The Demon Conspiracy

The author sent me a copy of his novel to read and review:

I’m not going to say this story was banal, but the concept of demons living underground plotting to overthrow the humans living on the surface is clearly not new. Furthermore, the story was not scary as advertised on the novel’s back cover. If you want to read something scary, read Stephen King’s 1986 novel It. The terror the reader feels from the creature who appeared in the form of a clown (coulrophobia) was bona fide. I realize R. L.Gemmill’s story is a YA novel that might scare a young age group (how young is the writer’s target age?), but I expected more after reading all the previous glowing reviews. The prose was simplistic (I’m assuming it was written that way on purpose for YA reading). The story was generally okay but seemed rushed in order to create a euphoria that failed. And I must mention that I quickly tired of the line, “I have a lot of work to do and I must work hard and fast.” I can see that the author has a storytelling ability, but in my opinion, it’s still in the growing stage. Basically, I guess (that) I’m used to reading YA novels that are good to go for adults such as Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games or Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Anyway, I’m saying that Mr. Gemmill’s novel is worth reading with the caveat that it’s not the cat’s meow for adults. Maybe I read too many classics. So, what’s the story about?

We meet the heroes of the story during a tragic event...a car crash that kills their parents. At the time of the accident, Kelly (the novel’s narrator) was six years old and had the ability to read minds. Her brothers are also gifted. Jon, who is ten years old, is a expert in martial arts using swords and knives. The baby of the family is Travis, who was three years old at the time of the accident. Even at a young age, he had the capacity to feel other people’s emotions. Fast forward seven years and we find the kids finally together in the loving foster home of Chris and Angie McCormick. Chris (a teacher) and the children sign up with Jon’s English teacher, Mr. Anton Edwards, for a Saturday caving trip to Pandora’s Cave. In advance of the group arriving at Crystal Creek Park, Ranger Ned Taylor sees something very strange at the cave’s entrance...a man dressed in a blue suit with an object that looks like a fire hydrant. As the ranger approached the cave, Ned says to the man in a suit, “Can I help you, Sir?” “He smiled back at Ned, as if amused.” Suddenly, the man and his device disappeared. Ned went to the dog pen and let the fiercely barking dog, Ripper, loose. The dog ran straight to the cave entrance followed by Ned. “As they reached the entrance, a host of colorful glowing eyes appeared within the cave’s pitch darkness. Ripper skidded to a halt.” What’s going on? What’s behind all those hateful multi-colored eyes?

The ranger was relieved by Head Ranger Melinda Laarz before the McCormick’s arrived at the park. Apparently, Ned didn’t tell Melinda what he saw in the cave because Ranger Melinda didn’t warn the McCormicks or the teachers (Dr. Mark Parrish and cave expert Anton Edwards). Was this an error by the author? Or did Ned really not tell Melinda what he saw? (It seems highly unlikely). Anyway, the group enters the cave. Incidentally, I’ve only reviewed the first 31 pages so far. I think I’m making the story more exciting than it was! The group work their way down to an area known as the Cathedral Room. Then, the unforeseen happens...the ground began to shake. EARTHQUAKE. (I can’t believe that I’m making R.L.Gemmill’s novel so intoxicating.) The ledge that the children and Chris were standing on drops about 50 feet. Chris is knocked out and has a broken leg. The kids are shaken but not seriously hurt. The two teachers must have been standing somewhere else because they are unaccounted for. Travis sets the still unconscious Chris’s leg with the metal frame of a backpack. Jon looks down the ledge that they are now on and can’t believe what he sees...a 20 foot demon on a stage addressing thousands of creatures! Okay, you got a taste of the first 51 pages of Mr. Gemmill’s novel. Now you will have to buy your own copy to see what happens in the next 309 pages.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

Comment: As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the scariest novel I ever read was Stephen King’s It. It’s amazing how many people have a fear of a clown (coulrophobia). Do you remember the Seinfeld show called The Opera (1992) when a clown took center stage. Wikipedia says:

“Crazy" Joe Davola leaves Jerry a message saying he will put the "kibosh" on him. Kramer has tickets for the opera, Pagliacci and everyone is going, including Elaine and her boyfriend, Joey. Elaine drops in on Joe's apartment where she discovers that he has a wall of pictures of her that he took with his telephoto lens. After repeatedly calling her "Nedda" and insinuating she is cheating on him, he tries to trap her in the apartment, so she maces him with cherry Binaca and ends their relationship.

Jerry, Kramer, Elaine, and George go to the opera, where Elaine tells the others that Joey isn't coming, and Susan has to pick up a friend at the airport and can't come either, they have two extra tickets. George and Kramer attempt to scalp the tickets, each trying to get a better deal than the other, because George tries to sell the tickets for too little, and won't listen to Kramer.

As Jerry and Elaine wait for their friends to return, they are asked by a street performer impersonating Canio for a tip. Jerry had flipped a coin earlier, and it was taken by another spectator, so he didn't have any money for the clown, which annoyed him.

Meanwhile, "Crazy" Joe is getting ready for the opera by working out and sobbing as Canio's aria plays. He then puts on the white makeup for Canio's character, Pagliaccio. Later, Joe is seen, now in full Pagliaccio costume, walking through a park on his way to the opera house. He is antagonized by a group of hoodlums, but he uses martial arts to knock them all out.

Kramer is approached by a clown (not knowing it's "Crazy" Joe Davola) who wants to buy the leftover ticket to Pagliacci. Kramer then claims that the clown looks "familiar", to which Davola asks him if he ever went to the circus and if he liked it; Kramer answers that he had gone when he was little and that he was scared of the clowns. Davola then asks Kramer if he's still scared of clowns (while giving a menacing smile), to which Kramer uneasily answers, "Yeah."

Jerry and Elaine are still standing outside, and they get to talking about "their nutjobs" and discover that each of their Joes is the same person. They freak out, because Joe is probably now out to get both of them. Soon, the clown returns, and when Jerry tells him that he doesn't have any money, the clown responds, "I don't want any money." As they both stand there, Elaine thinks she smells cherries. The clown says, "It's Binaca." Just then, the real Canio starts to sing. Jerry and Elaine both scream (realizing it's "Crazy" Joe) and run away.

George has finally agreed to sell the ticket to someone as Susan runs up and says she can join him because her friend's plane was diverted to Philadelphia. George gives her ticket to her, and deftly gives the man his own; since he will not attend the show, he must then invent an explanation that will please Susan.

Kramer shows up with the tickets, and he, Elaine and Jerry take their seats. They are joined by Susan and Harry Fong, the man to whom George sold his ticket. They ask where George is; Harry says that he got George's ticket and Susan also tells them that he was "uncomfortable." Jerry and Elaine ask Kramer to whom he gave the last ticket. Just as the curtain comes up, Kramer answers, "Some nut in a clown suit." Jerry and Elaine panic as the audience applauds and the episode closes."

THE WOMAN IN CABIN TEN

Not in a hundred years would I have figured out who the victim was; or for that matter, who the murderer was in this whodunit, yet when it was revealed, it seemed to be an apropos resolve. Of course this novel by Ruth Ware reminded me somewhat of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train (see my review of 8/16/2015). Close, but no cigar. One thing that does stand out in Ware’s novel is the prose. She is someone who not only writes with a kinda descriptive style but also knows how to write with gripping proficiency. It’s one of those novels that perks your interest from the get-go to the very last word (wire to wire). This is the British author’s second New York Times bestseller, the first being her maiden 2015 thriller, In a Dark, Dark Wood. She’s two for two so far. Can she be Great Britain’s next Agatha Christie? Ruth Ware is a hot mystery writer but doesn’t have a Hercule Poirot, so once again, close, but no cigar. Okay, let’s review a little of the story. Just a little.

  

As the story opens, our principal character, Lo (Laura) Blacklock is being burglarized in her apartment while sleeping off an inebriated evening. She wakes up in time to find a burglar outside her bedroom door, who slams the door in her face (oouch), removes the spindle from the door knob and ransacks the apartment. When he leaves, she manages to unlock her bedroom door. She is super upset but doesn’t have a lot of time to pine over it (thank God for her prescribed  antidepressants). She is consoled by her boyfriend Judah (on his way to Moscow on business) and somewhat (for some reason I love that word) by the police. Lo works for a travel magazine, Velocity. Her boss, Rowan, being pregnant, can’t make the press voyage on the brand new ten cabin luxury cruiser the Aurora from London to the Norwegian Fjords. She assigns Lo to take the trip and write a good article on the voyage and it’s owners, the super rich Lord Richard Bullmer and his wife Anne.

Once on the small but lavish cruiser (one of the chandeliers has over two thousand Swarovski crystals), she is assigned cabin nine and is told to be in the Lindgren Lounge for cocktails and a facilities presentation at 7:00 pm. For the sake of setting the scene at the reception, let me tell you who was in attendance: Cole Lederer (a renowned photographer), Tina West (editor of the Vernean Times), Alexander Belhomme (a rotund foodie writer), Archer Fenlan (a extreme travel writer), Ben Howard (a ex-writer at Velocity), Lars Jenssen and his wife, Chloe (he of a Swiss investment group), Owen White (a UK investor) and of course, Richard and Anne Bullmer and their senior staff. Naturally, Lo Blacklock was also in attendance. That’s people enough for nine of the ten cabins. Why was cabin ten empty? Or was it? Was somebody going to be murdered tonight? Could be. Okay, the scene is set, now you will have to get your own copy of this stirring sophomore novel by Ruth Ware to find out what happens next.

I loved this novel. I was especially impressed with the prose and the flow of the story. If there were some hiccups in this novel, they went over my head. Okay if I stretch my imagination, I can come up with a few minor complaints near the end of the novel, but I’m going to keep them to myself. Do I recommend this novel? Does Grizzly Adams have a beard?

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Sometimes I’m amazed at what other reviewers are thinking. When I went to Amazon for the Customer Review score, I was surprised. Even though Ware’s novel is an unbridled hit, it’s only garnered an average score of 3.8 stars on 363 customer reviews. Why? Because 20% of the reviews are for one or two stars. The main reason why? The bad review is usually from a reader who has very limited experience reviewing books. They don’t even know what they are looking for. In their mind, it’s either a ‘good read’ or a ‘bad read’.

Here are some of their comments: boring, weak weak weak, epic fail, waste of time, don’t bother, awful, drivel, hated it, could not finish and my favorite...this book is so bad it should be free. Ha, ha. I guess it’s a case of Different strokes for different folks.    

MISSION: SRX Before Space Recon

The author sent me an autographed copy of his short story to review:

Matthew D. White’s short story preludes his three volume space opera Mission: SRX series. If this story is a glimpse of what’s to happen in Confessions of the First War, Ephemeral Solace, and Deep Unknown...then this officer in the U.S. Air Force has a hit on his hands. Clearly the esoteric input was derived from the officer’s knowledge of modern aircraft and rockets. Of course there are many first contact novels out there; such as, H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (1898), Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Rendezvous with Rama (1973)...my personal favorite. I’m not comparing White’s 53 page short story with the above space opera classics, but I am saying that I liked what I read and can only conclude that the author’s ensuing three novels must be a somewhat fascinating sci-fi journey (I have not read the author’s above mentioned novels). So let me tell you a little about this short story that foreshadows the main body of work by ten years.

The space cargo ship Defiance is hauling supplies between Earth and the Sol Bravo system (the first system found with intelligent life) when its navigation system malfunctions. Or is it interference from the previously peaceful Aquillian race? They are lost in space. Lt. Commander Warren Hughes of the USC (United Space Corps) cargo ship is suspicious that someone or something is interfering with his ship. Why? What cargo is he hauling? Suddenly the drifting cargo ship is contacted by the Aquillians. Lt. Commander Hughes tells them, “We have encountered significant interference to our navigation systems and are unable to continue to our destination.” The Aquillian ship responds with, “We have dispatched three transports along with our primary maintenance crew to lend assistance to your ship.” Assistance, really?

Meanwhile on a asteroid, a USC recovery team, led by Lieutenant Kael, is alerted by his Sergeant that the cargo ship Defiance is two hours late to its destination and is probably a little off course. Lt. Kael says, “So they’re a little off course. That’s not unheard of.” The soldier replies, “USC-Instruction states that a recovery team be alerted if an arrival is more than two hours late.” The team takes off in search of the missing cargo ship. What happens next will set the tone for the three eventuating novels. I thought the story was exciting but feel that Mr. White could do better with his prose...it was a bit too simple (my only knock, but it’s a big deal with me). Based on this prequel, I’ll give the ‘green light’ to the reading of the rest of the series.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: That’s about as long as I can write a review based on a 52 page short story without giving away the ending. I think short stories are a lost art, and if I remember correctly, it’s only my second short story review. The first being John Chu’s twenty two page, The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere (see my review of 8/21/2014). Actually there are more...I’m just too lazy to look them up.

I’m sure everybody has their favorite short stories, but the following three are among the most famous:

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (1905)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (1820)

The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe (1844)

How would you like to have a round table talk with those writers?   

Dream Faces

The author sent me an autographed copy of his novel to be reviewed:

I’m sorry, I just couldn’t buy into this story. Why this story had to be told with all the characters having either a guardian angel (if you are a good person) or a demon (if you are a bad person) is beyond me. Once the reader gets the idea of the paranormal side of the characters...the author (Steve Shanks) should have backed off. It became very tiresome...enough is enough. Later the reader learns that if the boss (God?) determines real help is needed for someone, it’s okay for the supernatural to be seen and converse with his charge (although kidnapped, Grace, had no such help). What? The prose was way too rudimentary for my liking. This is the author’s first novel and I’m sure his prose and craftsmanship will improve. In the meantime, Mr. Shanks should work on his plot development and avoid dubious situations, such as the hiring of a moron (Rollo) by his boss (Mr. Petrov) to carry out crucial duties. The author needs to understand that his story must make sense. Okay, I’ll tell you a little bit of the story.

Mark Stephens is a painter (artist) who basically paints what he dreams. He has been painting three young girls over and over again. They turn out to be real missing females: Grace, Jordan and Ashley, all around thirteen years of age. He doesn’t know that the girls he is painting are real. Of course his seven foot guardian angel (‘D’) is always with him. I’m only mentioning this one time because every character that I unveil in this review has either a guardian angel or a demon with them at all times (so for repetitive reasons, I will not disclose it again). Mark sends out a marketing packet displaying his paintings. A Mr. Vlad Alexandrov of a NYC gallery calls and wants to meet Mark and see his paintings. Mark takes five finished paintings to NYC and Vlad loves them. He goes home (Michigan) and later finds out that the five paintings he left with Vlad are sold and a show is being set up for Mark in Vlad’s Ann Arbor, Michigan gallery.

Meanwhile, we find out that troubled young girls are being tricked by a loser named Jess (portraying herself to be a college student) to go out with her for a fun time. Instead they are drugged and brought to abandoned house by Jess’s weak-minded boyfriend, Nate. Then a gorilla look-alike Rollo cuffs them to a pipe in the basement. Rollo works in a Russian restaurant as the owner’s hired goon. Apparently, the owner, Mr. Petrov, plans to sell these girls to pimps. Really? If so, why starve the stupefied unwashed girls and let Rollo abuse them. This is where the story makes no sense at all. Eventually obnoxious detectives, Watts and Stein, appear to further muddle the story. There isn’t a single character that I felt any empathy for, even Jess’s toddler, Noah, who always seemed to be asleep. Did I care about Mark, who was going to get into a lot of trouble? Let me think about it... did I care? Nope.

I don’t like to be critical about an author’s baby (his/her novel), but there was nothing in this novel to hang my hat on. It was a rocky effort at best, sorry to say. But Steve does have a lot on his plate. He is an accomplished painter and his paintings are being sold in galleries and through his website. Maybe he will turn things around and write a credible second novel...just stay away from guardian ‘angels and demons.’ Wait a minute, didn’t Dan Brown already write that novel?

RATING: 2 out of 5 stars

Comment: Have you ever wondered who wrote the worst books of all time? (Steve Shanks’ novel is not one of them) Well, believe it or not, there are many different list of turkey books. The following three books make every list I’ve seen:

Scientology: The fundamentals of thought by L. Ron Hubbard (1998). His guide to greater happiness.

I want to tell you: My response to your letters, your messages, your questions by O.J.Simpson
(1995). Do you really want to read what this liar has to say?

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler (1925). Believed to be the Nazi bible.

I’m sure you have your own favorite book that you use to count sheep. Ha,ha!

TREASURE ISLAND

“Shiver Me Timbers”, this novel was a treasure! Sorry for the pun, but I couldn’t help myself...I enjoyed myself immensely reading this 1883 adventure novel originally serialized in a children’s magazine, Young Folks (1881/1882). As dark as this novel is in some chapters, it’s hard to believe that children were allowed to read it. Oh well, the laws were much different in Great Britain during the 1800s. “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest-Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” That’s the drinking song of the bloodthirsty buccaneers of the times. Who are these fictitious pirates? They are some of the most well known characters in all of literature, such as, Billy Bones, Captain Flint (who has appeared in many novels and movies) and of course, the infamous, Long John Silver (he with the parrot on his shoulder). Wow what a lineup and I didn’t even mention their cutthroat crew. On the good guy side, I only need to mention the name of young Jim Hawkins, who along with Doctor Livesey narrate this story. Even though Robert Louis Stevenson died at the early age of 44 from consumption (now called tuberculosis) he was still able to write and publish such classics as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Kidnapped. Now I’m going to tell you a little bit of the story up until the time they sail from from Bristol, England to Treasure Island in the Caribbean. Understand that I’m leaving out the juicy part, so don’t even think (for a moment) that I’m giving away the story. If you think I’m going to divulge too much...then STOP here, wuss! (just kidding). The following is my review of the first 53 pages. 

The novel is narrated by Jim Hawkins (in his early teens) except for a couple of chapters, which are narrated by Dr. Livesey. Jim works for his very ill father at the family owned Admiral Benbow Inn. One day a disagreeable seafaring man who calls himself Captain arrives at the inn. The Captain gives the innkeeper (Jim’s father) three or four gold pieces and announces, “You can tell me when I work through that...I’m a plain man; rum and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there to watch the ships off.” He has a man with him who barrows a sea chest into the Captain’s room. During the day he hangs around the cove or the cliffs with his telescope (who is he looking for and what is his real name?). He stayed for months. Jim’s father was afraid to ask for more money. The Captain was drunk on rum every night and told the most dreadful stories to whomever was in the inn. Everybody was afraid of him and the inn’s customers couldn’t go home until he grew sleepy and went to bed. On a later day, Dr. Livesey shows up at the inn to check on the innkeeper’s health. After the doctor sees the innkeeper, he has words with the drunk Captain. Dr. Livesey doesn’t back down and says to the drunk seafaring man, “And now, sir, since I now know there’s such a fellow in my district, you may count I’ll have an eye upon you day and night. I’m not a doctor only; I’m a magistrate; and if I catch a breath of complaint against you, if it’s only for a piece of incivility like tonight’s, I’ll take effectual means to have you hunted down routed out of this. Let that suffice.” Winter comes and the Captain is still there. Jim’s dad is sicker.

One day while the Captain is out with his telescope, a sailor comes to the inn and asks Jim for his mate, Bill. Jim says, “Captain?” The sailor says, “the same.” The Captain comes back and sees the fellow he knows as Black Dog. They argue and draw cutlasses. Black dog is hurt and runs away. The Captain comes back in and asks for rum, but he reels and falls down. Just then the doctor enters the inn. The doctor realizes that the Captain just had a stroke. The doctor rips off the Captain’s sleeve and sees many tattoos, one saying that the Captain is really Billy Bones (He, a mate of Long John Silver and Captain Flint). The doctor draws blood (in the late 1700s, they were still bleeding patients as a treatment) and puts Billy to bed. Billy has the shakes, Jim gets him a glass of rum. Jim wants to know why the sailor was after him. Billy Bones says that they want his sea chest that was given to him when the notorious Captain Flint died. He tells Jim that he is the only one who knows where the place is. What place? During the night, Jim’s dad dies. On page 28 (yea, that’s all I’ve reviewed so far), Jim says, “I saw someone drawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him a stick and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose.” The blind man says to Jim, “Will you give me your hand, my kind young friend, and lead me in.” Once in, the blind man turns nasty and has a vice grip on Jim’s arm and asks for the Captain. He puts something in the Captain’s palm and quickly leaves the inn. What did he give him? The Captain looks into his palm and says, “Ten o’clock! Six hours. We’ll do them yet.” As the Captain gets out of bed, he has a second stroke and drops dead.

Jim and his mom find a key around Billy Bones neck and take it off. They open the sea chest. Jim grabs an oilskin packet and a bag of coins and then runs out the back of the inn to get help as they hear the blind man and seven or eight pirate friends trying to break into the locked inn. The pirates get in and realize that Jim Hawkins took the packet. They hear horses coming, they run, but the blind man (who is the pirate known as Pew) runs in front of a horse and is killed. The horsemen were revenue officers coming to aide the inn. They take Jim to the doctor’s house, but he is not home...he is at Squire Trelawney’s house. Jim gets there and shows them the oilskin packet. They open it. It’s a map of Treasure Island showing where Captain Flint buried a vast treasure. They decide to go for it! On page 47 (I told you I was only going to give you a taste of the story), “Livesey,” said the squire, “you will give up this wretched practice at once. Tomorrow I start for Bristol. In three weeks’ time-three weeks!-two weeks-ten days- we’ll have the best ship, sir, and the choicest crew in England. Hawkins shall come as cabin-boy. You’ll make a famous cabin-boy, Hawkins. You, Livesey, are the ship’s doctor; I am admiral.” The doctor wanted to go with him because he knew the squire couldn't hold his tongue and the pirates also knew about the map, but the squire belayed that thought, by saying, “Livesey,” returned the squire, “you are always in the right of it. I’ll be silent as the grave.” Ha,ha, sure you will Mr. Trelawney (Was Stevenson using tree and lawn in the squire’s name to accentuate country squire? or country ignoramus?)

So Trelawney gets to Bristol and purchases a seaworthy ship named, The Hispaniola. Of course Mr. loose lips (they sink ships, don’t they?) lets the whole town know that he is going for treasure and needs a good crew (duh). Trelawney writes a letter to Livesay and Hawkins to tell them to get to Bristol immediately; he bought a ship and hired a crew. In his letter he says, “I wished a round score of men...till the most remarkable stroke of fortune brought me the very man I required. I was standing on the dock, when, by the merest accident, I fell in talk with him. I found he was an old sailor, kept a public house, knew all the seafaring men in Bristol, had lost his health ashore, and wanted a good berth as cook to get to sea again. He had hobbled down there that morning, he said, to get a smell of the salt. I was monstrously touched-so would you have been-and, out of pure pity, I engaged him on the spot to be ship’s cook. Long John Silver, he is called, and has lost a leg; but that I regarded as a recommendation, since he lost it in his country’s service (sure he did,ha-ha), under the immortal Hawke (a famous British Admiral)...between Silver and myself we got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable-not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit.” Can anybody be dumber? He just hired Captain Flint’s former dangerous quartermaster, Long John Silver and his ghastly crew. Okay, that’s it, I reviewed the first 53 pages. What happens after they leave Bristol and sail for Treasure Island is up to you to find out. This was a first rate novel that I highly recommend.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: If you want to read a fabulous historical novel about Robert Louis Stevenson and his romance with Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne read Nancy Horan’s Under the Wide and Starry Sky (see my review of 3/15/2014). It’s well worth the reading.

During Stevenson’s short life time, not only did he write the three classics that I mentioned in the review, but other writers also penned classic works during the years between 1850 (Stevenson is born) and 1894 (Stevenson dies). What were they? Okay, here is the ‘hall of fame’ list:

1859- Charles Darwin publishes, On the Origin of Species.

1859- Charles Dickens publishes, A Tale of Two Cities.

1865- Lewis Carroll publishes, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
1872- Lewis Carroll publishes, Through the Looking Glass.
1872- George Eliot publishes, Middlemarch.
1874- Thomas Hardy publishes, Far From the Madding Crowd. (see my review of 1/26/2015)
1891- Oscar Wilde publishes, The Picture of Dorian Gray (see my review of 8/8/2015)

How’s that for a magnificent seven (not the movie...the list of the above books).

This is the Long John Silver that I remember from the Disney movie:

A WAVE FROM MAMA

The author sent me a copy of his novel to read and review:

The second novel of A. Robert Allen’s The Slavery and Beyond Series is a straightforward historical fiction story encompassing the struggles of freed slaves in the Weeksville section of Brooklyn, NY. In Allen’s first novel, Failed Moments (see my review of 7/3/2015), the story was somewhat arcane and nebulous compared to his current work. Both novels are profound in their own way but seem totally unrelated. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for a professed series, but I must say that I enjoyed Allen’s storytelling ability in both novels. The reader gets a history lesson along with disparate tales pertaining to the difficult plight of slaves before and after The Civil War. I think the author’s prose needs some polishing, and he could be more descriptive (a stickler for me), but overall, he did a admirable job. I must say that I’m curious what the third book in the series will disclose since the first two were so dissimilar...except for the inclusion of the NYC Draft Riots. The July 1863 protest turned into a race riot with the Irish immigrants attacking the freed slaves living in the city. History says that 119 people died on that day (mostly Blacks?). The mass departure of the freed slaves from Manhattan into the Weeksville part of Brooklyn is the premise for A Wave from Mama.

Since the Irish were certain that the Blacks would take their jobs for lower pay, the Blacks left NYC for Weeksville after the riots. The freed slaves owned most of the land in Weeksville (finally they had a place of their own). Dock workers Ezra and Moses find a light-skinned black woman dead in a tent alongside many boxes, one with a boy in it. The young boy appears to be about five years old, tiny, and very violent. He jumps out of the box shouting, “You killed Mama, and you’re all gonna pay!” Then, the boy runs away. Later, Moses catches the boy stealing food at the general store and brings him back to the store. Good-hearted Ester Washington takes the boy in. He says his name is Vent (really Venture Simmons) and that he is twelve, not five and keeps mumbling, “I’m gonna get everyone who killed Mama.” He has the unusual habit of reciting numbers, such as, 2,4,6,8. Vent finally calms down and stays with the Washingtons. He is very athletic, fast, and can climb trees like a monkey. Everybody in the family accepts Vent except Horace (Ester and Thomas’s son). Horace is very vain (always looking at himself in the mirror) and is the top student in school.

Inasmuch the Washingtons took him in, Vent feels obligated to protect the family. When Horace gets beat up over a girl, Vent gets revenge by thrashing the kid who attacked Horace. Strangely, Vent goes into the woods each night swinging in the trees like a monkey and trapping raccoons (what?). Meanwhile the African Civilization Society in Weeksville wants to move to Liberia in Africa because outside of their area...the Blacks have no rights. Some of the freed Blacks leave for Liberia. Moses (now a friend of Vent’s) saves enough of money to buy his own property in Weeksville (you need $250). Vent finally goes to school (he is brilliant at math), and tells the principal his rule, “Any animal that eats his own kind is the devil, and got to be killed.” Vent is referring to the raccoons he has trapped and to the men who killed his mother. The men that went to Liberia come back, “The local tribes didn’t accept the Americans.” I’m only on page sixty in my review. The rest of the novel pits the freed Blacks, the Irish Whiskey gangs and the mostly corrupt police force against each other during the construction of The Brooklyn Bridge. This is where Mr. Allen does his best writing and storytelling while developing some ensuing big-time twists.

This novel enlightens the reader to a piece of history that most Americans were never aware of. Why did the Irish hate the freed Blacks? On page 67, a retired police officer know as the Professor gives the answer to a rookie cop, “The Irish understand they are viewed as the shit of society and as much as this is distasteful, it provides a kind of guarantee for the lowest-paying jobs requiring manual labor. The Blacks, though, created the pinch of the game, and the Irish view freed Blacks as a threat because they’ll work for even less. I’m sure you remember the Draft Riots six years ago-even though you must’ve been a wee bit of a lad. Despite the fact the Germans, Italians, and Polish might be viewed in much the same way, the Irish consider the Blacks as the primary threat to their livelihood.” This excellent novel by Mr. Allen covers the turbulent years of 1863 through 1883 in Brooklyn, NY. I’m assuming the third novel will take the story into the early 1900s. As I’m writing this review, I realize that it’s a good thing that this novel is different from the first, because it now makes (you guessed it) two standalone-novels. I recommend this historical fiction novel.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: The turbulence of the first two years of the novel (1863/1865) is further explained in the author’s Historical Notes & Liberties: “The first section of the book takes place in the town of Weeksville, a section of Brooklyn dominated by free Black landowners, which was located where Crown Heights stands today. Male Blacks were able to vote in New York during the early 1860s if they owned land valued at $250 or more. Many Blacks from New York fled to Weeksville after the violent Draft Riots in 1863. These riots pitted the Irish against the Blacks and the rich. The Blacks were targeted because the Irish were infuriated at the prospect of being drafted in a war that would free the people (Blacks) who would likely steal their jobs. Blacks were beaten severely and a number were lynched by roving Irish mobs. Many homes of the rich were ransacked and some wealthy New Yorkers were physically attacked because the Irish were incensed that they were able to pay a fee to be exempted from the draft.”

My favorite movie about the Draft Riots was the 2002 film Gangs of New York directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz. Another fitting book about the Civil War Riots is Barnet Schecter's The Devil's Own Work (although I haven't reviewed this book yet).

the FIREMAN

This novel was literally on fire for 747 pages. Well, at least it seemed that way with spontaneous human combustion running amok in the appearance of a new nationwide plague. Joe Hill writes a convincing account of an outbreak of Draco incendia trychophyton (simply known as Dragonscale) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. People are marked with a highly contagious spore that leaves black stripes and gold marks on the body of its host (some of the marks are very artistic)...before eventually causing them to burst into flames. Who could think of such a plague? How about Joe Hill, the son of the brilliant Stephen King, who wrote such horrors as It, Cujo, and Christine. Did his mom, Tabitha King (Caretakers and The Trap), also have an influence on Joe? I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree(s). Wow, what a novel. It’s the first contemporary novel (in a blue moon) that I had difficulty putting down before lights out. The plague has no antidote. It's spreading from city to city. NYC is among the many big cities burning down. How does one catch this deadly disease? No one knows. Cremation squads rove the streets at night ready to exterminate anyone they think is carrying the deadly spore. Hospitals have block long lines of patients awaiting treatment (to no avail). There are many significant characters in the novel, but somehow Joe Hill trims the commonalty down to a reader friendly core of five half way through the thriller. Great job! Let’s talk a little about the story.

Since New Hampshire had experienced only a few cases of dragonscale, schools were still open. Our principal character, school nurse Harper Grayson was in her office treating a child with a black eye. As she looked out the window, she saw a man staggering around the playground. He appeared to be drunk, but then she saw a fine white smoke coming out his sleeves. “The man who walked like a drunk began to sag. Then he arched his spine convulsively, throwing his head back, and flames licked up the front of his shirt. She had one brief glance at his gaunt, agonized face and then his head was a torch...school was suspended statewide that evening, with the assurances they would reopen when the crisis passed. As it happened, it never passed.” Is that an ominous start or what? The one distinct attribute of Joe Hill’s storytelling is his ability to grab your attention and hold on to it. It really is a hard novel to put down. Meanwhile, The NBA (National Basketball Association) cancels its season. “Come summer, most of the (Boston) Celtics would be dead by incineration or suicide.” Who is to blame? FOX News blamed ISIS; MSNBC blamed engineers at Halliburton (an oilfield service company); CNN blamed both. Then the unthinkable happened, “Glenn Beck burned to death on his internet program, right in front of his chalkboard, burned so hot his glasses fused to his face…” Harper goes home to her husband, Jakob. He forces her to agree to a suicide pact if they develop dragonscale. Can you believe all this happened during the first thirteen pages and the prologue? And you thought that I was giving the story away. That’s total flapdoodle!

So Nurse Harper volunteers her services at the local hospital. She is always in a full body rubber suit when handling dragonscale patients, dead or alive. One day a fireman (at least he is dressed as such) rushes into the emergency room carrying a sick boy. He demands immediate service even though he went in front of a line of dragonscale patients a block long. He says the boy has a stomach problem. The fireman doesn’t get to the end of the line when told so. Security is called and wrestle him to the ground. Before the fireman can cause a problem, Nurse Harper convinces the hospital to admit the boy because she says that he has an appendix emergency. The boy stayed three days in his room on the third floor and suddenly disappeared. How did he get out? Did the fireman use a ladder to reach the boy’s room? You just met main characters two and three: John, the fireman and the deaf boy, Nick. The first-floor cafeteria was converted into a dormitory for the healthiest of the dragonscale patients. The smolders were kept somewhere else. “Smolders smoked on and off, always ready to ignite. Smoke curled from their hair, from their nostrils, and their eyes streamed with water. The stripes on their bodies got so hot they could melt latex gloves.”(okay, I’m on page 27 of 747 pages). Later on the First-floor dormitory, we meet main character four, a lovely black patient named, Renee Gilmonton. “In a former life, she had been a professional do-gooder: organized a weekly pancake breakfast for a local orphanage, taught English to felons in the state prison and managed an independent bookstore that lost money…” She becomes friends with Nurse Harper.

One day Renee started to glow (lit up like a Christmas tree). She runs out of the hospital expecting to ignite. She wasn’t found. Later that day, the cafeteria dormitory patients ignited one after another. The hospital burns to the ground spewing ash high into the air. Harper got out in time but was showered by the ash. Her husband Jakob takes her home, washes her and then makes love to her. “A baby begins.” In the ensuing days Harper, in the shower, notices spots on her leg, “A dark, almost inky line, dusted with a few oddly mineral flecks of gold." Jakob is furious at her. Why did she have to play Florence Nightingale? Has she infected him? He leaves her for eight weeks (the incubation period) vowing that if he contracts dragonscale, he will demand her to endure the promised double suicide. While Jakob was gone, Harper finds out that, “She was pregnant and crawling with a flammable fungus.” Jakob calls and ask her if she is watching FOX TV…”She stared at the TV, jittery footage of a meadow somewhere. A few men in yellow slickers and elbow-high rubber gloves and gas masks, carrying Bushmaster assault rifles, were on the far side of the field...they were bringing people out of the woods. Kids, mostly, although there were some women with them...the first gun might’ve gone off by accident...the other guns went off, all together, firecrackers on a July night.” Then, “The newscaster was saying...illustrates the dangers of people who have been infected and who don’t seek…” I’m only on page 69, can you imagine what the next 678 pages holds for you?

Actor George Clooney was dead. He burned to death while on a humanitarian aid mission to NYC. Jakob calls Harper and tells her he has a mark on his foot, but he sandpapered it off. Jakob comes home and kicks the door open. He has a gun and tries to kill her. Harper looks at him and tells him that he doesn’t have dragonscale, but he doesn’t believe Harper’s diagnosis. Harper jumps out the window and breaks her ankle. She limps into the woods with Jakob following. The fireman is in the woods and gets the pregnant Harper into a tree house. Jakob fights the fireman and is winning until the fireman takes his glove off and ignites the hand that is wrapped around Jakob’s throat. Jakob runs away screaming (we haven’t heard the last of him). The fireman, also suffering from dragonscale, has somehow learned how to control the fire within him! Alright, I assume I've whetted your appetite and you want to finish the next 600 pages of this incredible novel. The rest of this story has more twists than Chubby Checker has. Yes, this review was long, but I didn’t even touch on the meat of this novel. Did I tell you about the fifth main character? No. Did I tell you the fireman has a British accent? Did I tell you about Bad Harold? No. Did I tell you about the pernicious Marlboro Man? No. The secret summer camp? Or Martha Quinn Island? NO & NO. You must read this novel...or you will come down with dragonscale.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: In Joe Hill’s acknowledgments section, he says,”My screen agent, Sean Daily, and his wife, Sarah, offered support and good advice, and then Sean turned around and sold the film rights to 21st Century Fox and Temple Hill.” This will be an amazing movie.

Hill’s agent and friend, Mickey Choate, died of lung cancer recently (he was 53, never smoked and ran every day). So much for following good health guidelines. Joe said, “Mickey represented me for almost a decade before I told him Hill wasn’t really my last name.” Not for nothing couldn’t Mickey see the resemblance to Stephen King?
 
It took three drafts and four years to complete The Fireman. Joe Hill also wrote New York Times bestsellers NOS4A2, Horns, Heart-Shaped Box and graphic novel, Locke & Key, Volumes 1-6.

Who does Joe Hill look like?