Serial Sunday, The Telling Place, Part II.

Read Part I.

Ms. Sinclair sensed Logan’s fears quivering in his stomach like green jelly. She pushed past the grinning, goofy image of the idiot dog not even fit to carry fleas and searched deeper into Logan’s mind. She saw a blue painted room with plaid clad bunk beds and a spaceship nightlight. Her tongue flicked over her lips and her fingertips itched with anticipation as she honed in on a secondhand desk strewn with tubes of colored paint, model glue, and assorted paintbrushes held in an old Jiffy peanut butter jar.

She grasped her bird whistle until Logan saw her knuckles turn gray and he closed his eyes, trying to hold onto Shep’s face. He wanted so bad to pull his hand away from hers, but something primordial told him it was better to remain still, not to wake whatever beast lay slumbering behind Ms. Sinclair’s eyes if he wanted to be eating mom’s meatloaf for dinner that night. Logan concentrated on fluffy garlic mashed potatoes and meatloaf while Ms. Sinclair talked. Her hand felt oddly uncorpselike, which puzzled him. Maybe, it was just nerves last time, as mom said.

Ms. Sinclair stroked the whistle, feeling the warm bone stir beneath her fingertips. She peered closer at the modeling table in Logan’s room. “Now, Logan, you know that you need good grades to get a good job someday, right?”

“Yes.”

She saw a tiny zombie miniature on the table, its face drawn back in snarled agony, a miniscule dagger in its fist. She smiled. “And you know you have to obey your parents and that your mom wants you to get good grades, right?"

“Yes.”

Ms. Sinclair focused on the graveyard model displayed on the desk, the undead locked in limbs with the living, creeping, sneaking from clawed graves, shuffling out of the rusty cemetery gate, staggering around toppled gravestones, their lips pulled back in menacing howls, blood feast in their eyes. And she stroked her whistle. “Then you’ll work harder to better at your homework, right? To do your homework before your models?”

“Yes.” Logan felt something viscous and slippery crawling up his arm into his mouth, probing with its wet tongue. He spat and opened his eyes, startled. Yanking away his hand, he noticed nothing was there, but tasted vile brine in his mouth. “Sorry.” He wiped the palms of his hands on the front of his Star Wars shirt. “I thought a bug flew into my mouth.” He blushed, realizing how foolish he sounded with the window closed.

“That’s quite alright, Logan.” Ms. Sinclair glanced out the window. “Your mother’s back.”

The red door opened and Logan heard the faint tinkle of the ice cream truck outside.

“Ready?”

“Yes.” He hugged his mom.

“Did everything go okay, Ms. Sinclair?”

“Yes, it did. I’ll see you at the same time next week.”

“Thank you, Ms. Sinclair.” Mrs. Martin winked at her.

“Goodbye, Logan.”

“Bye.”

Ms. Sinclair waited until their tomato red Toyota Camry turned the corner on Wabash at the light before she raised her whistle to her lips.

* * *

Mrs. Hammond, I assure you that hypnotism is a widely accepted form of therapy proven to show significant results almost overnight.” Clarice smiled at young Johnny who sat on the floor repeatedly crashing two Hot Wheels® on the braided rug.

“You’re going to die in a fiery pit of burning hell,” the eight year old screamed. “Burn, burn, and die!”

“See what I mean, Ms. Sinclair? It’s just not normal, the aggression he displays. And the fighting with his sister at home has escalated.” Mrs. Hammond rubbed her weary face. “I just don’t know what to do any more. And I’m working such long hours at the hospital now that I can’t even begin to think of putting him in an afterschool program with his behavior like this.”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to help you out, Mrs. Hammond. It’s a good idea you brought him in. If you’ll give me a half hour alone with Johnny, I promise you’ll see results before his next session.”

“Fine.” Mrs. Hammond was almost out the door already, needing no prodding to escape for a half hour from her son.

“Mrs. Hammond, if you don’t mind my asking, where did you hear about my services,” Clarice stopped her in the vestibule.  

“From Logan’s mother.”

“Oh.” Ms. Sinclair smiled. “Enjoy your time alone, now. Most mothers do.” She winked.

As Ms. Sinclair closed the door, Mrs. Hammond thought she saw the old woman’s small bird talisman squirm against her purple blouse. But no, it couldn’t have been. It was just her imagination.

“In a pit of fiery burning hell!”

“Yes, Johnny, some day we will all die in a fiery pit of burning hell. But in the mean time, why don’t you come over here and talk to me for a minute.” Clarice stared at the black boy on the rug, following his gaze to a brightly painted wooden chest on the opposite wall. Well, if he won’t listen to me, we’ll just get his attention, won’t we? The little maggot. Clarice glowered as her feeble fingers stroked the bone bird whistle hanging from her waddled neck.

Johnny sat mesmerized by the chest, his arms poised over the rug with his cars suspended in mid-cataclysmic crash. The chest boasted a jungle scene carved in base relief and painted in electric blues, hot magentas, neon greens, and psychedelic yellows. Lions, giraffes, moneys, and parrots and long serpents capered and danced with the dark African figures under leafy umbrella palms. The greens were so lush Johnny could almost drink the sweet, cool water from their stems. As he reveled in the details of the scene, the silhouetted figures began to shiver and quake as one tall, lean man raised a machete and decapitated a giraffe. Its shiny yellow wooden body ran bright red with rivulets of blood. Johnny hurried away from the gruesome pandemonium scene as animals fled shrieking and squealing into the jungle. He clambered for the warm safety of the couch by Ms. Sinclair’s rocking chair and wrapped the granny square afghan around his quivering shoulders, hiding his blue “The Dog Ate My Homework shirt”. 

“You w-wanted to talk to me, Ms. Sinclair?” Why couldn’t Johnny see her pupils? It almost seemed she didn’t have any. Strange, like a witch. He shivered, pulling the afghan tighter around his body.

“Yes, I wanted to talk with you, Johnny. Just a friendly talk. Nothing bad. Give me your hand,” Ms. Sinclair beckoned, sliding her rocking chair closer to the couch.

Johnny knew that voice. It was the lying voice, the kind of voice Dr. Martin used when he told him the shot wouldn’t hurt much or the voice his sister used when she promised to take him to the park if he left her alone for awhile and then didn’t. It was a dark, bruised voice, the lying voice. Johnny didn’t want to disappoint his mother again. He really didn’t, so he gave Ms. Sinclair his left hand, palm up, and squeezed his tongue tight against the roof of his mouth to keep from screaming.    

“Close your eyes, Johnny.”

He closed his eyes.

Clarice put her bird whistle to her wizened lips and blew once. A piercing squawk hurt his ears. He winced. “Tell me about your sister, Johnny.”

Johnny’s voice hung wasp nest thin on the air, his eyelids fluttering like insect wings. “I don’t like her. She threatens to cut the heads off my G.I. Joes and steals my candy. And she tells on me and gives me purple nurples and stuff."

“I see.” As Clarice held the boy’s soft, clammy hand, she saw a long-legged girl with a slender coltish neck and a delicious mischievous grin. “Is that why you beat her up?”

“No,” he blurted. “She beats me up first.”

“I see. And how does that make you feel?"

“Angry.”

“Keep talking.” Clarice pressed deeper into the boy’s nubile consciousness, searching, searching for … Ah yes, there it was. She wet her lips and stroked her bird talisman. It grew hot and malleable like the boy’s hand.

When Johnny was younger, two, maybe three, his mother had read him the story, Three Billy Goats Gruff. The long rickety bridge they had to cross didn’t frighten him and the troll with the nasty eyes didn’t frighten him, but for some reason he did not like the goats, even though they were the heroes of the story. Goats were vile and dirty. They stank at the petting zoo. They ate your nametags and slobbered slimy spit in your hand, leaving you all germy, while flies buzzed around them to bite their smelly legs. At night he’d gone to sleep and the goats plagued him with their malodorous odor and their red eyes like glowing pinpoints in the dark as they bared their brown stained teeth, their hooves tapping with anticipation. Click, click, click … Why was he thinking about this now?

The boy was strong -- almost too strong. He knew something was wrong. Clarice saw it written in his scrunched up face, his mouth tinier than a shriveled raisin. She tasted his fear in the air, alkaline and slippery. Continuing to stroke her bird whistle, she whispered, “Johnny, do you remember the goats?”

“Y-yes.” His grip on her hand could have crushed a drinking glass.

“When I say ‘hippopotamus’ and tell you to open your eyes you won’t remember me asking that question.”

“’Kay.” His lids fluttered and stilled. Johnny thought of the ballerina elephants in Fantasia now. It must be the mention of hippos. He grinned.

“Hippopotamus. Open your eyes, Johnny.” Clarice startled as her office door opened. Mrs. Hammond had a bag of Einstein Bros® bagels in her hand.

“Hi, Johnny. Did you have a good talk?”

“Y-yes, mom.” He really couldn’t remember. That was odd. He remembered something about a hippo or a dancing elephant. His tongue felt swollen and his head felt thick like he’d been sleeping.

“Well, Johnny, you’d best get out of here and make the most of what’s left of the daylight while you can. It’ll be dark before you know it.” Ms. Sinclair grinned.

“’Kay.”

“Johnny, why don’t you wait for me in the car? We’ll go get a Happy Meal after I finish talking with Ms. Sinclair.”

“’Kay.”

She waited until he safely rounded the corner. “Anything I should know about?”

End of Part Two

Between the Covers - Book Review #2

Today's book reviews are brought to you by the late Tatsu, my beloved bearded dragon and fashion model of many lizard harnesses. In the spirit of Halloween, I pulled out his wizard pic, one of my favorites. Miss you little man.

I have three picks for you today: John Connolly's The Gates, Sara Rosett's Mimosas, Mischief, and Murder, and Derek Armstrong's Madicine. Don't be scared! The Bad Book Fairy didn't make a visit to my house this week. They're all BOO-tifully written. Mwahaha!

1) The Gates is the perfect Halloween book. John Connolly's writing is reminiscent of the snarky, intelligent humor of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Samuel Johnson and his dachsund, Boswell decide to get a head start on trick-or-treating. At 666 Crowley Road they discover Mrs. Abernathy and a few friends aren't themselves any more. They've been possessed by demons and have opened a portal to Hell. The Great Malevolent One and his minions will soon be freed by All Hallow's Eve. Samuel desperately tries to get any adult to listen to him, but as you can imagine, his mother thinks he's telling stories again. The only adults who will listen to him are the scientists working on the wormhole computer experiment that caused the portal. But will they make it to Samuel's town in time to stop Satan from walking the earth?

This book is delightfully devilish. The cast of demons are both creative and lovable. I even have a soft spot for Mrs. Abernathy. She's such a devious, scheming character. You have to admire her drive to stop Samuel and his friends from foiling her demented plans. And there's a sequel available now. How great is that? I love when a good story doesn't have to end. Don't miss this pick. It's worth the read.

2) Sara Rosett is a newly discovered author for me. Her female sleuth, Ellie Avery, is a lovable mother and crime solver. This cozy is just as good as Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles series. The only criticism I have is that I found Ellie Avery's organizational tips at the end of chapters jarred me from the story and didn't seem to really anything to my reading. In Mimosa's, Mischief, and Murder, Ellie Avery travels with her husband and children to visit relatives in Alabama, but their vacation soon turns deadly. Her husband's grandfather has passed unexpectedly and while planning the funeral, Ellie and Mitch discover that Grandpa Avery was hiding some valuable letters from a popular local author who doesn't speak to the media. Someone wants those letters enough to kill, but who is it? Is it part of the family or a stranger? This book moved fast and had a few twists and turns that made it interesting. It's not a dark mystery, but I recommend it for a good escape.

3) Derek Armstrong's Madicine is a relevant fictional commentary on greed, biological warfare, and science ethics. Ada Kenner is a virologist who discovers a new strain of virus engineered to eliminate the violent gene in humans. If it worked correctly, the virus would eliminate all violence from its test subjects, but it doesn't. It causes an even greater violence to sweep through the continents as Ada and her team race against time to discover a cure and figure out who has manufactured this deadly biological weapon before it gets into the wrong hands. This book jumps from country to country to tell the story, which at first seems disjointed, but quickly makes sense. This is not a light read, so if' you're tired, you might try something else. The plot is complicated and well-written. I recommend this book. It ranks up there with Michael Crichton's work.

As always, happy reading and happy writing to all! And a very haunted Halloween!

Vampire Books to Die for – Guest Blog by Erin O’Riordan

Vampire trends come and go in pop culture, but I can’t get enough of these undead blood-drinkers. Maybe it’s nostalgia for the late-night horror movies my brother and I used to stay up and watch with my dad. Maybe it’s the guilty-pleasure thrill a girl who was raised Catholic feels when she imagines cavorting with damned, soulless creatures that serve darkness. Most likely, though, it’s the vampire’s forbidden erotic allure: the hypnotic eyes, the piercing fangs, the fact that they’re played by total hotties on TV and in the movies. In my imagination, they’re even hotter.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, written entirely in the form of letters and journal entries, is an excellent read and still very much worthy of your attention if you haven’t gotten to it yet. Post-Stoker, I tend to prefer paranormal romances to horror, but this is only a tendency. A few of my favorites include: ~Little Vampire Women, by Louisa May Alcott and Lynn Messina. I do love a good literary mash-up, and this one squishes together bloodsuckers and one of my all-time favorite novels. It contains every bit of the fun of Alcott's immortal girl-power classic, except this time the March girls have...well, immortal powers. They’re supposed to, anyway, though vampire hunters have unleashed a plague on the undead community that endangers poor, dear Amy. Laurie is a mortal, and still not immune to the charms of his feminine neighbors, even if they do want to drink his blood.

(Top: Christian Bale as Laurie from the 1990s film version. Bottom: the cover of Little Vampire Women)

~The Casa Dracula Books, by Marta Acosta. The first book, Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, is thoroughly enjoyable. In this witty novel, Acosta creates a wonderful heroine in Milagro de los Santos. Mil, as she is known to friends, just wants what every woman wants: to be taken seriously as a writer, to live in a rat-free apartment, and maybe to find a fabulous guy to get serious with. That guy is definitely not Sebastian, her ex, who's sitting on top of a pile of dark secrets. Along comes Oswald, who may be a vampire, and whose secrets may or may be of the dark variety. Wonderfully written, funny, and romantic, this book is a definite winner – and the series only gets better from there, as Mil is torn between Oswald and his less straight-laced cousin, Ian Ducharme. The final book, Haunted Honeymoon, completely satisfies.

~J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. The series is about a race of vampires who coexist with humans. Rather than feeding off humans, these vampires need to feed from the opposite sex of their own kind. The race was created by a goddess-figure known as the Scribe Virgin. Her nemesis, the vampire devil, is called The Omega. An elite clan of warriors, the Brotherhood, protects civilian vamps from The Omega's soulless army, the Lessening Society, or Lessers. The "Brothers" are not literally brothers (except Phury and Zsadist, who are twins).

Ward's writing style takes a little getting used to for those new to the series. She writes in a very noir-ish style. I believe she's heavily influenced by Robert B. Parker. She also invented a language the vampires use, which they call The Old Language. She peppers her novels with Old Language words like shellan and hellren ("wife" and "husband").

The thing about J.R. Ward's BDB novels that makes them so hard to put down is the way she keeps her pairs of lovers separated through so many hardships before she'll finally let them get together. That's the basic plot of every one of these novels, starting with the story of Wrath and Beth in the first book, Dark Lover. Every single one of the Brothers is absolutely gorgeous, all six feet tall and pumped up like comic book superheroes. My favorite is Zsadist--called Z--with his multicolored hair kept super-short, canary-yellow eyes that turn black when he's angry and terrifying exterior that belies how tenderly he loves his mate, Bella.

(photo by Eric Lin, Creative Commons license)

Perhaps the best short story Ward ever wrote is “The Story of Son,” which appears in the anthology Dead After Dark. Not part of the Brotherhood series, it’s an oddly affecting piece of dark erotica starring a vampire.

~Many Bloody Returns, by Charlaine Harris et al. There are many charming tales in this collection of paranormal stories on the theme of birthdays. The Sookie Stackhouse story by Charlaine Harris that begins the collection is only so-so, as is the last tale by Toni L.P. Kelner. (It does have a clever title, though. "How Stella Got Her Grave Back"--delicious!) The really memorable, unique tales include Bill Crider's "I Was a Teenage Vampire" (a Catcher in the Rye-meets-Dracula tale), "The Mournful Cry of Owls" by Christopher Golden (love that Eastern European folklore!), and "The Witch and Wicked" by Jeanne C Stein. In fact, "The Witch and Wicked" ends too abruptly. Expanded, it would make a nice stand-alone novel. The other stories are at least interesting, making for a better-than-average anthology.

About the author: Erin O’Riordan’s fabulous fictional vampires include 1950’s chef Oliver and stripper Oakley. “Vampires” is one of her most frequently used tags on her book blog, Pagan Spirits.

Bookin' It Reviews - #2

This week's book review is brought to you by the lovable bat cat, Toshio.

I have five selections.

1) Inferno was okay, not my favorite anthology edited by my favorite editor, Ellen Datlow. The concept was interesting. She wanted to edit a collection of horror stories not themed. She succeeded at this, but I just didn't find myself reading many of the stories and being really excited about them. I liked that the collection didn't include your typical horror monsters like vampires and werewolves. The stories are not bad; they just weren't really my favorites. The author selection was a good one; it included Lucius Shepard, Jeffrey Ford, Glenn Hirshberg, and Lee Thomas.

A few stories did stand out. I really liked Bethany's Wood by Jeffrey Ford, which was about a child's reunion with his "back from the dead" author mother. I also enjoyed 13 O'Clock by Mike Driscoll and The Suits of Auderlene by Terry Dowling, but my top pick from this anthology would have to be The Keeper by P.D. Cacek. I have never read any of the author's writing and found their short story about a young girl holocaust survivor very disturbing. It was the only story in the book that really lived up to Ellen's quote in the introduction, "Perhaps you will have one of those great memories that will stay with you always, a memory of something dark, dangerous, and brooding." I did with that one, but not the others. It takes a lot to disturb or scare me. Maybe, I'm just jaded after reading horror for so many years. I recommend this as light reading for horror enthusiasts.

2) Midwinter by Matthew Sturges was a good read. This is the first book in the Fae series. The plot didn't strike me as groundbreaking, though it is well written. Mauritane is a prisoner and former captain of the Seelie Army. He's recruited by Queen Titania on a secret mission to save the empire from destruction. After picking his band of travelers from the prison, a beautiful emissary from a foreign land, a nobleman, and a human physicist who is looking for a stolen human child, they set off across the dangerous Contested Lands with Queen Mab's Unseelie Army approaching the border. The characters are quite lovable, but I've seen them all before. I was expecting  a little more from this one than I got. Still, I have the second book waiting to be read on my desk. I'm not willing to give up on the series, just yet.

3) The Gathering, a YA novel by Kelley Armstrong, is quite refreshing. I wish I read this as a young adult. Maya, an adopted teenage girl, lives with her family in the small medical-research community of Vancouver Island. Her father is the park ranger for the local park and Maya's grown up loving the mountain lions that roam the forest. But something strange is happening. The mountain lions are becoming bolder, approaching humans, and threatening their safety. What is the cause for this unusual behavior and what does it have to do with the strange cougar paw birthmark Maya bears? I recommend this one for young adults and adults. It's refreshing to read about something besides werewolves and vampires for a change.

4) Neverland by Douglas Clegg blew me out of the water. I cannot rave enough about this amazing piece of horror. This novel is brilliantly creepy and violent. It takes you inside the deviously demented mind of teenager Sumter Monroe who introduces his cousin, Beau, and the other cousins visiting Gull Island off the coast of Georgia, to Neverland, the creepy shack on his grandmother's property containing their god, Lucy. Lucy urges the children to lie, steal, and offer animal sacrifices. Ultimately, she demands the supreme sacrifice for any god -- a human life. But will Beau be able to stop Sumter? And who is Lucy? What dark family secret lurks inside that shed? I could not put this book down. Any fan of the horror genre must read at least one Douglas Clegg novel.

5) The Abandoned by Douglas Clegg turned out to be just as good. This is one of his Harrow novels, a series surrounding the supernatural occurrences at the abandoned Harrow mansion, a dark and sinister house. Teenagers go there to drink, party, and make out, but one summer night in June, a group of misfits gets more than they bargained for -- the mutilated body of a child's corpse stolen from the morgue is found in the family graveyard adjacent to Harrow Mansion. Some speculate it's an offering to open the gates to a world of nightmares in the Harrow mansion. In fact, if you live in the quiet town, you don't want to fall asleep. And make sure you don't wake up those sleeping soundly around you or you just might become part of the house's plot to maim, slaughter, and terrorize the good citizens of Watch Point, New York. I finished this book in less than a day and would read it again in a heartbeart.

As always, happy reading and happy writing to all!

Excerpt from Imaginology - A Short Story

This story has been an ongoing project for years, constantly evolving. I am finally happy with the finished product and getting ready to send it out for submissions again. This is the sixth version of Imaginology. This short has its origins in my childhood fascination with gory shark attack tales and pictures. Having been bullied myself as a child, I wanted to write about a  strong character who prevailed. The story took a darker turn than I intended, but I like it that way. This is the opening to Imaginology, a very normal day that quickly goes to hell.


Imaginology

by Nora B. Peevy


It was Saturday afternoon at the pool and Billy’s father toted a blue inner tube, flippers, and an orange beach bag crammed full of towels and sunscreen. Mike Chase, Billy’s classmate, stood poolside, tubby in his orange and brown swimsuit, his hair greasy and sweaty. Just looking at Mike made Billy want to scurry in the other direction, but George, Billy’s father, marched oblivious to any danger. His father’s comical bone-white knees jutted out from his too-short blue Hawaiian print shorts. Billy wished he could fade into one of the blue and white striped lounge chairs flanking both sides of the pool, as his father slathered sunscreen on his freckled shoulders. Billy’s red cowlick wavered like an alien antenna in the slight afternoon breeze.

"Go get 'em, tiger. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Billy shielded his eyes from the sun, watching Mike Chase. His stomach hurt with the reminder of the last time Mike beat him up at school this week; he’d taken a few blows to the stomach. Billy dipped his big toe in the water. The smell of chlorine burned his nostrils as he entered the shallow end, keeping one wary green eye on the bully. Mike stole a little boy's beach ball, flinging it into the deep end at a pretty girl in a pink bathing suit, gabbing with her friend.

The water wasn't too cold as Billy waded out to where he could barely stand and sank down like a crocodile, keeping only his eyes above the surface, hoping to remain unnoticed as Mike turned in his direction. He’d only come swimming at his parents’ urging. He’d rather be home in his room reading his comics.

Billy dove underwater and swam through a jungle of legs and feet, hoping Mike hadn’t spotted him. His lungs burned. He needed air soon. He kicked to the surface, sputtering to find Mike Chase looming in front of his face -- mean, ugly Mike Chase, water dripping from his flaring horse nostrils. 

"Hi Seal Boy! Wanna do a trick for me? It's called duck and dive!" Mike swung his fist, his face red with exertion from swimming to catch Billy.

Billy dove right under Mike’s fist and swam off towards the ladder in the deep end. Escaping into line for the high dive, he felt water dripping on his head. He looked up to see Mike towering over him.

"Bark, bark, bark! C’mon and bark, Seal Boy!" Mike jabbed Billy in the ribs with a fat finger before he hopped back in the pool to snap the strap of a girl’s bikini top.

The other kids in line laughed as Billy tried to ignore them, waiting his turn. Two kids stood in front of him and then he was next. He stared straight ahead. His ears burned red, wanting to shrivel up and fall off. He wouldn’t cry. He just wouldn’t because that would only make it worse. Billy continued to wait, shuffling his feet and staring at the wet cement. He climbed the twenty steps to the diving board with Mike Chase barking at all the way and plummeted into the pool, letting the water rush over his ears, drowning out the other kids’ laughter. For a moment, everything was blue and calm -- quiet and safe.

End of Excerpt

Bookin' It Reviews - #1

Master Houdini couldn't resist putting in his two whiskers worth of opinions for my latest book review. As you can see, he highly approves of my reading selections as a headrest for scholarly cats with creative leanings.

I also changed my book review post title. I got bored. It happens. *grins*

Here are three fantastic selections for all you bookworms out there.

1) A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli. The book is riveting. I read it so fast I couldn't believe it. This is a southern gothic novel -- very twisted. In the town of Kingdom Come, a backwards southern swampland with a habit towards floods of biblical proportions, live Thomas and his brothers, three conjoined triplets fond of deviant behavior with no qualms about hiding a dark family secret from Thomas. The cast of characters is as bizarre as the ones from the 90s hit T.V. drama, Twin Peaks. If you love weird, this one is for you. Superbly written and darkly damning, you can't miss it.

2) A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is the perfect way to celebrate the beginning of fall and the Halloween season. This novel is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy. The next is expected out in 2012. Deborah Harkness combines historical fact with fantastical fiction in this tale of a witch with an exceptional family lineage -- the Bishops of Salem witch trial fame. Diana Bishop is a scholar studying alchemy manuscripts at Oxford in England, when she meets a mysterious vampire, Matthew Clairmont. After researching an intriguing and long-lost alchemy manuscript with a spell attached to it, Diana alerts all the demons and vampires to its location. The manuscript supposedly holds the key to the origin of vampires and demons. Matthew Clairmont falls in love with the beautiful and bewitching Diana Bishop while protecting her from the supernatural forces hell-bent on getting the manuscript's location, but there is an ancient covenant the two have broken. Two different kinds of supernatural beings cannot be romantically involved. Now, fighting for their lives and the precious alchemical book, Diana and Matthew must face even greater supernatural forces than expected. This book is a delight and I cannot wait for the second. And never fear -- this is nothing like an Anne Rice novel. It's waaaay better.

3) Welcome to Bordertown: New Stories and Poems of the Borderlands, edited by Holly Black and Ellen Kushner, returns Bordertown fans to the urban fantasy setting they love. Carrying on the Bordertown tradition, authors such as Neil Gaiman, Patricia McKillip, Charles de Lint, Jane Yolen, and Emma Bull give you a whole new set of tales set in the city bordering our world and the world of the Fae. This book will not disappoint. It is as lovely as the original Bordertown tales and a real treat for urban fantasy lovers. All of the stories are great. It is hard for me to pick a favorite to mention here, but let's just say that there are spell-boxed motorcycles, talented Celtic musicians, Green Men, and more in  this collection guaranteed to satisfy. I highly recommend it.

As always, happy writing and happy reading!


What Are You Reading Between the Covers? - #22

It's time for another book review. Since I've still been recovering from my leg injury, my library card's gotten a killer workout. I have four fab selections for you.

The first is A Walk on the Darkside: Visions of Horror.  This was a solid collection from editor and author John Pelan.  Three stories stole the show for me. Parting Jane by Mehitobel Wilson told the sad story of a young girl trapped in a hospital bed by her parents to harvest her body for her ailing sister. Tom Piccirilli wrote a disturbing tale called These Strange Lays about a man who encounters a crazed sex kitten while visiting his father's grave; he follows her back to the asylum and soon discovers just how depraved the insane really are. And Brian Hodge wrote An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Flesh, which while  first published in this collection in 2004, still deals with the relevant topic of school bullying and how some seek revenge. I recommend this for a little light horror reading before bedtime.

My second pick is The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. This YA novel is also for adults. I haven't had writer's envy in a bit, but this one stoked the green-eyed dragon with its wonderful heroic journey of young twelve-year old David. David mourns the death of his mother and soon discovers the fables and stories they loved are more than just stories. The books are alive at his stepmother's house. David hears his mother's voice calling to him one night and enters the mysterious abandoned sunken garden. He soon realizes he is not at home anymore and has stepped into the world of his stories. David completes a quest to return his mother to the land of the living and soon discovers all the dark secrets of The Crooked Man, a sinister, shady character who wants David to reign as King and give him his brother, Georgie, so he can live another lifetime. If you are a fan of Neil Gaiman or the movie, Labyrinth, this book is for you. Beautiful prose, a unique story, and great characters make this one shine.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull is my third pick. This YA debut novel from 2007 is a joy to read. I picked it up on someone's recommendation. If you like Terry Pratchett, Delia Sherman, Kelly Link, Midori Snyder, and Charles de Lint, you will enjoy this fast-paced story. Seth and Kendra are dumped off at their grandparents' for two weeks. Prepared for boredom and awkwardness with the family they don't know, they soon discover there's something magical about Fablehaven.  Fablehaven is a sanctuary for the fantastical world and Grandpa Sorenson is their caretaker. When Grandpa Sorenson and Grandma Sorenson disappear on Midsummer's Eve, the children soon discover the world of the Fae can be dangerous. Seth and Kendra race to save their family and the preserve they love from the clutches of an evil witch determined to release a demon from his prison, so he can rule Fablehaven once again. And there are more books out in the series to read after this one! Can't wait...

My last pick is Horns by Joe Hill. Joe Hill hits another home run with his second novel. Iggy Perrish used to have the perfect life -- family, friends, money, and a girl who loved him. Then one morning he wakes up to find he's grown horns. Iggy attempts to have the horns removed, but discovers this is not an easy task. His horns influence people to focus on their deepest, darkest desires and are not helping him get back to his old life. Iggy struggles with his new identity as the devil while still reeling from the loss of his girlfriend, Merrin, who was raped and brutally murdered. Worse yet, now that Iggy is the devil, he is privilege to what everyone truly thinks of him. And everyone thinks he killed Merrin, but he knows differently. Iggy discovers the truth about Merrin's murder with his super devil powers and takes matters into his own hands. Raw and darkly humorous, this story keeps your interest until the last page. Don't miss it.

As always, happy writing and happy reading!

Origin of The Mermaid's Shadow Lamp by Nora B. Peevy

I'm pulling one of my favorite stories from the vault today. Bewildering Stories published The Mermaid's Shadow Lamp in 2008. Bewildering Stories is a wonderful online magazine featuring speculative fiction. They welcome new writers as well as established and their Managing Editor, Don Webb, is one of the nicest editors I have worked with in the industry. (This is not just a plug for their publication -- it's true. He gave me a helpful critique of my story, which you do not always get when you submit. He also answered all the questions I had for him.)

They published the The Mermaid's Shadow Lamp in four parts. Here is the summary from their site:

Miriam Manchester is a bitter spinster and so rude that she is known as the Witch of Shorewood and is suspected of having sinister powers. One day she espies and purchases a musical shadow lamp in an antique store. Its beauty and music comfort her. It also has powers that surprise even a witch.

Three things inspired me to write this tale -- a love of shadow lamps, my favorite antique store, as a child, and your standard spooky witch who lives on your block.

First, I wanted to write a tale about a magical shadow lamp. I saw one in a magazine and I'd always wanted one as a child. For those of you who are not familiar with shadow lamps, here is a link to give you an idea. They are rotating lamps casting shadows onto the walls of the room. Miriam's has a music box included, though hers is directly from my imagination and not Amazon's modern version:

http://www.starmajic.com/store.cgi?A-Shadow-Lamp+0+1B1A001

The second inspiration for this story was Chattel Changers. One of my parents' hobbies is antiquing, so as a little girl I often went with them to this neat antique store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I enjoyed wandering the two-story shop and gazing at all the jewelry. I also found myself particularly drawn to the lacquered boxes and music boxes. While Miriam's antique store is not exactly the same, I drew upon the memory of Chattel Changers.

The third inspiration was the universal childhood rumor of a neighborhood witch on my block. Every child growing up has the house at Halloween that no one wants to go trick or treating at because the woman is a witch. Fortunately, I had two such characters. I moved into the neighborhood I lived in for twenty-three years, with two rumored witches. One of them turned out to be a family friend eventually, but the other one scared me even more than the dark as a child! I dreaded having to pick up my ball from her front yard and after the first Halloween, I never, EVER rang her doorbell again!

I hope you enjoy The Mermaid's Shadow Lamp as much as I enjoyed writing it. I asked Don Webb for a comment on my piece because rarely as writers do we actually discover why our stories were accepted or rejected. His reply: The gist is that the Review Board liked the characters, dialogue, and setting.  
So what are editors looking for? Well, Mr. Webb, his Review Board, and Jim Harrington, a veteran writer for Bewildering Stories, answer those questions in What Do Editors Want? They look for good grammar, an entertaining read, and great characters/story settings. The article also discusses common writing mistakes and the top three reasons stories are rejected. I recommend it for all writers. You can also find more helpful articles on their site here:

http://bewilderingstories.com/special/writing.html

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!

Ken Liu's The Literomancer

Normally, I'd include this in one of my What Are You Reading Between the Covers? posts, but this is a review of one short story, not a collection.

Ken Liu is someone I have been chatting with online. We met on the critique forum, Critters, which many of you might have read about in my past blog entries. Ken was accepted by Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, which if you are a fan of or write in these genres, you know is a big accomplishment to make it into the professional pages. It's a writer's dream. I'm still working on mine, so right now I can vicariously live a little through Ken's success.

The Literomancer is a delightful tale, an artful blending of Mr. Liu's American and Chinese heritage. This is a common theme in his work, from what I have read so far. In The Literomancer, An American girl, Lilly, whose dad is working for the American government in China during the Cold War, befriends a little Chinese boy, Teddy, who dreams of playing for the Red Sox in the World Series. He lives with his grandfather, Mr. Kan, who is a literomancer or one who reads the fortunes in Chinese characters (writing). The story follows their budding friendship between cultures.

What struck me was the poignant message, Mr. Kan gave to Lilly, "Wildflowers can bloom anywhere." I believe this is true. Perhaps, some day, the people of China will have the freedom they want, but more importantly, perhaps, each of us can look into our hearts and realize that a people and a land are not defined by arbitrary borders on a map, but by their hearts and spirits. A person's spirit is enduring. Thank you, for that message, Ken!

I have to add, do not read this story on an empty stomach if you like ethnic cuisine. Food was also a central theme defining cultures in the story, and I suffered a bout of culinary envy at a few points in the tale. I looked up a few recipes to share with my readers. (Please forgive me Ken, if I post a recipe not completely traditional. I am not familiar with all the foods you wrote about, but am curious). Here are a few links for the chefs and the adventurous eaters:

Kòng-uân pork balls: described here as a sweet and sour pork ball, served with rice.

Three-Cup Chicken: This I am looking forward to trying! The name comes from the three ingredients used in the recipe; sesame oil, Chinese rice wine, and soy sauce. (I suppose you could substitute tofu for chicken, but I won't promise it will be the same).

Shangtung Milkfish Soup: I couldn't find an exact recipe for this, but did find a milkfish soup, which is a traditional Chinese soup made from bangus (milkfish).

If you're hungry or love to cook, one of these should suffice. I think of the three, I would try the Three-Cup Chicken, since I do not eat much pork and was vegetarain for over a decade. I Googled and it also appears that milkfish are not an endangered species, which is good, if you have a food conscience like me.

Enjoy!

For more information on the history of the American involvement during the Cold War in China, Mr. Liu thoughtfully suggested John W. Garver's The Sino-American Alliance: Nationalist China and American Cold War Strategy in Asia.

You can also find information on the tradition of literomancy here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literomancy

http://www.adula.com/index.php?title=Literomancy

And as always, happy writing and happy reading to all!

What Are You Reading Between the Covers? - #11

I need a vacation from my vacation to recover all the sleep I lost due to delayed flights. I haven't read much since returning home to sunny, springtime Dallas, but I finally am able to keep my eyes open long enough to blog about my latest whirlwind of books. I got a lot of reading done on my vacation, though admittedly, I missed my book companion, Toshio. I read three novels the last few days in Wisconsin.

The first was Dayhunter, the second novel in the Dark Days vampire series by Jocelynn Drake. It was a good second book, but nothing really stood out as spectacular. We learn who Danaus really is, which was exactly what I thought he was going to be, disappointing that it was predictable, but he's still a cool character. I like this series because there is no gratuitous vampire sex in it. There was actually only one sex scene in this story and it was plot related -- imagine that! I don't even remember any sex scenes from the first book. In this one Mira and Danaus are continuing their fight to stop the naturi from breaking the seal and releasing their queen so they can purge the earth of mankind (the parasite). It was a fast and entertaining read. These books cannot be read as standalones the way some series can. If you miss one, you miss essential plot elements, so reader beware!

After sinking my teeth into the vamp tale, I switched gears and read Dark Cities Underground by Lisa Goldstein, a very refreshing urban fantasy. Much to my delight, all the childhood stories I loved like Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, and Alice in Wonderland, turned out all to be true accounts. In this story children who had discovered an underground world beneath the world's subway system come back to tell their tales. Hence, the classic children's stories are invented! Ruth Berry, one of the main characters, loses her daughter in this dark fantastical world based on Egyptian myth. She and Jeremy Jones, from the famous childhood books in the story, must recover The Eye of Horus to free her daughter and escape using the underground subway system. This book was amazing! I cannot begin to say enough about it. A must read! I couldn't put it down. If you are a fan of urban fantasy and haven't read this one, pick it up!

After that wonderful story I knew Diana Wynn Jones would not disappoint with Howl's Moving Castle, an oldie, but a goodie. I had just watched the movie adaptation by Hayao Miyazaki of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away fame (good animes, if you haven't seen them. Actually, any of his work is great to watch, very whimsical and fun, just like Diana Wynn Jones's work). Ms. Jones actually helped write the screenplay for Howl's Moving Castle, so the movie remarkably mirrored the young adult book, with a few minor plot cuts. The book is about the wizard Howl, his moving castle propelled by his demon fire Calcifer, and a young hatter named Sophie, cursed by a famous witch to look old. She falls in love with Howl after coming to live as a cleaning lady in his castle, but she cannot tell him or anyone else about her curse. Sophie enters into a bargain with Calcifer to free him from Howl's service in return for her curse being broken. The characters are adorable; the ideas are unique and playful. Adults will enjoy this young adult novel too. I highly recommend it! And do see the movie! It is a masterpiece. Even better, this is the first in a trilogy. The next two books are Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways, which I will certainly be reading myself.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!

What Are You Reading Between the Covers? - #10

Well, it's cold in Wisconsin where I am vacationing. Spring has come to Dallas and I am not there to enjoy it, but it's still under the cover book reading weather in Milwaukee. As usual, I raided the local library the day after my flight home to see my folks. I've read three novels on vacation so far, Nightlight, a parody of the Twilight series by The Harvard Lampoon, Dean Koontz's What the Night Knows, and Nightwalker, the first Dark Days novel by Jocelynn Drake.

Nightlight didn't even take me a full day to read. Whether or not you are a fan of the Twilight series, this is a funny parody. (For the record, I am not a fan. I think Bella and Edward are whiny and annoying. Bella is not a strong female character and Edward annoyed me with how indecisive he was about being near Bella or staying away). The parody plays on a lot of the plot from Meyer's work. Belle Goose is the female protagonist. Her klutziness is even more apparent, which is funny, so is her need to cook for her father. She drives a U-Haul she is obsessed with. Her relationship with Edwart is very dramatic and you can't help but snort at the way The Harvard Lampoon pokes fun of Meyer's drawn out love triangle. However, about halfway through the book the humor becomes a bit heavy and the read gets slower. This is not a book I would recommend for anyone looking for a stellar parody, but it is passable.

What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz was a wonderful read. I really enjoyed this one. The two sisters, Naomi and Minnie were my favorite characters. Naomi is the older sister who still believes in fairytales and knights, while Minnie, the younger sister likes to keep her grounded in stark blazing reality. Minnie's personality is essential to the conclusion of the story. The plot centers around a serial killer's ghost coming back to finish the job he started. Not a new idea, but Koontz writes an engaging plot. And who couldn't love the endearing ghost of the family dog, Willard, who tries to warn them of impending doom?After recently losing a pet, this small detail really touched my heart. I recommend this read, if you are a fan of Koontz. It is more like classic Koontz than some of his newer books have been. It was nice to see him back again.

I was skeptical about Nightwalker, mainly because of the cheesy artwork on the cover. It looked like it was going to be the same type of vampire novel I read before, but Drake managed to freshen up the vampire image with her female character, Mira, also a fire starter. And then of course, there's the naturi, which are her version of the fey. Mira is searching for the naturi to stop them from completing a magical rite that would open a mysterious seal and change the world for supernaturals and humans alike. Along the way she meets, Danaus, a hunter, who has some odd powers of his own. We don't learn what he is in the first book, but I have my suspicions he is not fully human. I would recommend this book, if you like Rachel Morgan in Kim Harrison's Hollows series. Mira could match Ivy fang for fang, in my opinion.

As always, happy writing and happy reading to all!