into her works, especially her final finished posthumous work, Persuasion.

Jane Austen's Totally Unexpected New York Adventure is not just a fun time travel story. It's a love letter to an author who inspired and moved many.

Abraham Lincoln Tribute: His Life and Legacy by Zaki J. Doudak 

Zaki J. Doudak's Abraham Lincoln Tribute His Life and Legacy is not a dry account of Lincoln's life complete with important events and timelines. Instead, it is more of an inspirational tribute about why Lincoln's legacy is still so important and what it means for people today.

The book begins with two important quotations during Lincoln's political career, portions of The Gettysburg Address and quotes from his debate with Stephen Douglas. It also includes a chapter about Mary Todd Lincoln's life after her husband and son's deaths including her interest in Spiritualism and struggles with mental illness. The final third is an opinion essay by Doudak which explains the importance of Lincoln's legacy and its meaning in subsequent times when racism and division is still very much alive.

Lincoln's words have been repeated often but this book gathers some of the most stirring. Quotes like "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled (at Gettysburg) have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little know nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here" remind us why Lincoln was known as a master orator. In giving this address, Lincoln takes attention away from himself and towards the soldiers that died and sacrificed. It also reveals how important it is for the United States to remain one union, so the soldiers would not have died in vain.

Mary Todd Lincoln's widowed life is the subject of many psychological studies. Doudak describes her as someone who suffered tremendous loss and wanted to hold onto her family connections and find some peace of mind. Doudak wrote, "That (Mary Todd Lincoln) was welcome in the arms of the unliving says much of the state of human beings in the 19th century. That death was not merely a way to be at peace, but a way to offer peace to those that needed it." He sees her as a woman who used her belief in life after death to give her peace during her troubled later years.

Most of the book, "A Celebration of Life" is an almost poetic essay that recognizes what Lincoln's life meant. It reminds Readers that they could be an inspiration and stand up for equality and unity. Doudak writes, "That there is an ebb and flow and a push and pull says more about human beings than it does on Earth. That there are changes, perceptions, and dreams to fulfill only underpins our desire to maturate in this world. That we do live up to our responsibilities depends on how we choose to view our role as caretakers."

Doudak's writings suggest that the many struggles today reveal that division is still rampant. We can come together as a union when we see each other as equals and express our highest human traits like kindness, understanding, and empathy.

History judges those who made changes and sacrifices for others. That is the legacy that people like Abraham Lincoln stood for. That there are certain causes and people that will sacrifice everything for and freedom, unity, and equality are among the most important.