Nope, it’s not Game of Thrones, nor is it Hamlet. It’s The Ghosts of Grief Hollow, the sequel to his macabre tale The Tear Collector (recently renamed The Tears of Grief Hollow). It’s amazing when you get to the end of a book, and think, what the hell did I just read, but in a good way. I really enjoyed Shawn’s first offering, and if you read my review, it was a tough act to follow. Once again, Stephen King’s It blended with Monster Squad, Shawn manages to up the ante on the horror and thrills, taking us back to the tiny Appalachian town of Harper’s Pass. Its haunted and troubled past comes back to bite its descendants in a big way.
The Markland X grew are trying to settle back into some sense of normalcy after grappling with the evil spirt of Samantha Mellinger, whom they (thought—spoiler alert) vanquished in Grief Hollow. Of course, if it seems too good to be true, it is. In this sequel, their loyalty and trust to one another will be stretched to the breaking point. And, like in the first novel, the kids realize that they are on their own. They know that either no one will believe them, or in the case of their one adult ally, Detective Holt, he’s become too wrapped up in his police work and in the unravelling of his marriage to pay attention to what’s really going on—until it is too late.
Shawn builds up some compelling new characters in the sequel. Lady Zuuva is an intriguing local legend that plays into the darkness of Grief Hollow. I didn’t think Shawn could top the centipede scene from the first book, but dang, I’m not sure which was creepier, the scene with the roots, or…well, I’ll put it this way, if you have phobias about giant bugs, this book is probably not for you.
Speaking of trigger warnings. All of them. Yep. With this book Shawn pretty much nails every trigger you could think of and does it beautifully. Kind of like Game of Thrones. This book is not for the faint of heart, and don’t get too terribly attached to any character. Shawn will kill your favorite character ruthlessly. And I love it.
Thanks for reading! You can also check out my unique brand of Alaska Backcountry horror, The Dark Land series
Some places were never meant for humans to trespass.
Though he provides a brief synopsis at the beginning of what has transpired in the previous book, without missing a beat, Michael brings us right back to where we left off in the land of Lythinall. And in doing so, we start the story with a battle between a Dar’Krist and a dragon.
The action doesn’t stop there. When we left our heroes in the Darkness Returns, they had just faced off against a Wolvren, with Rhoe severely wounded. They’ve been taken to River Vale to be healed before continuing on their way home to Everknight.
New Characters
Michael introduces some new and unique characters in his sequel.
Trashcan-guy
Spoiler alert: this ain’t going to be an easy journey. Treachery awaits around every bend. And new characters come out of the woodwork, or in this case out of the trash pile to assist them on their way. The mysterious recluse Graf who at first appears to be just some crazy, ragged, smelly homeless guy, saves Allissanna (Liss) from assassins and become and unwilling recruit in getting them to Everknight in one piece. As with many of Michael’s characters, he is much more than he seems.
Evil Queen
A new villain joins the pantheon. It would appear that the awakening of the evil incarnation Dar’Krist is being orchestrated by a legendary elf-queen to the south. I’ll leave most of the details and description out, but I have to admit I liked her style. She reminded me of Salma Hayek’s Vampire in From Dusk til Dawn, when she pushes George Clooney to the floor and tells him he’s going to be her dog, and his name will be Spot. He establishes right away that this chick means business, and the word ‘empathy’ is not in her vocabulary. But my intuition tells me that her plan to control Dar’Krist isn’t going to pan out the way she thinks.
Sexy Bard
Jenna the Bard, appears on the scene. One of the things I like most about Michael’s fantasy is that it includes unique magical characters. They’re not the typical elves, orcs and trolls (though worls has some of that too). In this case, Jenna is a bard and a warrior on a mission, but you also quickly realize she’s something more. I’ll let you read and find out what. Her side quest to seduce Karsis cracked me up. I was waiting for Karsis to just tell her, “Look, I’m not a piece of meat!”
Character Development
Most of the other characters take a back seat in this story, but Liss is pushed to the forefront as she realizes that leadership isn’t as glamourous and easy as the songs and stories make it out to be. While she’s still rash and impulsive at times, she learns to consider others as she leads the group of refugees toward Everknight, knowing that they are being pursued all along the way. I feel Michael does a credible job here as she doesn’t lose her underlying temper/impulsive nature instantly, she is still slowly learning to control it.
Pacing
Michael sets a fast pace with this story, with non-stop action. The sequence with Karsis and Caerlyn fighting the Demon is pretty epic. Almost more Dreampunk than fantasy. And we finally get the big reveal on who/what Karsis is. There was one point, I thought for sure Rhoe had naively screwed up (won’t spoil it, but I was saying in my head, don’t fall for it—he’s the villain, doh!). My one hesitation is that at times the story felt compressed. He has several complex plot lines and character arcs going on. I would like to have seen more emotion and detail at times, and I was left saying to myself, “wait that’s it?”. He has enough here that I felt it could have been split into two stories with ease. Don’t get me wrong, this is in no way going to deter me from reading the last book, because I just have to find out how he’s going to wrap this up. More the difference between four and five stars.
If you’re looking for fast paced, high fantasy, check out Micahel Nadeau’s The Darkness Within. You’ll enjoy his complex world of Lythinall and his cast of compelling characters.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned. My next reviews in the queue will be Danielle Anacona’s By Immortal Honor Bound, and Beth Anderson’s The Vine Eater. I will also be catching up on some of our projects from this summer. In the meantime, if you are looking for a great horror read in time for the season of darkness, my own Alaska backcountry horror novella, The Dark Land is available on Amazon.
The legend of Alaska’s Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. It’s hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter. Courage, skill and love will be tested to the limits on the isolated trails of The Dark Land.
While I love to write, I love to read just as much. Fantasy, horror, scifi, historical fiction and non-fiction are my favorite genres in which to read. While I have been neck-deep in self-publishing my own book, it is always a pleasure to take a break and review a book from one of my fellow authors.
This past Memorial Day Weekend I had the pleasure out at the cabin of sitting down and reading The Soul Web, by Steven Nedeau. Those of you who follow me know I love to do deep dives on my reviews, but I am going to refrain on this one (as much as I can) because I don’t see how it would be possible to discuss all the things I want to without spoilers. I will share what I enjoyed about my adventure into Nedeau’s world of Melanthios and his complex high fantasy novel.
Definition of High Fantasy
Fantasy is a broad category of fiction with multiple sub genres. The Soul Web fits squarely in the category of High Fantasy. This genre is defined as taking place in a world that is completely separate from our own, usually with magical elements, complex characters and subplots. Oftentimes, this world has a medieval setting and involve a quest. These books are often longer than typical fiction, as the world building involved takes more description than a story set in the regular world as we know it. Examples of High Fantasy are: Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings; The Dragon Lance Series, by Margret Weiss and Tracey Hickmann; A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin.
High Fantasy can also devolve into some very well-known tropes, clichés and traps. I think one of the most well known is bogging down the plot with too much description. Tolkien was infamous for this. As was Martin. This is where Nedeau does a really good job. His story is very plot and action driven. The characters move quickly from one scene to the next, filling in the gaps as they go. I would say there were a few times I could have used a little more description, but all in all a very fast paced storyline.
Revitalizing old Clichés and Tropes of Fantasy
As mentioned above, fantasy and in particular High Fantasy, tends to fall into stereotypes and clichés. Here are 5 of the most well known:
The Chosen One
Oversimplified Good vs. Evil Dynamic
Setting Medieval Style Monarchy
Contrived Romance/Insta-love/Love Triangle
The All-Powerful Magical Object
Nedeau does a great job of turning each on its head or reinventing it in a fresh, engaging way. I will explain how in my review.
The Chosen One
After years of living and working in a library reading history, Jaron learns that he is the son of a King. All of the people around him who he thought were his friends were really assigned to be his bodyguards. Fearing that his father is dead, they are thrust into a quest with a land surging into war. Nedeau does a great job here of creating an awkward, studious teenager that doesn’t magically morph into Superman, Aragorn, or any other legendary character. Throughout the story you do question whether he really is the guy for the job.
Oversimplified Good versus Evil
As the kingdom of Melanthios plunges into war all kinds of creatures come out of the wood work. Unlike in Tolkien where:
Goblins, orcs= bad
Elves and dwarves = good
Humans something in between
There’s a different dynamic here. The races of Melanthios choose sides based on their own political agendas and past histories. Centuries of grudges and bad blood come to light. Nedeau does a good job of creating empathy in the reader behind the different races and helping to understand why they are allying with either side in the battle to come. And even as the story progresses, there’s hints that even the main characters are not as virtuous as they seem at first blush.
Medieval-style Monarchy
Nedeau does use this trope, and it is considered the most forgivable of the High Fantasy trope because the magic and themes blend well into this frame work and are more believable than in a modern setting. It works well for his plot of an ancient king who has in a sense sold his soul and the souls of his knights in a pact for immortality. Now the current rulers are battling for control, and one has made a pact with this Army of the Dead thinking he can control it. This also ties back to the oversimplified good vs. evil above. There are times when you are looking at both sides (kind of like politics today) and wondering why are heroes want to fight for either side. They are being forced to choose between the lesser of evils.
Contrived Romance/Insta-love/Love Triangle
At first when I saw the set up between Joran and his protectors Keras and Ellian I wondered if Steven was going to go in the love triangle direction. I don’t want to spoil anything here, but he takes us in an entirely different direction. He builds Keras as a skilled and powerful female warrior, but also as a charming young woman. So he doesn’t devolve into what I like to call the female stereotype of the “bad-ass.” She’s worthy of admiration, but so is the other companion Ellian. His strength and strategic ability get them out of trouble on their journey more than once. Nedeau uses these characters as foils to show Joran growing and changing as he confronts his own securities as the purported future leader. There is love, but it blossoms slowly. I won’t spoil it, but I will give you a teaser from one of my favorite lines where the three have to crawl through a tight space. I think I really liked this scene because it reminded me of some of my interactions in the Navy.
Before Keras entered she pointed at Joran, “Don’t look at my butt,” and then to Ellian, “Don’t touch my butt.”
“Wait,” Ellian clarified, “So I can look then?”
She hit him and squeezed through the opening.
Scene from The Soul Web
The All-Powerful Magical Object
Instead of the One-Ring, or sword or book, they are searching for something magical. But Nedeau puts a unique spin on this one as well. Once again, I won’t go into detail here, but it involves the title of the book itself. He reveals snippets of what the group is really questing for little by little as the story goes on. The scene between Joran, Sir William and Lord Baros had a definite Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade/Tales from the Crypt feel to it and is one of my favorite scenes.
Nedeau’s addition to High Fantasy is a fast-paced, magical ride with unique and real feeling characters. I look forward to seeing where the story goes next and how the characters develop in the sequel to The Soul Web.
Thanks for reading. I have a great line-up of authors in the queue for this summer while I work and write out at the cabin. Hoping to dive in to Eric Lahti’s The Henchmen, next.
I am also working hard on the sequel to The Dark Land, available on Amazon now. Sign up for sneak previews.
The legend of Alaska’s Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. Its hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter. Courage, skill and love will be stretched to the limits in the isolated boundaries of The Dark Land.
I have provided a link to where you can check out Beth’s book and her writing advice
“Literature adds to
reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies
that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the
deserts that our lives have already become.” CS Lewis
I had the pleasure of being asked to do an honest
review of Beth Anderson’s young adult, dystopian fantasy novel The Frost Eater;
book one of The Magic Eater’s Trilogy. I have always been a fan of fantasy and
all of its sub-genres. I spent many hours in my youngest years reading books like
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I progressed to Anne Mc Caffrey’s blend
of fantasy and science fiction. By my teenage years I began books like Dragon Lance
series and the Wheel of Time. While I don’t write fantasy myself at this time,
I admire writers who have the capability of building unique new worlds without
bogging the story down.
According to the above article, Dystopia is an antonym for Utopia. In contrast to a perfect society described by Sir Thomas Moore in his book written in 1516, a Dystopian society is dark, impoverished, and inhumane.
Beth does a good job of easing into the dystopian
theme in the Frost Eater. Her novel is set 200 years after a cataclysmic
disaster wiped out most of the planet Anyari’s population. Anyari is a future
colony of earth that has been cut off from its home planet for some time. It
thrived until the event known as “the Day.” A mysterious orange stone pulled
from the ground unleashed a deadly wave of radiation. It killed most of the
planet, destroying technology. The survivors discovered it had also created
magic creatures and capabilities amongst the once humans inhabiting the planet.
THEME
Blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Beth’s novel reminds me of Anne McCaffrey’s style of blending
science fiction and fantasy. One of the things Beth does well here is leaving some
information open to questions. I think some science fiction writers feel they
have to describe EVERY detail of the science behind their stories. I
almost want to scream at them that they’re writing fiction, not a tech manual
or survival guide. If I want that, I’ll shop in the non-fiction section,
thanks. It’s great to leave some things open to question, even debate.
Especially in writing targeted toward the young adult crowd. Beth’s story
provides just enough to spark questions like:
Could radiation have such and effect on
the planet? What are some of the things that are considered global killers by
scientists?
How does solar power work? Why can’t they
just turn it back on?
Energy sources—unless they had large
animals/plant life decaying millions of years prior, the planet is just not
going to have large hydrocarbon deposits. What other energy sources might people
colonizing another planet use?
How will we travel to distant planets?
What are the challenges of surviving
interstellar travel and still being able to reproduce?
Could we grow food on a planet with
different conditions than our own? Could we eat the plants and animals that may
already be there?
What are the consequences of a losing technology
once you are dependent on it? Surviving a disaster is one thing, but then
surviving the lack of technology might be another.
I’ve mentioned this reference in previous
posts, but a great source of information on life on other planets and how many “habitable”
planets may exist in the universe is Wait but Why’s article, The Fermi Paradox
by Tim Urban:
Her story sparks many more interesting questions about
birth control, feminine hygiene products, clothes, many things we take for granted
in a modern society when we have plentiful energy. As an electrical engineer, I
think her story makes for great talking points amongst young people about not
only how to solve this problem if there was no energy, but how much of this do
we waste right now on what we don’t need. Many have a pessimistic attitude of
the state of the planet and what the future holds. I can understand why. Things
are not in the best of conditions. But I for one have hope. People pick on the
next generation, but I work with young people on a regular basis, and I see a
generation asking questions, rejecting the status quo. These questions are the
sparks of ideas that will turn the tide.
SHOWING vs. TELLING
DATA DUMPING AND EXPOSITION
Sometimes fantasy and science fiction novels lend themselves toward data-dumping and too much exposition that bogs down the plot. Beth does a great job of giving out the background behind “The Day,” in little snippets throughout the story. She does this the form of excepts from history written by the first survivors of the cataclysm. This allows her to maintain the pace of the story but gives the reader insight and history. She matched the excerpts very well with the theme of each chapter.
CHARACTERS
Magical Powers or Mutant Capabilities?
“What we call Man’s power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.” CS Lewis
I really enjoy the Marvel X-men series. Super Villain Magneto
is one of my favorite characters. His fears of being exterminated by humans for
his differences are founded on his past experiences. In the Frost Eater, this
trope is turned on its head. It is the people with magic capabilities that have
become royalty, and the people without are commoners. The friction between the
two factions is growing.
Princess Nora Abrios
One of the trends in fiction that bothers me is the
rise of the “bad-ass” female stereotype trope. In my opinion, this has become
worse than the dreaded “Mary Sue.” In the name of feminism, I see a lot of writers
striving for the ruthless “alpha” female. She is better than any man—dammit! She
is going to prove it any way she has to, with no help from anyone. She can
out-smart, out-fight, out-drink, out-cuss and out-sex any man or woman for that
matter. Set up on a pedestal, she has a long hard way to fall, but never does,
of course.
As a woman who has worked in a male dominated
profession for over 20 years now, this really defeats the purpose. I can only
speak for myself, but my professional success as an electrical engineer, operator
and technician has been my ability to recognize my strengths and weaknesses and
continue to grow and develop over time. While there are times insecurity creeps
in, my success has had nothing to do with being better than anyone.
This also runs the risk of making a character
unrelatable. Unlike Mary Sue or the “Super-Alpha-female,” no one is perfect. As
readers, we fall in love with flawed characters and their insecurities that
remind us of ourselves. It’s great to have a larger than life character, but
there has to be believability.
What Beth depicts in her female lead here is far
better. She shows honest character development that reminded me of my own high
school years. Was I a beautiful, rich princess on an alien planet? No. But I
was young with hopes, desires and insecurities about where I belonged in the
world and my future.
The pampered, sheltered Princess Nora has never experienced
the true hardships the commoners of Cellerin face. She also has no real friends,
which leaves her naïve, lonely and bored. Surrounded by adults in a world where
she knows that someday she will face the pressures of running the kingdom, it
leads her to befriend the enigmatic Krey. He is a Frost Eater like herself and
has talents that no one else is willing to teach her. As her eyes become open
to what is really going on, she begins to mature. She also develops latent
magical capabilities. While she always dreamed of having these powers, they will
alter the course of their quest and even her own destiny as Princess.
Her loss of innocence as she discovers the truth about
herself and her family is what bridges the gap to real friendship between
herself and her companions. It also gives her credibility that she really will have
what it takes to be a competent ruler someday.
Kreyven West
Krey has a huge chip on his shoulder when it comes to
the royal family and an ulterior motive for grudgingly accepting Nora’s friendship.
He is on a quest to find his girlfriend Zeisha. He was told she left for an apprenticeship,
and subsequently sent him a letter coldly breaking off their relationship.
Certain the note was fake, he is determined to find her. Even with his mistrust
of the royal family and his belief that they are behind Zeisha’s disappearance
the slow development of their friendship is heartwarming and believable.
The one thing I would say that could have been done
better here was a few more hints as to why he mistrusts the royals over the
beginning parts of the book. Maybe more flashbacks to the reason without coming
out and saying it (avoiding spoilers the best I can here). We’re bombarded with
his anger and his constantly being nasty to Nora which starts to make me resent
him. She puts up with it because she’s lonely, wants a friend, and wants to
learn more about being a Frost Eater. Frankly there’s times in the book I would
have told him to get over it or explain why.* At the scene where he finally ‘fesses
up, it is because of the character in the story I like to call “the voice of
reason.” Almost like Samwise Gamgee in the LOTR trilogy, this person usually
the calm, logical, collected one. In the Frost Eater, its Beth’s character, Ovrun.
*Just to be clear—this is a very minor
dislike and just my personal opinion, otherwise, great character development.
And I understand why she might not want to reveal much as it might take impact
away from “the big reveal scene” you could argue the point either way.
Ovrun
Ovrun starts out a secondary character in the story,
but becomes a stronger presence in the adventure as the story unfolds. Nora’s
crush, he loses his job as a royal guard for the sake of helping the two on
their quest to find Zeisha and the truth. His logic and practicality during the
action and tough situations is a great foil to Krey’s recklessness and Nora’s
naivety. I really enjoyed the slow burn of romance between Nora and Ovrun. Beth
builds on genuine conflict between the princess and the commoner. At first it
comes off as just teenage hormonal passion, but as the story progresses, they
realize they have something deeper. A real future together may not happen since
she is expected to have her future husband chosen for her, and that future
husband has to have magical capability (which he doesn’t). This prevents them from
acting further on their romance, but you can cut the tension between the two
with a knife by the end.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” CS Lewis
As the three teens
travel into the “abandoned” cities on Anyari, searching for Zeisha, the bond
between them grows. They test the limits of their magical capabilities and the
bond of friendship. The vivid images of a decaying modern city gave me the
chills. High rise buildings filled with bones, crumbling light rail lines
suspended in mid-air, and empty streets decaying in the sun were all easy to
visualize. While the city is “abandoned” it is not empty. The teens encounter Troggs,
the people they have been taught are savages. There will be many things that
make them question their upbringing and what is right and wrong. It is clear
from the beginning of the story that the government has something to do with
the disappearance of the young people with magic capabilities. By the end of
the story, all three will have to decide where they will make their stand. With
each other, or the life they once knew.
The Frost Eater, Beth’s first book in the Magic Eaters Trilogy leaves the reader hungry for more. Unlike some dystopian novels, I would argue there is a sense of hope that our young people will prevail, though it will be a tough rough ahead. I can’t wait to see where she takes us in the next offering, The Vine Eater.
Thanks for reading my review of The Frost Eater. This week is a double header. Be sure to check out my review of Stephen Coghlan’s 50 Shades of Neigh.
Next week’s blog will
be about my upcoming battery study planned for this summer at the cabin in
Chicken, AK.
I obtained my CS Lewis
quotes from the website below:
I don’t know about you, but as a writer, I think that is the
question I hate the most. While there are plenty of stories and authors out
there who inspire us, we all are trying to write a different take on the same old
song and dance. We try as authors to bring an original spin to the myths,
fables, legends and even genres that are embedded into our cultures.
“What has been will be again,
What has been done will be done again;
There is nothing new under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 1:9
I think what I enjoyed most about BK Bass’s the Ravencrest
Chonicles is that it was NOT like anything I had read before. I have always
read a lot, and I was a huge fan of the Dragon Lance Series as a kid. I’ve read
Tolkien and just about every Stephen King book there is. I can’t tell you that
he’s like Tolkien, or RR Martin, or Stephen King. But if you’re a fan of any of
the above, you will like Bass’s Ravencrest. This writing is the cross-section
of Fantasy meets Gothic Horror. Rather than a novel, Bass weaves together a
collection of novellas, short stories and poems that paint a dark and compelling
picture of a bustling port town full of colorful characters that is being haunted
by something…supernatural.
Now, I said in the previous paragraph that his writing wasn’t
like a particular novel or author, but his setting of Seahaven reminded me of
many of the seaside towns I have lived in since ditching the small desert town
I grew up in and joining the Navy. I can taste the dank salt air, and feel that
bone-penetrating chill that comes from the moisture that never dissipates with
the seasons. I can picture Seahaven’s close-packed-hastily built buildings
nestled against the rising cliffs. A crowd of sorts, clamoring for the wealth
of trade coming from the sea, all the while, ignoring the dark shadow hovering
over the city above, in the form of the nobility. At the start of the story, I
wondered why the hell the people in the town put up with it, but Bass does an
excellent job answering that question.
Oh…that’s why…You
know, I have to admit, I would so be on the first ship out of this place…just
saying.
Bass does a great job of showing and not telling in these stories.
As previously mentioned, I love Tolkien, and Martin. However, Tolkien’s never-ending
descriptions left me wanting to scream “are the hobbits ever going to get to
the freakin’ mountain?” Or in Martin’s case, his need to not only describe
every detail of a character’s appearance, but the ornate and in-depth details
of their clothing (I found myself wondering at times, Is this Westeros Fashion
week or something?).
Instead, Bass jumps right into the action, showing me his
characters. I got the impression of this cutthroat town of Seahaven as being a
sort of medieval Mos Eisley. A melting pot of thieves, murderers, pirates,
whores and devils. Meanwhile Bass pulls back the layers on a very unwilling
protagonist: Gareth Vann, master thief, turned unwilling hero. Gareth along
with his rag-tag network of sparrows, young orphans like he once was, and
pirate friends, will defend the city against the shadows encroaching from above
and below.
What I also enjoyed about this story was that Bass keeps you
guessing as to who is the good guy and who is the bad. At the risk of spoilers,
I will leave it at that. But I did really enjoy how no one is quite as they
seem.
**I do have to say,
the end story—I totally saw that coming, but I enjoyed every…delicious…minute
of reading it.
Finishing this book, I felt a quandary. It left more
questions than it answered, but in a good way:
What’s Helen’s backstory?
Is Marcella going to get more of a story of her
own?
Am I going to get to hear about the origins of
the Bloody Wench and her first captain?
There’s lots of references to sirens, so will
that be a legend Bass brings onboard in the next book?
There’s lots of hints about Hatha, will she get
a story of her own?
And many more…
Okay, dammit. I’m hooked. When’s the next book, Bass? I’m waiting.
How to get me to, sign up for your newsletter, buy your book
(hint: it’s not by blasting me with, “BUY MY BOOK!!!”), and review it, a short
blog
So I decided to repost this blog in light of the fact that I am currently working on a few reviews an I had an argument online with someone about posting bad reviews. I mentioned that I would never post a bad review. The person stated:
“Isn’t that your job?”
No, actually. I don’t get paid to write reviews. I carefully select whose books I choose to buy or ARC read. By the time I am reading someone’s book, I have a pretty good idea of what I am getting into. They may not all be 5 stars, but they are going to be good.
So if you’re curious, see what gets me to read and review your book below:
So I joined Twitter back in March of 2018 as a means to
reach out and connect with other writers. For the longest time, I wrote in a
sort of bubble. I would fill notebooks with my writing and after a while,
discard them. Believe it or not, this made me incredibly happy. I wrote for my
own mental health reasons, and it was highly entertaining and enjoyable. If I
wasn’t writing, I was reading, and vice versa. A few years back, after reading
a few particularly poorly written novels I had picked up at the airport by “Big
Name, Best-Sellers,” I got to thinking, I can do better than this. Why don’t I
at least try to get what I write published. I write because it makes me happy,
but why don’t I want to share it?
So I set out, learning everything I could about getting my
work published. I was a little leery of social media in general, and Twitter in
particular (isn’t this just another time-suck?), but I decided to give it a go.
I’m really happy that I did. It has enabled me to connect with a whole world of
authors, editors, bloggers and just people that I never realized existed. It has
been a fun time.
Me out in Chicken taking a break with Jane Friedman’s the Business of Being a Writer
Meanwhile, I see a lot of people out there shot gunning
everyone with their ads for buying their book. I can’t speak for everyone, but
I am going to let you in on what makes me hit the buy button, or even drives me
to follow a person, then go to their website and stalk…I mean sign up for their
newsletter, and then buy their book. It’s two things really:
CONTENT
INTERACTION
I typically follow people for the two reasons I mentioned
above. If I see lots of tweets and content that intrigue me, I will follow a
person, even if they don’t follow me back, even if it is a genre I don’t
usually read. If someone is following me, commenting on what I post and interacting
on a regular basis, I will follow. I will also follow based on recommendations
from other writers that I follow whose work I admire. At the same time, if I
follow for a while and get no interaction in return, I eventually pull the
plug. I really do want to connect with writers whose works I want to read, not
just people out to boost their following or sell books.
The FOLLOW/UNFOLLOW Crowd
Ah, you clever, clever folk. I do try to follow those who
follow me and interact. But yes, I do go back and check for these people. You are
not as smart or clever as you think. And yes, if I realize you only followed me
to boost your numbers then quickly unfollowed me, I will totally unfollow. In
the most egregious cases, I will even block.
Sign behind bar
**I do realize that some people unfollowed me because they
just didn’t like what I had to say. I can handle that as well. I think that is
completely fair.
PURCHASE
What gets me to sign up for a newsletter or purchase a book?
Once again, content. Yes, I know it is discouraging to tweet and no one likes
it, or even just a few people like it. Look at it as laying your foundation. I
know I want to see a solid basis of content. This helps me get an idea of what
I am getting into when it comes to someone’s writing. It starts with tweets.
Once they get me hooked, I investigate their website. If I like what I see, I
sign up for their blog. If I really like that, I start stalking their book
release.
REVIEWS
I will never, ever write a bad review. I care too much about the people I follow. If I just can’t bring myself to write a review because I disliked the book that much, I will reach out to the author (assuming we have a close relationship) and give them my thoughts privately. If anyone has ever read one of my reviews, you’ll know that I put a lot of time and effort into it. Why? I am a writer myself, I understand the time and effort it takes to write something, good or bad. I don’t like reading reviews that just say, “This book was nice.” (I hate the word nice, but that is another blog topic all together) I also don’t believe in doing something by half measures, but that is my own nature.
Yes, that is a rubber chicken on the outhouse. I’ll explain some other blog.
So there you have it, my writing friends. Obviously, these are my thoughts and mine alone. But this is exactly how you get me to but your book. Not an ad, not a DM spam. Good luck with your writing, and I’ll be stalking…I mean checking out your Tweets and websites. My book review next week will be Michael Nadeau’s fantasy novel, The Darkness Returns
DM Shepard left the corporate slog to to pursue her dream of writing her stories about women in STEM saving the day. Watch her put her engineering skills to the test as she turns 31 acres of Alaska Wilderness into an off-grid artists’ retreat. Follow her blog and subscribe to her newsletter for more of her North of Normal Alaska Tales.
Since Stephen’s newest novella, Urban Gothic was just released at the beginning of March, I was asked to re-publish this post (not by Stephen or Kyanite Press, but by others who are interested in his writing). I have a copy of Urban Gothic and plan to do a full review at the end of March. Stay tuned. But for now, here is my review of his short story…
Two things came to mind as I began to read Stephen Coghlan’s: Last Ride of the Inferno Train from the Kyanite Press Winter Digest
“I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.” -J Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad Gita
Marker at the Trinity Test Site
John Fogerty-Train of Fools
This train left the station
Quarter past midnight
A hundred souls taking their last ride
Each of them a traveler
Drifting through this life
Silent shadows passing in the night
Ride ride ride train of fools
One will take a journey
With eyes that cannot see
Nothing’s gonna get to him today
One will use her beauty
And take just what she please
She’ll lose it all when beauty fades away
Ride ride ride train of fools
Ride ride ride train of fools
One will be a rich man
At least that’s what he’ll say
Waste his life chasing after gold
One will be addicted
Chained to the devils cross
That one’s gonna die before he’s old
Ride ride ride
Train of fools
This one is a victim A lost and broken child Soon enough he’ll be a man to hate And those that point the finger We’ll also share the blame No one leaves this train judgment day Ride ride ride train of fools Ride ride ride train of fools
Engine at the Borax Museum, Furnace Creek, Death Valley
Rather than a fairytale, Stephen Coghlan’s: The Last Ride of the Inferno Train, is a unique cross-section of Christian, Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Modern Mythologies. My quote at the beginning may not make much sense at the moment, but it will as the reader travels on the Coghlan’s Inferno Train. The last train bringing the souls of the damned into hell after the destruction of the earth and mankind.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!
The first gates of the inferno, Dante’s Divine Comedy
Coghlan does an excellent job of modernizing Dante’s Divine Comedy as we ride this nightmare train with the character the conductor, Charon has dubbed “Mr. VIP.” For those who have never read the Divine Comedy, I will give a basic summary of the Nine levels of Hell below
Abandoned train station at Rhyolite Ghost Town. The only (almost) intact building left standing
The train leaves Acheron Station, after having to wait for
more cars, and makes the steep descent into the bowels of hell. In contrast to
Alighieri’s Comedy, where the Poet Virgil is the guide through hell, he chooses
Charon, a figure from Greek mythology to be the conductor of the train. Either
way, it is interesting that a highly Christian text would choose non-Christian
figures as guides for sinners into the underworld.
In traditional mythology, coins are used to pay the ferryman
for passage to the underworld, else the soul is doomed to wander the earthy
side of Acheron for eternity as a ghost. Coglan twists the tale here. Instead,
Charon reaches in and rips out the heart of each passenger determining which
stop the passenger must alight (or be plucked). This is a nod to Egyptian
Mythology and the weighing of the heart by Anubis in the underworld.
In Egyptian mythology, when you died, you passed through the hall of Maat. Anubis weighed your heart against a feather while Ammut (with the head of a crocodile) stood by watching. If it was light, you passed. If it was heavy from the sins of your life, Ammut swooped in and gobbled up your soul.
As previously mentioned, Coghlan paints a dark and vivid picture of the nine levels of hell as witness by our narrator, Mr. VIP. I highly enjoyed the modern twists and gut-wrenching descriptions of Coglan’s version of hell. I included a link and a summary of the general description of the nine circles (levels) of hell.
1st Limbo-Unbaptized babies and virtuous
non-Christians
2nd Lustful
3rd Gluttony
4th Greed
5th Wrath
6th Heresy
7th Violence
8th Fraudulent
9th Traitors, Betrayers, Mutineers
In addition to his descriptions, Coghlan’s use of dark and snarky humor on the part of Charon I found highly entertaining.
“Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!” A woman near the back of the car starts saying.
Charon sneers, “Now, now, it’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”
But as the train finally derails in the lowest level of hell, Charon takes the arm of our narrator, guiding him towards his ultimate fate. Why was he special? Why was this the LAST ride of the train?
Above
all, I hear the conductor sigh, “Well it’s retirement for me, whatever will I
do with myself?”
Humanity has ended, on the slope down into hell, this train
passed the forest of the suicides without stopping. Why? No one on the train perished
by their own hand. One man was responsible, our narrator. He unleashed the
ultimate weapon, the one we all dread, The firebomb that destroyed the world.
This has special meaning to me, having studied physics extensively and worked in the nuclear field on the power side of things. Reading about the Manhattan Project and the scientists who created the atomic bomb, their humility, fear and sometimes loathing at what they had done humbles me. These were some of the brightest minds not only of the time, but possibly ever assembled. They created this monster, this ultimate Frankenstein because they felt they had to. They knew that the Nazi’s had just as capable and brilliant scientists and the race was on to see who could get it first. It is truly terrifying to realize how close we came to losing the race. But then, like the creatures in Pandora’s box, once opened it cannot be merely forgotten and put back away where no one can access it. In a terrifying twist, it is not the brilliant minds who created it, who understand the power of what they have done that control this weapon. It is now the politicians and the warmongers, fingers twitching for more power. Eager to threaten to hit the button, not understanding the magnitude of what can be unleashed.
I have included the interview of J Robert Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan Project
“In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humour, no overstatements can quite extinguish,” he said two years after the Trinity explosion, “the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.” – J Robert Oppenheimer
At the end I have to ask myself, what is worse? The leaders eager for more power? Or we the people, who sit by indifferent and give it to them, thinking the responsibility for the consequences are someone else’s problem.
A fantastic and thought provoking read. I can’t wait to dig into some of his other work. I have included a link to his website below.
Origin stories permeate almost every aspect of our culture, religion writing and art (whether you ascribe to religion or not). A familiar religious origin story from the Bible, when God said in Genesis, “Let there be light.” The Big Bang theory in physics explains the beginnings of our universe in a scientific way. In pop culture, there’s story of how Super Man came from Krypton escaping a dying/exploding planet. Or how Spiderman obtained his powers by being bitten by a special spider. Most recently, I read one about the Shoshone people of Death Valley being carried in a basket by the Coyote Spirit then escaping while he slept.
We as human beings have sought to ascribe meaning to our
origins since the dawn of time. Even the most cynical amongst us wants to
believe there is something magical and special to our existence on this hunk of
rock spinning through space and time. The purpose for our lives must move
beyond just chaos and random events. Even as science has wiped out or
eliminated the magic behind some of these myths and legends, we still want to
believe that magic exists, that there is a special force behind the chaos.
Backgrounds and origins stories in writing are also what
allow for well-rounded characters and story arcs. Typically, a protagonist or
antagonist’s origins drive their motivations, whether good or evil. A writer
quickly loses credibility for creating a character without a solid origin or
backstory. Even if the backstory is not explicitly stated in the story, it must
be hinted at or otherwise implied to help the reader understand the underlying
motivation for the character’s actions.
Mr. Nadeau’s story, the Last Race of Animals is at its heart, an origin story. He uses a blend of three different genres to achieve his goal. Set in his mythical world of Lythinall, a Queen Mother and bard spins a bed-time story, a “Fairytale,” after her precocious daughter demands a “grown-up” story. Nadeau uses the old Aesop’s tale of the Tortoise and the Hare to convey his origin story of the how the “Forest of the Lost” came to be. But the tale is turned twisted in more than the usual way.
Here is where we get into the cross-section of what it means
to be a fairy tale vs. a fable
Edward Clayton of Central Michigan University does an excellent job of expounding on who Aesop was, but also breaking down some of these timeless tales. As he points out in his essay; Herodotus, Plato, Aristophanes and Aristotle all make references to Aesop, but did so centuries after he was purported to exist. Aesop’s life story (as told) is fairly mythical, giving credence that he may not have existed as a single person, but more as an ideal. He was a slave who was born nearly mute and incredibly ugly, but then through his incredible intelligence and cunning was able to rise above his infirmity. Eventually due to his good deeds and intelligence he was granted the gift of speech. Meanwhile, it was eventually his over-confidence in his capabilities that led to his downfall. If you would like to read more about Aesop, please see my link to the article below.
But how does a fable differentiate from a fairytale? A fable
is per Mr. Clayton’s article is usually set in no distinct time or place. It (typically,
though not always) revolves around talking animals to convey a moral, usually
uses allegory and analogies and is relatively short.
Here is where Nadeau does an excellent job of meshing together the realm of the fairytale, the fable and the origin story. As mentioned in a previous blog, a fairytale, though it does teach morality, always incorporates an element of magic. Here Nadeau spins a tale where at one point in the past, when faeries dominated the land, they made it so the animals could talk. At some point, they left the world and their special animals. This gives a start, as to why these animals are special, and can reason and talk like us.
The talking animals are being hunted to extinction by the
humans that don’t understand that they are special and magical. The tortoise,
who is observant and wise, wishes to just lay low and stay in the forest,
watching the humans. The Hare wishes to leave, he’s confident they could follow
the faerie kind to someplace safer. There’s good foreshadowing from the very
beginning of the tale, where you get the feeling that staying in what is now the
“Forrest of the Lost” may not end well for the talking animals. Here is where
the fatal bet is made. The tortoise and the hare make the classic bet of racing
each other, with the caveat if the hare wins, the talking animals leave the
forest. If the Tortoise wins, the animals stay, but the hare must leave and
wander the world of men alone.
So we all know the traditional tale, through his arrogance
and overconfidence, the hare loses. Nadeau brings in a slightly different angle
here. While the hare is most certainly overconfident, that is not entirely his
undoing. He forgets that it is hunting season and is shot in the leg by one of
the human hunters. He manages to limp back to the finish line, long after the
tortoise has run the race. The tortoise, smug, because he knew all along that
it was hunting season, graciously allows the hare to recover from getting his
foot amputated before banishing him to the world.
But here comes the additional twist in the tale. After the hare
leaves, he smells smoke. Looking back at his once home, he sees that it is
ablaze. Retuning to look for his friends, he finds that they have all perished.
In the end, while he lost the race, and his foot he was
lucky to not have lost his life.
Nadeau’s story leaves things open ended for the reader. While
the hare was certainly wrong in being so arrogant and bullying to the tortoise,
was he really so wrong in wanting to leave the forest? Would the hare winning
the bet have led to a better outcome for the talking animals? Did the hare ever
go on to find the place where the faeries “stepped sideways into the moon?”
He has created a unique open-ended twist on the traditional Tortoise and the Hare fable. Can’t wait to read more on his mythical world of Lythinall.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned, I plan on dissecting Stephen Coglan’s Last Ride of the Inferno Train next.
Admittedly, the first time I read Professor Cognome’s story Lowell’s Second Chance, from Kyanite Press’s Winter’s Digest I was about a bottle of wine in, under the stars in Death Valley enjoying the delicious feeling of tumbling down the rabbit hole. I decided I needed to go back and read it completely sober. My initial impression remains. Not really being a retelling of any particular tale, it’s as if Mark Twain decided to take a bunch of opium and then write his own version of a Mid-Summer Night’s Dream crossed with Alice in Wonderland. Cognome’s short story is a tribute to Francis Cabott Lowell, of Waltham, MA.
Mr. Lowell’s business model for his mill was unique for his era. In a time where there were few to no rights for workers, he recognized that a happy, well-cared for, educated work force actually led to a better profits, less turn-over, a more sustainable business and a better society overall. While he died fairly young, his son continued his legacy and built it into what is known as the “Waltham-Lowell Business Model”
There are many interesting links and studies done on his model of business. If you would like to read more, please check out the one I included, or even the one Professor Cognome included with his story, as I do not mean for this to be a business essay on Lowell, but on Cognome’s highly entertaining tale.
Cognome spins a visually appealing tale. Once into the realm of the fairies, it is the language that captures (and makes me think of Twain, by the by). Fairies “sipping moonlight from a blue forget-me-not blossom.” The “Biggie King” and his “Big Nasty,” and many more. At the risk of spoilers, I will keep my review brief. Marsh Pebble, a sly, powerful fairy is using her magic to attempt to kill the “Biggie King” in the hopes that if he dies, the “Big Nasty” (his mill) will go away and stop destroying their home. Flutterby, the fairy sent to deliver a message of warning about Marsh Pebble’s plan from the Fairy Princess, is not so convinced this is the right path. Cognome weaves a unique dreamscape as his hero and heroine come to a resolution one might not see coming. It’s a story that makes you set your expectations aside.
The seemingly simple tale speaks to a root problem of our time. Like a genie unleashed from a bottle that cannot be easily shoved back in, technology is not easily displaced once people get a taste of it. Whether it is the automobile, social media, or the realm in which I work, electricity; our society has benefited substantially from advances in technology. However, these advances are not without consequence to the world/environment in which we live. I think that we can all agree that no one wants to turn everything off and go back to the stone age. Technology has made our lives better on nearly every level. At the same time, how do we strike the right balance between advancing technology and conserving the world in which we live in? How can we convince governments, businesses and even people as individuals to take ownership of their decisions and how they affect the world around them? Who are the right persons to be the judges? We as human beings are incredibly short-sighted, and for good reason. Let’s face it, we’re also incredibly resistant to change. We often only change when forced to. Our lifespans in the grand scheme of things are short and narrowly focused on surviving.
In Cognome’s story, Marsh Pebble has taken it upon herself to be the judge, jury and executioner for the “Biggie King” and the “Big Nasty.” She’s thoroughly convinced that if she gets rid of him, all their problems will be solved. But as we see too often even in our society, if we eliminate one ill without completely thinking through the consequences, more will pop up, often like the hydra in Greek mythology, waiting with more heads to tear us to shreds.
Now this is possibly an over simplification, but you will get my basic point. Think back to the 1840’s. The world was killing whales tothe point of extinction for the purpose of fuel, perfumes, bones, etc. As the number of whales decreased and prices for whale oil and corsets went up, they started to look for something to replace it. What did they replace it with? Fossil fuels. Flash forward to now as we look around trying to find the next technology to supplant fossil fuels. I hope we take a hard look at what we come up with so a hundred years from now, they aren’t shaking their heads saying, “What were they thinking?”
This was a great read. I love delving into something that onthe surface seems simple but really makes you think. I look forward to readingmore of Professor Cognome’s work.
I found out that Hanson Oak, one of my favorite horror authors I follow online is contributing a story to an anthology this fall as part of a charity with Gestalt Media, I decided to update this post and re-publish, as it was one of my first (and favorite) reviews I wrote.
Here is a link to Gestalt Media’s upcoming anthology project:
The genre of myths, legends and fairy tales is one of my favorites to read. I have enjoyed all of the above since I was old enough to check out a book at the library. When I found out that Kyanite Press’s Winter Digest was going to be devoted to this genre I decided to treat myself and settle in for some long nights by the fire in the Alaska darkness, reading one tale a night and analyzing it. Before you ask, yes, I am a total nerd. When I am not writing my own stories, I am reading others.
I decided to begin with The Black Hen Witch, by Hanson Oak. Hanson is one of my favorite authors I follow on twitter writing in the horror/noir genre, and so I was interested to see what he would bring to the realm of the fairy tale.
My original post was shorter and did not contain spoilers. This one does. If you have not yet read his story and are worried about spoilers, please stop here.
His tale is set in 1692 in Massachusetts. For those who are students of American Colonial history, something dark and sinister happened in New England that year. Something that haunts the American psyche to this day. While this craze would spread far beyond Salem like a fever, before it was done, more than 200 people would stand trial for witchcraft, and 20 would lose their lives.
We can look back with the lens of history and judgement and come up with theories as to what led to such horror. Some of it was civil unrest and war in the colonies leading to refugees taxing the local economies. Some scientists speculate that ergot poisoning caused mass hallucinations and hysteria. We also know that many of the accusations were born of jealousy, greed or fear.
Knowing the time and historical setting of the story, and that the premise was an innocent young girl wrongly accused of witchcraft who is thrown together with the “real” witch of the town of Black Hen, I wondered how Hanson might play on some of the above themes. I figured he would use one of the above, along the lines of more famous books set in Puritan New England, like the Scarlet Letter, the Crucible or even the young adult story, The Witch of Black Bird Pond.
I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong on every account. He took the story’s theme in a direction I did not anticipate at all.
Disney claims in their version of “Beauty and the Beast,” that it is a “tale as old as time.” I would beg to differ. Hanson reminds us that there is a much older tale, as old as Eden. He weaves this consistently throughout his entire tale playing on traditional literary archetypes, but twisting them in unexpected ways. It is the tale of parental expectation, and how we as children either disappoint, meet, or exceed what is given to us. Do we reject our parents or accept them? Do they accept or reject us? How does this shape our choices? In particular, Hanson digs into the angst between mothers and daughters. He uses the archetypes of the mother, the crone and the maiden in particular in this tale, but often turns them on their heads.
It is something as human beings that shapes our lives. We cannot escape it, literally fed into us with our mother’s milk. It repeats itself in almost every genre, myth, legend and tale. Go to any modern psychologist, and they will analyze at length your relationship with your parents to help explain how it shapes your present relationships and life.
He starts out by creating the characters who will become the parents of the protagonist, Charlotte. They are the embodiment of the worst of the human vices: greedy, callous, cold, vain. These two people become saddled with a child who does not meet their expectations. First and foremost, Charlotte’s not the strapping boy her wealthy father wanted to carry on his legacy. Secondly, she’s sickly and ugly; the anti-thesis to her mother’s famous beauty.
On some level, the reader can’t truly blame them. Unlike in modern-day America, where most people have children (I realize there are exceptions) because they want a child to love, in the historical era in which the characters live, children are merely tools to carry on their parents legacy. Birth control (beyond the “rhythm method”) was essentially non-existent and for the most part deemed heresy. Life was harsh in the colonies, mortality was high. Life expectancy was around 35-39 years of age, That’s if you made it to adulthood at all. Roughly 35-40% died before the age of 20.
Children were used as cheap labor on farms or were shipped away from their parents at a young age to learn a trade. Obviously written about an era before the “Women’s movement,” a daughter in Colonial America that couldn’t be wed or sent off to work would be considered a horrible burden. A drain on resources.
These two reject their daughter and treat her as sub-human. They stop short of absolute murder, but they do lock her in a damp dark room in the house, barely allowing her to thrive. They get their just desserts in the end. Her heartless father drops dead of a heart attack, then her cold, beautiful mother gets burned to death. I would love for it to have been stretched out longer, made more torturous. Kind of like Joffre in Game of Thrones, I just really wanted more suffering there. Having read some of Hanson’s other writing, I know he’s more than capable, but he was constrained by length. But that just tells you that Hanson succeeded in creating really great despicable characters (which I really enjoy reading). He did a great job creating a fitting end for both parents.
Back to our protagonist, Charlotte. She’s been shut away her whole life, however, someone is mysteriously leaving her food and whispering to her in the dark, making sure she continues to live. Charlotte manages to make it to adulthood despite her illnesses and lack of care from her parents, and seems to find love for a brief time from Christian, the Baker’s son, who she weds.
However, Christian seems to pull away from her not long after they are married to work for her father, and leaves her alone in her dark world of her room again. She’s alone, sick and lost once more.
Now at her lowest point, Charlotte is dragged out of her parents home and accused of being a witch. Her parents look on and do nothing. She calls out to Christian from the cart in which she is imprisoned, and he takes the hand of another woman and turns away.
She’s thrown in with Corta, the real “Witch of Black Hen.” This is where the tale twists again. Hanson does clever job here of spinning the maiden/crone archetypes at this point. Poor Charlotte, for most of the story, has been portrayed as almost a young crone. She’s ugly, sick, hideous, naïve. Meanwhile as soon as Charlotte strikes her bargain with Corta, the withered old hag turns into a beautiful enchanting young woman, something Charlotte has never been.
Meanwhile Hanson delves deeper into the Mother Archetype, and the Mother/Daughter hero’s quest arc in more detail with this twist in the tale. He explores much of the rage, love, bitterness and longing between mothers and daughters as Charlotte is offered a choice by the surrogate mother she never knew she had.
If you haven’t guessed, the mysterious person in the story who whispered in the dark to Charlotte and left her food, caring for her when no one else did, was none other than Corta, the real Witch of Black Hen.
This is where the story comes down to morality of good and evil. Who should get to choose who does the punishing? As previously mentioned, Charlotte is offered a choice. She can choose to give her heart to the Black Hen Witch, and in exchange, receive the answers about herself and her family that have been withheld her entire life. She can exact revenge for the treatment she’s received, or she can choose kindness and love. The question remains, which does she actually choose?
But first, we must answer the question, what type of mother figure is Corta? And what is the mother figure.
The Mother Figure
Carl Jung was one of the first to document the Archetypes in literature. They have been around since the dawn of time, and they repeat themselves throughout all cultures. I have included a few websites in this essay, one on archetypes in general, and one in specific on the mother. I also included an article from Psychology Today: Mothers, Witches and the Power of Archetypes; Dale M Kuschner 2016 (see link further down), which delves deeper into the negative aspects of the Mother Figure, but also explains the reasons behind these negatives.
The Mother figure can be represented in many ways. When she is positive, she is nurturing, loving, supportive. Sometimes the embodiment of wisdom, kindness, fruitfulness. In literature she may not always be represented directly as a mother, but as a guardian or even a goddess. Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, Mary, the mother of Christ, Ostara goddess of spring are all examples of nurturing loving archetypes.
Then she can be represented in literature in the negative: cruel, withholding, malicious, subversive. A witch, evil, destructive. Kali (Hindi culture), Pele (Polynesian), Hecate (Greek) were portrayed in such a light.
But Jung and others would argue that it is not so much that these characters are evil. They represent a side of stifled femininity that a traditional patriarchal society has suppressed and fears. They fear the powerful and untamable aspects of the feminine that they do not understand. Patriarchal societies have often created rules and laws to control the bodies and behaviors of women.
Mothers that neglect and or reject their children or act in ways that seem evil are not conforming with society’s expectations.
“…all those influences which the literature describes as being exerted on the children do not come from the mother herself, but rather from the archetype projected upon her, which gives her a mythological background and invests her with authority and numinosity.”—Carl Jung, Four Archetypes
Think about modern day America, and the extreme pressure on parents (and mothers in particular) to be perfect and give the best childhood to their children. What was considered acceptable behavior 30 years ago when I was a child would now potentially get a parent arrested for abuse, or at the very least incur the wrath of social media.
I’ll give a simple example. What is considered an acceptable age for a child to walk to school alone? My older sister and I walked by ourselves to the bus stop, by ourselves, from a very young age (I would have been six, she would have been eight). The bus stop was approximately a half mile away, across open fields of desert. We were often accompanied by our neighbors who were the same age. Meanwhile, my own mother was a “latchkey kid.” Her mom was raising her on her own with no support. She was home by herself from about the age of 7.
Now, depending on the state and laws, parents can be arrested for this.
But let’s get back into Hanson’s story and the concept of neglect and societal expectations of parenthood.
In the context and setting of Hanson’s story, while the village at large feels empathy for Charlotte’s situation, no one dares oppose the power her father has over the town by standing up for her. Meanwhile, in the context of time and place, Hanson has still done a great job of establishing Charlotte’s biological mother as merely a beautiful, empty-headed gold-digger with little to no feeling for anyone, let alone her daughter.
Yet the culture of that time would not label Charlotte’s mother as evil. It is a strange irony. She is behaving within the understood cultural boundaries of the time. There is no doubt from our modern perspective that Charlotte is being neglected and treated with unreasonable cruelty. But in the boundaries Colonial America it was perfectly acceptable. As previously stated, it is only when a person (or in particular a woman) strays beyond these bounds that they are labeled as evil, whether they really are or not.
Now we meet Corta, the Black Hen Witch:
“I was the Wind of the Woods, Spirit of the Forest, Shadow of Light, Babba Yagga, and so on. Now they call me witch”-The Black Hen Witch
Corta has been living in the woods, watching the town since its inception. Casting her magic, passing judgment, living outside the boundaries.
From Ms. Kuschner’s article in Psychology Today, I give you a quote which sums up Corta, and indeed any woman who does not conform to the societal norms of her time:
“Among the archetypes, the witch is a fascinating figure. When someone calls another “a witch,” we know exactly what they mean. The witch has powers. She is uncanny and unholy. She lives outside the borders of civilization and has been ostracized because her ways stand in opposition to accepted values, thus challenging our own impulse to conform. To not conform, especially as women, puts us at risk of being called a witch (or the rhyming word that begins with a B).”
And here we come back to parental expectations once more. Corta, unlike Charlotte’s biological mother, chose Charlotte. She has been watching her since birth. One could argue that her expectations are even higher for Charlotte. Corta wants not only wants Charlotte’s love and obedience, but she wants a companion, someone with whom she can share her power.
But as they go through the town, Corta showing Charlotte the answers she seeks and enacting revenge on those who have hurt Charlotte, Corta becomes disappointed that Charlotte doesn’t share her joy and lust in the acts of vengeance. They kill her parents, and the priest who condemned her, all despicable characters, but Charlotte’s kind heart can’t revel in their demise. Then they come to the final answer: Charlotte’s husband, Christian.
Charlotte had already suspected that he didn’t really love her. That he only married her for her father’s wealth and business connections. Her heart breaks when she sees him turn away with another more beautiful woman while she is trapped in the cart, the townspeople demanding she be burned.
Here comes both the climax in the tale and the final truths about love versus hate and good versus evil. Corta almost has Charlotte convinced that Christian never really loved her. That he wanted this other woman, and betrayed her as a witch so he could be free to remarry. Charlotte asks to hear his voice and be near him one last time regardless. Constrained by their bargain, Corta is forced to comply.
This is where we find that Christian loved Charlotte all along. The other woman is his cousin, skilled in healing whom he brought from Boston to try to save Charlotte, but was too late to save her from the accusation of witchcraft.
But who actually accused Charlotte of witchcraft?
The accuser was none other than Corta herself. When she was caught, she accused Charlotte because she claims she didn’t think Charlotte could survive without her.
Now as this is a novella and Hanson didn’t have much space here to delve into the deeper background and psyche of Corta, this portion is rather open ended.
What if Charlotte had never been accused and Christian had been able to save her? Corta would have then lost her “adopted” daughter to her husband, possibly forever, and Corta would have been burned as a witch with no way to regenerate.
If Christian’s cousin had not been able to save Charlotte, and she had died a mere mortal death, Corta still loses Charlotte.
It is both her own selfish love of Charlotte and her image of being the lone savior to Charlotte that drives Corta motives and desires. She wants to be the only love of Charlotte’s life, with no competition. She wants to sever any connection to the physical world that Charlotte has and bind her only to herself. When Charlotte discovers the truth and lashes out at Corta, Corta becomes furious. She begins to reject Charlotte.
This is also where we feel Corta’s true depth and loneliness and realize there is more to Corta’s longing for Charlotte than we know. Charlotte recognizes the true love that Corta has for her (no matter how selfish it may be).
Here is another interesting twist in the tale. In our modern society there tends to be a focus on romantic/erotic love, to the detriment of all others. The ancient Greeks actually defined 7 different types of love. Psychology Today’s article on the subject describes these in detail, written by Neel Burton, MD: These are the Seven Types of Love, June 25, 2016
At end of the tale, Charlotte chooses to go with Corta, begging her true mother to love her and forgive her. The focus becomes the love between mother and daughter. This is defined as “Storge,” in Greek terms. It is related to “Phillia.”
Though that the same time, Hanson acknowledges Charlotte’s continued love for Christian. But it would not be deemed what our society would consider Romantic or Erotic love (“Eros” in Greek Culture). Their love is also more along the lines of “Storge” and “Philia” as defined by the Greek model in the referenced article.
Charlotte’s final request before relinquishing her heart to her true mother is that while the town be wiped from existence, Christian is to be spared. She loves Christian still, but is willing to let go and move on with Corta. The only remnant of the town that exists is the ancient oak tree that once stood at the center, that holds her heart, evergreen.
I really enjoyed this novella. This could easily have been turned into a full-length novel. Maybe Hanson could be convinced to do a novella on Corta, so that we can understand a little more of her origins, desires and motives. Where did she come from? What brought her to New England? Why did she choose Charlotte?
Thanks for sticking with me. If you liked my review, please follow me and check out my other posts. I have been doing a series of posts on the gold rush and the Alaska interior in the 1890’s. My next book review will be of DK Marie’s Fairy Tale Lies.
