“Dead Men Don’t Cry” – by Nancy Fulda
From a high-speed space flight to deliver French pastries to the moon to a nomadic tribe struggling across a harsh world pursued by a sun with no mercy, Dead Men Don’t Cry demonstrates that in the science fiction genre there are still plenty of tales to be told.
I’ve never reviewed an anthology before. I’m usually more of a one-story guy. When I was invited to review Dead Men Don’t Cry, I wasn’t quite sure how the experience would would turn out. Thankfully, a combination of good writing and good stories made the experience very worthwhile.
The anthology starts with a fun story called Pastry Run. This is probably the lightest of the collection and is a fun look at the hazards of getting pastries from Paris to the moon in time for breakfast. It turns out that pastry delivery is a hazardous line of work. It’s a nice ice-breaker. From here the collection offers up both longer and shorter works with a variety of themes and settings. Rather than outline every story, I’ll summarise some of my favourites.
Blue Ink and The Man Who Murdered Himself are fascinating stories featuring rather grim views of cloning; one set in a future where the wealthy clone themselves to trade in labour and the other where a hobbled and diseased man opts for a cloning technique to make a disease free version of himself. Both stories are unsettling but from different angles with one offering a disturbing view from the clone’s perspective and the other presenting a cautionary tale to those who would want to be cloned. Both left me cold which I treat as a total success.
Backlash and All Praise to the Dreamer both offer tense action stories; one a techno-thriller which would be at home on the big screen and the other a hopeless flight from god-like creatures presiding over the earth at the price of human sacrifice. Both were gripping, but I also found them to be interesting for a different reason. I felt that the reader was being shown something about why people make the decision to rebel, and it wasn’t so much about recognition of injustice, but more how our attachments and relationships colour our decisions; how we make dangerous and sometimes futile stances for those we love because we love them.
The Breath of Heaven is a great tale about computers gifted with artificial intelligence loaded with prime directives to protect a space colony. It explores the hazard of relinquishing control to that of an artificial mind, but also presents a fascinating study of one A.I. as “she” contemplates the actions that have been taken in the name of the prime directives. “Her” slowly building unease – almost guilt – indicates a partial progression from analysis and directives to humanity and subsequently turns a 2001-esque cautionary tale into an evolutionary tale more in the style of Asimov.
The last story is possibly my favourite. A New Kind of Sunrise follows the seasonal trek of nomads across a dangerous world where the sun kills. A way of life dictated by tradition is offered a new perspective when the tribe encounters a stranger from the north. The binds of tradition are slowly broken for Mikki, our main character, and the possibilities are left open for a rebellion and adventure into the harsh oppressive world of The Brotherhood – the stranger a catalyst and possibly a future companion. I understand the author is planning a novelisation of this story and I couldn’t be more pleased.
The writing in these works is near perfect and it is no surprise to me that the author has collected nominations and awards for her stories. I would like to see what Fulda can do in a novel where it might be more challenging to maintain the tight focus she applies so successfully in these shorts, but count me as eager to road-test the attempt.
I highly recommend Dead Men Don’t Cry to all those who enjoy intelligent science fiction in short form – and even to those like me who usually prefer the longer form. Get it – and enjoy.
Rating: 4.5/5
Price at the time of review: $6.95 US
Available: Smashwords,Amazon,Barnes & Noble,Kobo,Diesel
Author site: http://www.nancyfulda.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11709447-dead-men-don-t-cry
“Thin Blood” – by Vicki Tyley
Determined freelance reporter Jacinta Deller attempts to profit on one of her partner’s acquaintanceships for a story, but instead stirs up the past and puts herself and her new friends in danger.
Thin Blood is a crime mystery with an investigative journalist at the helm and although this isn’t exactly unique, our heroine isn’t quite the stereotype. The story feels like a line of dominoes where our protagonist is responsible only for the first that fell. Otherwise, she feels like a character almost accidentally participating in a police investigation revived by her pursuit of an old murder mystery.
I found the story to be quite interesting as our main character befriends Narelle, a colleague of her partner and the wife of a man suspected of murdering his previous wife Kirsty some years back. In a twist, Narelle and Kirsty were sisters – and the tangles don’t end there. As the story progresses, we are exposed slowly to the various inter-relationships that existed at the time of the crime, giving the reader plenty of scope along with Jacinta Deller to assign suspicion. At the same time, we are taken into Deller’s past, a past that decides to make a reappearance during the story adding an extra dimension of interest.
I personally found Jacinta Deller a bit difficult to enjoy as a character. She seemed rather shallow with only pretences of depth or insight, and I felt there was a lack of realism in how she approached her ever more compromising position. Perhaps this is why the author chose to unravel the mystery around her or in her presence rather than write her as sleuth. She was as likely to further disrupt than to solve anything. Her eventual ties to the main investigator of the case only lent a less realistic cast to the story as she bartered for more involvement than she deserved.
As much as the main character provided issues for me, as a device she certainly assisted in the story moving forward, a story with remains buried in the woods, anonymous tips, jealous and unhinged ex-lovers and a strained relationship between Deller and Narelle.
Meanwhile, Narelle provided a more interesting character for me. Her fragility, unpredictable actions and conversations didn’t seem too unlikely to me, but they also helped put the “who” in “whodunnit” for this story. Her husband, Craig, also maintained my interest. To me, he really did come across as believable: his desire to lock himself and his wife away from the world and his descent into alcoholism when the past resurfaces. Even Grace, deranged best friend of Kirsty, was entertaining in her actions to exact revenge on Narelle and Craig.
The writing itself leaves little to criticise. It lacks both clumsiness and errors which made the reading a pleasure rather than a chore. I never cease to be grateful to independent authors who have taken great pains to put out an error-free product. There’s little waste of words and the smaller chapters aid digestion and help to give the illusion of pace.
Overall, I liked Thin Blood. My biggest issue was unfortunately with the main character – her role in the story and her unrealistic (to me) personality. But she did not stop me from enjoying the mystery and the revelation. Additionally, others may not find her portrayal or involvement as problematic as I did.
Rating: 3.5/5
Price at the time of review: $3.99 US
Available: Smashwords,Amazon,Barnes & Noble,Kobo,Diesel
Author site: http://www.vickityley.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7455981-thin-blood
“The Caline Conspiracy” – by M.H. Mead
After a genetically manufactured cyber pet is found standing over its dead owner and creator, it is sentenced to be destroyed. Has the invention killed the inventor or is there a deeper conspiracy at work?
Previously, I’ve reviewed Fate’s Mirror on this site and gave it a 4.5 star rating as a highly enjoyable cyberpunk romp. The Caline Conspiracy, although seemingly a prequel to that story is quite a different book. The characters are shared and the timeline is earlier. However, this novel has more of a techno crime mystery feel to it. (Read review of Fate’s Mirror: here)
Aidra Scott, a woman whose earlier dreams of joining the police force were frustrated, struggles to make a living as a private investigator and takes on what seems to be a pointless case of proving a cyber canine innocent of the murder of its owner and inventor. And so we are invited into the futuristic world of the caline, cyber pets of the wealthy, genetically engineered in the labs of GeCreations.
A caline appears in Fate’s Mirror and it was interesting to see a diversion into this creature as a big business of the future. Equally interesting was the novel’s small interlude with the perficats, a competing genetically created pet. They only feature in one scene, but it was a rather entertaining one. I believe a detailed description won’t quite do it justice.
Aidra Scott is the same pragmatic and straightforward character from Fate’s Mirror. She has a spine and she gets things done. While the last novel featured Morris Payne, in this story he’s a background character – the hacker resource Aidra hires for cyber-geekery from time to time. He’s present frequently, but feels more like a purpose-built artificial intelligence than a character. I think the shift to Aidra as the main focus is part of what seems to pull this novel across the genre boundaries into new territory. While in the previous book we witnessed the cyber-freestyling of Payne, in this one we’re almost approaching hard-boiled territory.
Although novel length, this story felt more like a novella. It might have been that not alot of time was spent developing side characters. Enough of them were introduced, but they felt like well-placed props leaving the reader with an exposé on Aidra Scott investigating a case that has a few false trails but never felt particularly burdensome or complex. The reader even experiences a bit of Aidra’s personal journey: her history with her ex-husband, her relationship to her son Jon and her thoughts about artificial pets when compared to her love of real dogs.
As in all mysteries, there is a reveal or two and in the way of all whodunnits, the reader can line up suspicion with fact. I wouldn’t be surpised if the bad guy was intuited by crime mystery readers quite early in the piece. I’m no afficionado and I had the culprit pegged in the first part of the book. However, it’s the why and how that provides the interest. Additionally some of the scenes toward the end have an action thriller feel as the final pieces fall into place.
I enjoyed The Caline Conspiracy. The perficats scene alone is worth the small price of admission and the sinister revelation manages to lend sufficient weight to the final chapters to give satisfaction.
Rating: 4/5
Price at the time of review: $3.95 US
Available: Smashwords,Amazon,Barnes & Noble,Kobo,Diesel
Author site: http://www.yangandcampion.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13555761-the-caline-conspiracy
“Turing Evolved” – by David Kitson
A disgraced DEMON pilot tries to start a new life in cyber-charity but finds himself drawn into a battle that he doesn’t fully understand where his past resurfaces and he is touched by an ANGEL. But the greatest conspiracy remains hidden from him.
Turing Evolved is an interesting tale about a possible future where strict laws govern the development of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) due to its possible abuse. Research facilities attempt to manufacture benign autonomous A.I. licensed through rigorous testing from the Asimov Council – a “Turing Evolved” test to determine ongoing suitability and safety to mankind. Meanwhile, Mindspace – a fully immersive internet-like environment is humanity’s main recreational and productivity environment, a cyber-world also rigorously maintained through laws and guidelines. So have we arrived at cyberpunk yet? Well yes – and no.
One of the interesting elements of this novel is that although there are many scenes played out in cyberspace, the book has more of a military sci-fi feel about it. Additionally, there was something a bit Asimov about the exploration of humanity versus A.I. in this story. So although I think the science fiction label is obvious, I don’t think the cyberpunk tag is as obvious despite some fairly obvious trappings.
I liked the story, although there were a couple of elements along the way that seemed to break the flow for me. In particular I remember Jon Carlson (our hero) exhibiting what I thought to be unlikely characteristics when running after an ANGEL, afraid that he’d upset “her”. Later I realised that the author was planting responses that might seem initially confusing but made more sense at a later time. Unfortunately, I had already gone through the “you’ve got to be kidding” response well before this was clarified.
The story was ambitious and I ended up enjoying the exploration of humanity as it relates to artificial intelligence. I also enjoyed the action scenes which were written pretty well and had plenty of missiles, bullets, explosions and injuries. I do think a skilled editor could have perhaps pared down the narrative a little to make it a punchier experience and perhaps the author’s ambitions could have been curbed a little to deliver a more focused story. For example, the Amy Rivenstock sub-plot is one element of the story I would have cut. In the end I could see why it was there, but it’s a matter of keeping the story focused and I don’t think this added enough to merit the side-track.
There was a significant reveal towards the end of the work which certainly added interest, but I think it also exposed some logic flaws in the telling of the earlier story. I’m not going to elaborate on the revelation as it’s much better discovered by the reader, but I will say that the story seemed to drag a little unnecessarily after this point. It felt like an extended epilogue that may have seemed necessary given the ambitious nature of the story, but just felt to me like a story that didn’t want to end when it should have.
The characters were quite relatively engaging in this story. As mentioned earlier, the hero sometimes felt inconsistent to me, but overall I enjoyed the journey with him. Jon’s sidekick Jeremy also added interest to the story but perhaps the most interesting characters were the ANGELs themselves. They were both demonstrative and at the same time enigmatic. They never revealed everything which allowed this reader at least to walk into the final revelations of the story unprepared. The story of the ANGELs born in HEAVEN is a good one and I’m glad it was told.
The writing itself still needs some work. The book has gone through three edits and I still found plenty to highlight in terms of typos, word misuse and jarring tense changes. These kinds of problems are often quoted as the reason why readers shy away from independent authors and as an advocate of independent publishing I’m always a little disappointed to have to point it out in a review. I’ve certainly read worse, but I still felt somewhat let down by the amount of errors I encountered. Perhaps a fourth edition will be more successful.
Overall, I liked this novel. I think fans of Asimov, military sci-fi or even cyberpunk will find something to enjoy here. With the strong guiding hand of a good editor and more rigorous proofing this diamond in the rough could sit comfortably with the better science fiction works of today. Personally though, I would wait for at least one more major revision before taking the plunge. Although the book is free, I think the experience will be more enjoyable without so many errors.
Rating: 3/5
Price at the time of review: FREE
Available: Smashwords,Amazon,Barnes & Noble,Kobo,Diesel
Author site: http://wewritefiction.net/cgi-bin/fiction/forum?index=david
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10081498-turing-evolved
“Symphony of Blood” – by Adam Pepper
Hank Mondale is an out-of-luck private investigator with his fare share of vices. When he’s not drinking Jim Beam and recklessly gambling on any game in town, he’s dodging debt collectors, landlords and even his mother. So when a high paying client wants his services it looks like Hank’s luck is set to change – and it does.
Symphony of Blood is an interesting fusion of hard-boiled crime meets creature horror. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the strength of the execution matches the novelty of the idea.
The first section of the novel introduces us to the struggling, vice-ridden Hank Mondale. The style of the story at this point is very much hard-boiled detective fiction, complete with a narrative that I could almost hear as a bored and cynical voice-over. I liked the exploration of the rather tragic private investigator. I liked his backstory, his contacts, his sassy secretary and his attitude, attitude, attitude.
When he receives this rather absurd but well-paying case, the initial part of the investigation is fun although there’s one hell of a coincidence thrown in. The mechanism will be familiar to frequent mystery readers: Subject has a completely off-hand conversation about a case someone is working on. Subject gets a new mysterious case where some rather minor pieces of information tie in with previous case being discussed. Subject has a hunch and previously unrelated case provides key lead to new case.
I find these mechanisms a little trying as a reader because they are just too convenient and in this case there is very little subtlety involved to mask it. However, I continued to enjoy the story right up until a key crisis is reached. At this point, the reader is subjected to a completely jarring POV change that destroys all the story’s momentum.
Once I recovered from the initial impact of having to replay the background elements of the investigation from the point of view of “the creature”, I did find the perspective an interesting one. Something I enjoyed about the creature in this book was that it didn’t really conform to those currently in proliferation in urban fantasy/horror novels. However, because I was waiting to continue at the point of crisis abandoned for this illuminating diversion, my interest was replaced with impatience and once I re-entered the original storyline, it was with a sigh of relief. Additionally, the narrative was a bit problematic. The author was obviously presenting the narrative from the creature’s point of view and so houses became “man-made trees” and the sun became a “red hot ball in the sky” and yet words like “footbridge”, “handrail”, “jacket” and “hallway” also appear somewhat incongruously.
The last section of the book is one of flight and confrontation and this is where the story really fell down for me. The author left so many elements unexplained. Who is Angelina? Was Hank ever going to learn the full story on Mackenzie? Why was the final confrontation over in a page or two and what was the final result? And then the reader was suddenly at a “later that week” epilogue where we find out Hank is pretty much left where he started the story.
I didn’t dislike Symphony of Blood and I could easily have lived with some of those elements I found problematic and still given it a strong 3.5 stars or a weaker 4 stars. However, the last section was a let down with the conclusion of the story a fumble on the goal line – and after a middle section that lingered a little longer than needed it left me a little unsatisfied overall.
Rating: 3/5
Price at the time of review: $0.99 US
Available: Smashwords,Amazon,Barnes & Noble,Kobo,Diesel
Author site: http://www.adampepper.com
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12131709-symphony-of-blood
“Wired” – by Douglas E. Richards
Retired special forces officer David Desh has been requested by his erstwhile commanding officer to perform one last critical assignment. This time the fate of the civilised world hangs in the balance.
With such a grand opening Wired is hardly likely to be pedestrian and most of the time, the book delivers at freight train speed. I don’t think anyone would have trouble getting into this story. We’re primarily in the head of David Desh and he’s not a bad character to take the journey with even if he is a bit of a Gary Stu. With him we track a dangerous criminal set to unleash a terrible fate on humanity. Kira Miller is Desh’s target and she is suitably brilliant – always one step ahead of Desh even with his special forces training. From here, you need to like action, twists, more twists, more action and a few fairly lengthy discussions on the nature of human evolution and development.
The characters are fairly interesting, but it’s all a bit “knights in shining armour” versus “minions/masterminds of unadulterated evil”. I prefer a few more shades of grey and definitely more dimensions. I can see how they help the plot run true to its own internal logic. However, it feels a little like taking the easy way out of a potential problem in the story. If this kind of thing is a pet peeve, then hopefully the plot will be enough and if you like twists, it will be.
The book starts with a conspiracy and twists and turns from there. Not all are unpredictable, but there were enough to keep me a bit unbalanced. The good thing is it all maintains a sense of logic even if sometimes the tenuous suspension of disbelief we often clothe ourselves with stretches a little. But it was all too much fun to be overly critical and I enjoyed the ride. It was unfortunate that there were several fairly long passages explaining “stuff”, but the author was quite ambitious in both the premise and the end-game so explanations were required. If the sacrifice is made to read through it, it adds rather than subtracts. But if it’s getting a bit much you can gloss over it a little and as long as you get the salient points, it shouldn’t damage your enjoyment too much.
The writing itself is great. It flows well and is error free, which is something I always appreciate. The action scenes are dealt with suitably; they give a sense of exhilaration and movement and avoid the trap of over-explaining every detail (it’s amazing how well the mind interpolates if you let it).
Despite my concerns on characterisation, I had a lot of fun reading Wired and if action thrillers are your cup of tea, I can’t see any reason not to make the investment. It’s worthwhile to note that there’s also a sequel available. Amped was published a couple of months ago so if you like this novel, there’s no need to wait for the next fix. I already have it on my wish list.
Rating: 4/5
Price at the time of review: $2.99 US
Available: Amazon,Barnes & Noble
Author site: http://www.douglaserichards.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11849936-wired
“Diary of the Displaced” – by Glynn James
He comes to on a pile of rubbish in darkness not knowing where he is, how he got there and with only a vague recollection of what he was doing beforehand. Thus starts the journal of James Halldon.
Diary of the Displaced is a set of journal entries that chronicles a 40 day period of time for the main character in a strange, dark land that he has no memory of. It’s a place full of foreboding, strange creatures and danger to the unwary. Halldon has to develop the right survival skills very quickly to avoid some of the more obvious perils.
Journal style storytelling doesn’t always work for me. It’s hard for a set of diary entries to really capture all the emotions and details of a scene as they are by their very nature a recollection. However, I think in this book, the author does a pretty job of setting an ominous mood that is somehow accentuated by Halldon’s sometimes dry after-the-fact summaries.
As Halldon struggles to find out where he is and how he got there a larger, darker land is slowly exposed to the reader. There’s something very ominous about this place and its denizens. On a number of occasions I murmured “Lovecraft” to myself. It’s rather odd because I’ve never actually read any works by Lovecraft. I was surprised to read later that the author is a Lovecraft fan, so at least some of that influence must have leaked into this novel if someone as badly-versed as I am picks up on it. If you like zombies – we have zombies. If you like huge slug things that will devour any thing/body in their path – we have those as well. Throw in some demon dogs, lizard creatures, a chilling nemesis with the name of CutterJack and a ghost or two of erstwhile residents and you have one hellish party.
Although much of the book relates what Halldon must do to survive, journeying through a brooding atmosphere of dread and discovering various blasted lands and even ruined cityscapes, there are definitely some action scenes thrown in. CutterJack is a convincingly terrifying foe and only appears enough in the story for you to wish he appeared more, but although his scenes were short, they were well done. There’s quite a bit of zombie carnage in the book and thankfully these scenes didn’t feel like they’d been peeled off the cover of the latest hack and slash computer game. We’ve got some splatter, but not a bloodbath.
A few other characters round out the cast, but I’m not going to go too much into detail on them as their involvement in the story should be earned. But I was happy with their contribution.
So what didn’t I like? A couple of things, actually. Firstly, the use of dream sequences to move the story along felt a bit forced to me. It’s great that someone can communicate across distances to a sleeping other, but to me it’s like the author couldn’t think of a more natural way to get the character to stop focusing on immediate survival and start tracking to a specific location. Secondly, the actual destination of the story ended up being less satisfying than I’d hoped. There are some revelations right at the end, but they didn’t end up letting you who Halldon was, rather who he wasn’t. It didn’t really help you understand what CutterJack was doing. Sure it’s stated, but it doesn’t really make sense, and neither does Halldon’s part in the whole storyline. When motives and reasons are not present at the start of a book, one reads on hoping that things will be understood later – when later arrives and those motives and reasons remain opaque, one feels a little let down.
Overall, I liked the book. I liked the foreboding atmosphere, the eerie landscape and the nasties discovered along the way. It was easy to read and the action scenes were controlled rather than a gore-fest extravaganza. However, I definitely would have liked this book to have a story arc that felt more complete. There is a sequel (which I will read at some stage); perhaps more is revealed in that episode.
Rating: 3/5
Price at the time of review: $2.99 US
Available: Amazon,Smashwords,Sony,Diesel,Apple
Author site: http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8510414-speed-dating-with-the-dead
“Speed Dating with the Dead” – by Scott Nicholson
Wayne “Digger” Wilson convenes his paranormal circus at the White Horse Inn – to give his clients a show, to make a profit and to keep a promise to the dead. The White Horse wants something in return and it will raise Hell to get it.
Speed Dating with the Dead is a supernatural horror that revolves around a kind of paranormal convention that gathers at known “haunted” landmarks – in this case, the White Horse Inn. I imagine such a convention to be like Comic-Con or a steampunk convention as the attendees were completely camp, over-the-top charicatures: mediums, psychics, demonologists and ghost hunters.
Our main character, “Digger” Wilson, runs this show complete with the costume of an undertaker and the heart of a complete charlatan. Yes – he’s just in it for the money. But the White Horse has a significance for him – it’s where he took his wife for a second honeymoon and where they made a rather strange promise. He’s partly returning to the inn to honour that promise. And this is where Wilson’s character seemed a little odd to me. He’s a complete cynic and yet he honours a promise made to his wife which is clearly rooted in belief of the supernatural. So we spend some time looking at both the cynic and the believer in the early parts of the story. It didn’t cause a problem for me as such – it just made him a little interesting. And then there’s Kendra.
Kendra is Wilson’s daughter and she is cynical, tough, independent…and frustratingly stupid. In stories involving the supernatural there’s always at least one character that continues to deny what is going on around her until such time as you want to wrap your hands around her throat. This is Kendra. All the spunkiness-masking-vulnerability and her broken relationship with her father that could and should have been an interesting anchor for me crumbled away when she continued to deny, deny, deny what was right in front of her.
Other than this we had the young hunk dedicated to the paranormal (and future fame), a demonologist who thinks he is on a mission from God, and a couple of White Horse staff that are just as peculiar. And then there’s a cast of ghoulies that rounds out the players and makes for an over-the-top storyline.
The story moves along nicely until all hell starts breaking loose (I mean that almost literally). The story then turns into an even bigger circus. I like carnival rides and this story became one big ride. However, I felt that it was just a ride. The story started making less sense as we were presented with various demons which had decided that the paranormal conference was going to become a free-for-all: manifestations, noises, climate control, possessions, wanton destruction and strange pools of black mist – all present and accounted for. We even had a succubus-style sex death. However, throughout this chaos I kept wondering why and I only received partial answers.
There is an attempt to tie things back somewhat to that second honeymoon years ago that Wilson took with wife and there was some sense there. But it didn’t really cover the havoc being wreaked in the White Horse Inn. And if you thought the deep end was deep enough, one of the characters (a good guy – I think) decided to show off his own brand of berserk. I had thrown away any attempt at comprehension by that stage and was just enjoying the exhilaration of destruction.
I felt in the end that the author was more intent on putting on his own show than creating a tight storyline. I enjoyed it – from the camp to the chaos, but it just seemed to be missing some sense. This isn’t the first time I’ve felt this reading Nicholson. He’s a prolific writer and a popular one and I’m thinking maybe I’m just approaching his books with the wrong attitude. Maybe the ride is the point and I’m too busy noticing something missing that was never intended to be there in the first place.
Rating: 3/5
Price at the time of review: $2.99 US
Available: Amazon
Author site: http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8510414-speed-dating-with-the-dead
“Pulchritude” – by Ana Mardoll
A young prince is cursed by a capricious fairy; a young beauty is exchanged for her father’s life, and only a love willing to sacrifice all will result in a happy ending.
Pulchritude is a retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast and author Ana Mardoll’s first novel. The plot itself is not an attempt to create a faithful facsimile of the original story. Mardoll uses the bones of the story as inspiration to make her own statements. There is an attempt to explore the role of women in a patriarchal society and each character becomes a critical analysis of a possible permutation in such a society.
I can have an averse reaction to being forced into the author’s head via explanation of intent. I like the aspect of fiction (and art in general) that I can take away what I want or need from the work. The last third of this book is an invitation to peer behind the curtain. There is a summary of each character – why the character was created, what the character was supposed to represent and the problems faced by the author in utilising that character in the story. Additionally, there is an explanation of why the story was created, what the author was trying to achieve and even a deconstruction of the original story published in 1740. If I were being cynical, I could postulate that the author is not confident enough that her message will be adequately understood by readers with the story alone. However, I believe that these “post-mortems” are more an indication that the author enjoys sharing the creation process with her readers – a supposition that seems more likely after reading the acknowledgements. If you are like me, I would suggest you wait until you’ve digested the story yourself before starting on the end notes or skip them altogether.
One of the aspects of this story I most enjoyed was the portrayal of the various characters. It is always refreshing to see a distinctly multi-dimensional cast of characters rather than Disney portrayals which often struggle for even two dimensions. Bella was an insecure girl who was aware that her name and her appearance had become her defining characteristics. We see a girl who struggles to fit that mould and so appears vain and shallow. And yet her desire to be loved and to live up to expectations makes her sacrifice herself, both for her father and for the prince. We spend quite a bit of time in Bella’s head and it was interesting and a bit sad to see how easily she aligned herself to the prince’s needs. While she appears at times strong, selfless and even heroic, we can see that all her actions are stemming from her basic need to adapt herself to be what others require of her. Ezio, our beast, is a self-centred lesser-royal who is used to using the people around him to maintain his lifestyle. When cursed his only aim is to remove his curse and regardless of any sentimental reactions to Bella, she remains a means to an end for him. The reader is teased at various points that Ezio might be more than this and perhaps he could have been in a different environment, but ultimately he’s not self-analytical enough to see that the sacrifice to break the curse might need to be his own rather than someone else’s. Several minor characters also add interest, the father who was loving but not enough to prevent him willingly sacrificing his daughter for his life, the step mother who is strong and worldly and the prince’s advisor whose actions are motivated completely by an instinct for self-preservation.
Pulchritude is a fairytale tragedy. These characters are far too flawed for the ending to be happy one. While the prince can’t trust that Bella will return to him and unwittingly engineers her demise sealing his own fate, Bella herself is all too willing to sacrifice herself to act out the role to which she feels destined.
Mardoll’s first fairytale retelling is a concise and successful re-imagining on her terms and I look forward to her next writing project.
Rating: 4/5
Price at the time of review: $2.99 US
Available: Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, IvaNovella, Lulu
Author site: http://www.anamardoll.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13495039-pulchritude
“The Kult” – by Shaun Jeffrey
How far would you go to be loyal to your childhood friends? How far would you go to protect them, avenge them? And how would you hide from the consequences when they come back to stalk you?
The Kult is a serial killer thriller which brings to my mind classics such as Seven. The cat and mouse investigation with a meticulously well-planned serial killer, the grittiness of the settings and people, the gruesome murder scenes and the promised significant end-game would resonate well with fans of that movie. However, this story goes a bit further and challenges the morality of our detective, providing another layer (and complication) to the plot.
Like all good thrillers, this one is a real page turner. I found myself bounding through chapters that were of easily digestible size while focused on advancing the plot, even while our hero’s investigation is being mired in his own tangled web of misplaced loyalties and old, binding childhood pacts.
The detective, Prosper Snow, is a fairly jaded character wracked with guilt over an accident which crippled his wife and a begrudging member of a pact created by four outcast children when he was fat and mercilessly teased. I’m not sure I was overly convinced by Snow. His childhood experiences seemed a little over-the-top for my liking. Where one character summarises him as obviously destined into a life to help others, this didn’t quite gel with some of his actions performed on behalf of friends over the years. Although he does attempt to make some kind of moral stand in the story it all seems too little, too late for me. His friends, although not very deeply explored for the most part seemed a little less problematic.
The author has tried to put together a pretty ambitious plot. For the most part it is executed well. However, again Snow seems to be the weak link. For a good deal of the story he seems to be staring stupidly at photos with a shocked expression and bumbling through his own mess in a way that made me want to scream. Then suddenly we see insight and intelligence as if from nowhere. Maybe he’s just a completely self-absorbed person who finally pulled his proverbial finger out and started trying to solve a case. It’s hard to say, but luckily Oracle, our serial killer, was very entertaining and much more consistent.
When everything heats up, it’s a roller coaster ride, but not without one or two further incongruencies. For example, why would a police officer with a loaded gun choose to run away from an attacker without a gun rather than shoot? To satisfy the author’s overriding aims rather than to present a logical plot development to be sure. There’s quite a few loose ends as the plot becomes quite messy and I believe the author has done a fairly admirable job of tying them up. However, there are some convenient elements that assist such as a witness who seems content to fade into the background and a partner hell-bent on keeping only one copy of her investigation notes (apparently not believing in sharing or keeping digital copies of anything).
This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the book – I did so very much. I loved the Oracle even if I did manage to work out who he was well before the actual revelation (the author’s clues were pretty heavy-handed). Even after he was revealed he still provided continued entertainment. I liked quite a few of the additional cast and found the story compelling despite the issues I had.
The prose itself is really good. I enjoyed the language he used and could picture some of the imposing or just downright depressing settings of the book. He seemed to exercise a good command of some of the gorier aspects of the story. They are certainly there throughout, but I didn’t sense the relish that sometimes permeates such descriptions and leaves me wondering whether such scenes are supposed to have a somewhat pornographic feel. For that I was thankful.
If the serial killer thriller is your milieu, I would give The Kult a try. And if you like it, the author has published a second Prosper Snow book complete with another serial killer to chase.
Rating: 3.5/5
Price at the time of review: $2.99 US
Available: Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Sony
Author site: http://www.shaunjeffrey.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6393198-the-kult
