Crowley's Window, by Gord Rollo

(pb; 2012: novella)


From the back cover:

"Abby Hawkins was never normal.  Born with a birth cowl. . . a rare birth defect thought to predict future psychic abilities. . . she is haunted by horrible visions.  Shortly after her thirteenth birthday, Abby's parents call in the mysterious [Marcus] Crowley to help their daughter.  His interventions rid her of her visions. . . and her eyes.

"Now a beautiful young lady, Abby Hawkins works as a blind fortune teller in a travelling Carnival.  When she receives a powerful vision. . . one depicting the abduction of a little girl - she becomes the sole witness to the crime.  Only a young police officer believes her bizarre story, and with his help she embarks upon an investigation that will ultimately reunite her with the madman from her past and bring her to the hellish threshold of Crowley's Window.

"Special bonus inside:  The short story, Memories of a Haunted Man, a dark tale about a family in desperation written by Gord Rollo and Everett Bell."


Review:

Crowley's Window is a good, entertaining horror novella, one that made put me in the mixed mindset of a Seventies horror film (e.g., The Devil's Rain and The Fury), Robert Wiene's 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and a 1980s horror novel, because of its elements of Satanism, psychic phenomena, carnie life (Caligari has a carnivalesque visual aspect) and stripped-down storyline and writing style.  There's not one wasted word in this gem of a B-flick novella.  Not only that, the effective, fun end-twist is simultaneously cheesy and smile-inducing (it felt like a knowing wink from Rollo).

In this book, Rollo also included a post-Crowley, thematically-similar tale of familial dysfunction, Memories of a Haunted Man, one he co-authored with Everett Bell.  It's a good fit for Crowley, and, like its attached novella, an entertaining (if sad) read.

Between these two works, Crowley's Window is a worthwhile purchase.  Check it out.

Dark Secret Love: A Story of Submission, by Alison Tyler

(pb; 2013: erotic novel - first entry in the Story of Submission series)


From the back cover:

"Dark Secret Love is a modern-day Story of O, a 9 1/2 Weeks-style journey fueled by lust, longing and the search for true love.  Inspired by her own BDSM exploits and private diaries, Alison Tyler draws on twenty-five years of penning sultry stories to create a scorchingly hot work of fiction, a memoir-inspired novel with reality at its core.  A luscious and literary experience of authenticity.  Dark Secret Love is a romance for readers who desire sweetness edged with danger and a kinky fairy tale with a happily-ever-after ending."


Review:

Romantic, edutaining (educating and entertaining), nuanced and hard to set down, Dark is an excellent novel that has characters that are not only interesting but matter (beyond the cuffs and the floggings), whose emotional journeys will likely haunt this reader.

Alison Tyler is one of the best working erotica writers today.  Check out - buy - her work wherever you may see it, so that you might not only be entertained but learn from it (whether it be for her writing style or her characters' intriguing carnality).

Followed by The Delicious Torment: A Story of Submission.

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

(pb; 2011: Book Five of A Song of Fire and Ice)


From the inside flap:

"In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance - beset by newly emerging threats from every direction.  In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death.  But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her.  As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the quen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

"Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys.  But his newest allies in this quest are not the ragtag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who would undo Daenerys's claim to Westeros forever.

"Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone - a structure only as strong as those guarding it.  There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night Watch, will face his greatest challenge.  For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice."


Review:

Dance, like A Feast for Crows,  is a transition book - in the sense that it's not as fast-moving and action-brutal as the first three Song novels.  Because of this, Dance sports many of the same faults of Feast (e.g., its emphasis on secondary characters who are less intriguing). 

On the plus side, though, there are a plenty of character-based moments in this fifth Song book where I experienced the same sense of thrill that I felt while reading the first three books.   These moments made Dance a worthwhile, if overwritten, read.

Not as great as the first three books, it - like Feast - is still a more impressive read than most fantasy series I've read.  Check it out from the library.

**Peter Baltensperger's Fugue for Numerous Violins was published in Black Heart Magazine

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Fugue for Numerous Violins, in Black Heart Magazine.

Fugue details a late autumn, perhaps winter, day in a busy, windy park.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

The Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith, a.k.a. J.K. Rowling

(hb; 2013: first book in the Cormoran Strike series)


From the inside flap:

"After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator.  Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling.  He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and living in his office.

"Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier.  The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that.  The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man."


Review:

Cuckoo's Calling is a solid detective novel with cinematic sensibilities - it emphasizes noiresque undercurrents and glitz in equal measure.  The element that kept me reading this novel, though, was its fully engaging, complex characters; its 'mystery' element was an okay-whatever affair for me, because I figured out who did what to whom early on (this isn't a knock on Rowling or her writing, but rather a symptom of me reading too many mysteries in as many years).

Solid, genre-familiar read, worth checking out from the library.

Followed by a future sequel whose title I don't know yet.

Gustav Gloom and the Four Terrors. by Adam-Troy Castro

(hb; 2013: third book in the Gustav Gloom series. Cover and interior illustrations by Kristen Margiotta)


From the back cover:

"Gustav Gloom's neighbors think he is the unhappiest little boy in the world.  But what they don't know is that the strange, dark house Gustav lives in is filled with more wonders and mysteries than could ever be explained.  But explain is exactly what Gustav needs to do when Fernie What moves in across the street.  And that's when the adventure really begins.

"When Gustav decides to rescue his father from the Dark Country, he needs Fernie's help.  He convinces Fernie's father to enter the Gloom mansion with Fernie and Pearlie, assuring him that nothing bad will happen.  When the Four Terrors escape from the Hall of Shadow Criminals, all kinds of bad - horribly bad - things start to happen.  Soon it's up to Fernie to save her family and Gustav before it's too late."


Review:

Like its predecessors, Gustav Gloom and the People Taker and Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault,  Terrors is an adventurous, imaginative and offbeat kid's book, with something for both children and adults.  On a character-specific note, I especially enjoyed the presence of Hives, the Terrible Butler and Fluffy the. . . well, you'll see if you read this book.

Charming and immediately immersive work, this, between the dark, kid-friendly charm of Adam-Troy Castro's story and characters, and Kristen Margiotta's perfect-for-the-book illustrations. 

Also, like its prequels, this is a book worth owning.

Followed by another sequel, whose title I don't know yet.  According to the author, there are six books in the series, all of them completed and the last three awaiting publication.

Inside from the Outside: A Journey in Sudden Fiction, by Peter Baltensperger

(pb; 2013: microstory anthology)


From the back cover:

"Dealing with the basic elements that make us human, the short stories contained in Inside from the Outside represent explorations of various aspects of human nature in all its complexity and variety.  Author Peter Baltensperger has incorporated elements of experimental, surrealistic, and bizarre short fiction in the development of his themes."


Overall review:

Inside is not an anthology for mainstream genre readers looking for easy and obvious thrills; such readers may be disappointed  - underwhelmed or overwhelmed - by the sixty-four stand-alone, cerebral and symbol-laden vignettes and microstories in this collection.  The reason for this is that Baltensperger favors a psychologically-intense approach that loosely links these elements: the works Carl Jung and Sǿren Kierkegaard; nature appreciation; mirrors; circuses and parades; romance and sexuality; and (often) quiet reflective realizations.  

Normally, I wouldn't read such work - I'm largely a fiction-genre (crime, horror, etc.) junkie.  But Baltensperger's intriguing word pairings, his sublime and often poetic language and images, and skillful juggling of the aforementioned themes made Inside a wow-worthy anthology that stands out from others' mood-linked volumes that strive for such sublimations/realizations, but so often fall short.

Of course, not every piece in this sixty-four tale book completely thrilled me - a relative few felt superfluous, due to their too-similar elements which did little or nothing to further the concepts and emotions of preceding tales.  The occasional "lapse" tale is a given, of course (at least for this reader), in a collection with this many pieces, so it's a minor nit at worst.

Beyond that inevitable complaint, I found something - a character, a mating of choice words, an image - to enjoy in almost all of the mood stories represented here.  I should also note that this is a slow burn, read-a-few-tales-a-day work, a compilation to be read, analyzed and savored over a prolonged period of time.  (It took me two months to read this - a worthwhile endeavor, in my estimation.)

Worth owning, this - if you're looking for a romantic, cerebral and mood-suffusive anthology.


Standout stories:

1.)  "Through Disarticulations": Surreal, beautiful and romantic nature- and music-based piece.  Excellent.


2.)  "Snippets in a Hot Afternoon":  I especially enjoyed the effective, full-circle finish of this microstory.


3.)  "Equine Afternoons":  Dream-like microtale about a "woman with beautiful breasts", horses and squirrels.


4.)  "Dilemma for Rain":  Especially striking imagery in this one (e.g., "a herd of snails").


5.)  "Fusions and Diffusions":  A woman and an artist hook up.  Romantic, effective - I love the line: "Hunter took her to his apartment and painted a fragmented sentence for her, flashing colors splashed over a large canvass. . ."


6.)  "Under Uncertain Skies":  A storm brings together two carnival performers (a wolfman and a bearded lady).  Sweet work.


7.)  "Blind Eyes in a Dark Jungle":  Timely vignette about a shopping mall-traumatized woman.


8.)  "Rain Games":  Two temperamentally different brothers attend a party.  Effective, stripped-down tale of familial vengeance, in its various forms.


9.)  "By Fractured Continuations":  Effective mood piece about a woman wrestling with her sense of time and being.


10.)  "Whispers from the Rain":  Nighttime precipitation holds a special allure for a curious woman.  Sweet-toned offering.


11.)  "Spring Thaw":  Wintry thoughts negate a possible love match.


12.)  "Points of Diffusion":  A couple come together between corporate meetings and a placid lakeside.


13.)  "What Is and Can Be":  A man and woman conquer winter and  a mountain.


14.)  "For a Crescendo":  Music, insects and desire bring lovers together.


15.)  "Anatomy of a Treadmill Runner":  A runner goes through his circular routines.  The story structure reflects this.


16.)  "Inside a Puzzle":  An artist struggles to hold onto joyous moments.


17.)  "Parenthesis for a Liberation":  I love the images of this microtale, in which a fanciful woman exercises while her thoughts may or may not run wild.


18.)  "Tremolando for Rain":  Two lovers meet and celebrate during a rainstorm.  One of my favorite works in this collection.


19.)  "Performance Art in a Meadow":  A circus troupe perform and live their oddly relatable lives on a rainy day.


20.)  "Through Viscous Hours":  Gregory Bergman, a night-restless man, encounters a personalized source of terror while walking his dog.


21.)  "Going By Rivers":  Two lovers join each other on a river.  Romantic-effective work.


22.)  "Notes on a Journey":  A man revisits his hometown. Effective dovetail finish to this one.


23.)  "Dilemmas of Empty Spaces":  A woman ponders her strange sense of fulfillment, while nature works its own animalistic magic.

The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Sex Toys, by Violet Blue

(pb; 2006, 2013: sexual nonfiction / sex guide.  "Foreword" by Charles Glickman, PhD)


From the back cover:

"Violet Blue is one of the top sex educators in the world and whether she is schooling Oprah Winfrey on porn or at Google headquarters talking about sex and technology, millions are listening and learning.  With a practical, sex-positive approach to pleasure, Blue leads readers through the maze of toys for adults in [this book].  She explains the many options now available, how to use lubricant to enhance your experiences, care and cleaning, where to find reputable shops - and how to send your sensuality quotient soaring with the right tools to bring you and your partner closer than ever.  Nothing says 'sexy' like giving a sex toy to your lover."


Review:

Adventurous lives up to its back cover description.  It's an excellent, no-frills-all-informative-thrills and friendly manual that's indispensable for readers new to sex toys; beyond those readers, it looks to be a worthwhile read/update for those who are already familiar with those instruments but may be looking to expand the contents of their buzz bins.

Worth owning, this.

A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin

(pb; 2005: Book Four of A Song of Fire and Ice)


From the back cover:

"After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce.  But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather.  Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous alliances are formed while surprising faces - some familiar, others only just appearing - emerge from an omnivorous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead.  Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes. . . and their lives.  For at a feast for crows, many are the guests - but only a few are the survivors."


Review:

It would be difficult for Martin to top the character-familiar plot corkscrews and karmic resolutions of the third book, A Storm of Swords, which was a near-operatic culmination of two books' worth of personal machinations, often grim and rape-fixated actions and bloody conflicts whose survivors who found themselves with the taste of ashes and bitterness in their mouths. 

I bore this in mind as I read Feast.  I'm glad I did, because  while I wasn't as emotionally invested in this fourth Song novel, I enjoyed it a lot.  Getting to know new characters, a few of whom aren't chapter titled by their names, was initially a bit of a chore after my familiarity with the characters in the previous books - but, ultimately, it was worth it, between Martin's fast and furious plotwork and writing, as well as the equally familiar grim and bloody actions of its characters; because of these elements, Feast proved to be a worthwhile sequel to its predecessors.

Of course, I missed certain characters - e.g., Tyrion Lannister, aka "the Imp" - whose stories weren't told in Feast, but given the narrative flow of this novel I understand why Martin chose to save their stories for later.

This is worth reading if you don't mind being introduced to new characters, and don't expect the easy familiarity of characters from the first three books.  Feast is clearly setting up a new round of love, lust and war, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

Followed by A Dance with Dragons.

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

(pb; 2000: Book Three of A Song of Fire and Ice)


From the back cover:

"Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the war rages, as alliances are made and broken.  Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.  His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of a sorceress who holds him in her thrall.  Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun.  Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenarys, mistress of the only three dragons left in the world.  And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others - a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable.  As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords."


Review:

All the elements, plot-twisty action and characters that made A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings great reads structure and set the tone of this second sequel.  This grim, bloody, whimsical and sometimes surprising (but always character-consistent) series continues to wow; it has made me excited to be a reader, in a way that I haven't been in a long time.

Worth owning, this - as are the first two novels.

Followed by A Feast For Crows.

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Most of the events in Storm are the basis for the third season of the first HBO/cable series, A Game of Thrones.  The series' first episode originally aired on April 17, 2011.  HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth Season set to air next year. 

Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them.  (I have a busy schedule.  Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)

**Richard Cody's microstory Unidentified Flying Object was published in issue 7 of Vine Leaves Journal

Richard Cody, whose mini-tales – Alice and Lisa - appeared on Microstory A Week, has published another microstory, Unidentified Flying Object, in issue #7 of Vine Leaves Journal.  (You can read this charming tale on page 8.) 

Check this microstory out!