All Blood Runs Red: The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard - Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy
Phil Keith with Tom Clavin
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Biography
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Born in the late 19th century to a former slave father and Native American mother, Eugene Bullard's parents considered him the "lucky" child as the seventh of their family... but being a half-Black boy in Jim Crow Georgia was about as far from lucky as one could get. From an early age, Eugene was determined to escape the rampant, violent racism that he saw all around him, determined to reach the shores of France, where his father told him true equality was possible. Despite only having a second-grade education, the boy ran off as soon as he could manage - little imagining what he'd accomplish in the coming decades, from becoming one of the first Black fighter pilots in the Great War to rubbing shoulders with celebrities in his own jazz bar to spying on Nazis and more.
REVIEW: Eugene Bullard's life reads like an adventure novel, a tale of a boy coming from almost nothing to achieve more than his dreams, for all that many tried to deny him recognition and rewards. It is sadly telling that little of what he accomplished could have happened in the country of his birth, America, where racial animosities and prejudices remain sadly entrenched to this very day, well over a hundred years after his childhood. (In 2025, we're seeing just how shallow Jim Crow's grave really is, unfortunately... But I digress.)
Switching between distant overviews and closer, detailed moments of Bullard's incredible life, the authors paint a portrait of a man who was far from flawless, but principled and determined and unwilling to let the world grind him down. That portrait has some vague spots and blurred edges; between war damage and poor records, there are parts of his story that are just plain impossible to bring into focus, as his own story - recorded in a never-published autobiography - sometimes contradicts what can be determined as actual events. Other parts, though, have been corroborated, such as his impressive war record and long and varied careers, and these are more than enough to make his relative obscurity in modern America a disgrace (and further proof that, even nearly a century later, this country still has trouble grappling with accomplished non-white people and the virulent systemic racism that too often forms a backdrop to their deeds; even now, stories like this are being banned and erased by a regime that makes no secret of catering to white supremacy and alternate-facts history). Not that France was entirely free of problems, either, but it was only in France that a man like Eugene Bullard could flourish as he did for as long as he did, when he did. Proven parts of his story involve acquaintances and friendships with a galaxy of stars of his day, from war heroes to boxing legends to artists and authors to the many prominent entertainers who, like Bullard, found a warmer welcome in France than in America because of who they were. His well-earned loyalty to his adopted country landed him on the front lines in not one war, but two, with the medals and scars to show for it, as well as lifelong friendships that wound up being pivotal in his later years. The telling can be a bit dry and uneven at times, prone to tangents on other remarkable figures of the day, and there are some frustrating gaps that are simply impossible to fill in, people and events lost to time, though it managed to keep my interest even in the slower bits.
Stories like this can be, by turns, inspiring, depressing, and haunting. Inspiring, as they depict a life lived fully in the face of great adversity. Depressing, as such lives inevitably cast one's one rather pitiful existence into that much harsher a glare. Haunting, as such stories as Eugene Bullard's should have been guiding lights and stepping stones to a better and brighter future for our country and world, one where old prejudices and society-warping hatreds are outgrown at last and left in history's dustbin, but instead we find ourselves in a present that looks all too much like the world in which he struggled and fought to be seen as even a human, let alone a truly remarkable man, with nothing but fading ghosts of what could have - what should have - been.
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West With the Night (Beryl Markham) - My Review
Born a Crime (Trevor Noah) - My Review
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Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Friday, February 14, 2025
Amid the Crowd of Stars (Stephen Leigh)
Amid the Crowd of Stars
Stephen Leigh
Dreamscape
Fiction, Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Many generations ago, humans traveled to the stars in search of new homes... only to be abandoned after a disaster befell Earth. Several colonies died without support from the homeworld, but some, such as the outpost on the tidally-locked planet Lupus orbiting the red dwarf star Canis, endured. Now, as the vessel Odysseus arrives to re-establish contact, some of the Lupusians dream of traveling back to Earth - but, after so long in an alien biosphere, carrying a host of adaptations and exotic bacteria and viruses, will that ever be possible? Are they even still human anymore? Or has their time on the alien world changed them in ways nobody anticipated?
Terran researcher Ichiko came to Lupus to study the cultures that have developed on the world, where the people have reverted to a largely pre-industrial way of life and split into two distinct populations, the mainlanders and the islanders. Those on the mainland look down on the islanders and their strange ways, marked by the colorful native "plosh" fungus and their unusual relationship with the great beasts of the oceans, even going to war to keep mainlanders from hunting the animals. Ichiko's professional fascination with the Lupusians becomes more personal when she meets the islander Saorise, who longs to visit old Earth and defies her clan's reticent ways. But the bond between them is soon tested, as tensions between Terrans and Lupusians increase amid a string of odd happenings and misunderstandings, all pointing toward a great secret of the planet that may endanger everything, and everyone - even the Terrans aboard the Odysseus.
REVIEW: Amid the Crowd of Stars has the feel of older, idea-driven science fiction, which can be both a strength and a weakness.
The concepts explored are interesting enough, at least at the start. A combination of time, local biosphere, and radiation from the planet's sun have worked subtle transformations on the "Lupusians", to the point where there is a very real question as to whether they constitute a new species. This is heightened by the literal barriers that are placed between Terran and Lupusian, a necessity due to potentially deadly local pathogens that could threaten the starfarers (and Earth, if any made it home) and the fact that there's no guarantee that the Terrans don't carry any germs that could wipe out the Lupusians after so long isolated from Earth microbes. The world itself - a tidally-locked planet with a narrow habitable zone between perpetual light and shadow - is not exactly unique in science fiction, but has produced an interesting culture, in this case with strong roots in Irish traditions as the majority of original colonists hailed from that region. The islanders have assimilated much further into the world's life cycle than even the mainlanders, sharing a unique bond with the native biome (no spoiler if you guess whether any species in that biome counts as sentient)... a bond that is already threatened as younger generations seek better opportunities among the mainland clans, and is only further endangered when the Terrans arrive and threaten to upend the entire planet's culture in one fell swoop. The Terrans, meanwhile, treat the locals as technologically superior cultures have traditionally treated those who are less reliant on gadgetry to live their lives. Never mind that the colony's ancestors were as advanced as the crew, and that they managed to survive and even thrive where many abandoned planets perished, to the crew they're just dismissed as ignorant "Canines". This point starts feeling a bit forced, to be honest, as if the author were deliberately pointing to the fact that he was flipping an old genre convention on its ear by having a multi-ethnic advanced ship crew looking down on rustic native pale-skinned folk. The biology on Lupus is much more collective than the crew can understand, linked on a microbial or quantum level - which bears a deliberate and obvious similarity to how the Terrans are linked via brain chips and a network of artificial personal assistants, making their dismissal of Lupusians all the more ironic. This parallel becomes rather heavy-handed as the story winds on.
You might notice that I started with the concepts instead of talking about the characters and story. That is because the characters themselves, while they have potential, end up being thin and less impressive than I'd hoped, falling into too-familiar slots and stumbling in too-familiar ways. Ichiko is the starry-eyed anthropologist who ends up identifying more with the native Lupusians (particularly the isolated islanders) than with her own people, and ends up doing some rather questionable things as a result. Similarly, the islander Saorise initially dreams of visiting Earth and escaping what she sees as a trap of a life following in her mother's footsteps as eventual clan leader, a dream that transfers almost seamlessly from the concept of interstellar exploration to the person of Ichiko and which also leads her to some questionable actions. Up on the starship, Ichiko fights against the prejudices of her peers and superiors (plus a one-time lover who becomes an overprotective lunkhead cliche) and an increasingly intrusive artificial assistant (part of a subplot that could've done a lot more with its page count and never quite pays off as well as I'd hoped). On the planet, Saorise must deal with fallout over her increasingly close ties to a mistrusted outsider, which threatens one of the islanders' closest-held secrets. It all blows up in an explosive finale that feels both forced and rushed, and an ending that left me feeling dissatisfied enough to trim the rating.
While there are some nice ideas, and Leigh does a decent job sketching out the Lupusian culture and some of the local animals, by the end it just never lived up to my hopes for it.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The City in the Middle of the Night (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
Rocannon's World (Ursula K. Le Guin) - My Review
Elder Race (Adrian Tchaikovsky) - My Review
Stephen Leigh
Dreamscape
Fiction, Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Many generations ago, humans traveled to the stars in search of new homes... only to be abandoned after a disaster befell Earth. Several colonies died without support from the homeworld, but some, such as the outpost on the tidally-locked planet Lupus orbiting the red dwarf star Canis, endured. Now, as the vessel Odysseus arrives to re-establish contact, some of the Lupusians dream of traveling back to Earth - but, after so long in an alien biosphere, carrying a host of adaptations and exotic bacteria and viruses, will that ever be possible? Are they even still human anymore? Or has their time on the alien world changed them in ways nobody anticipated?
Terran researcher Ichiko came to Lupus to study the cultures that have developed on the world, where the people have reverted to a largely pre-industrial way of life and split into two distinct populations, the mainlanders and the islanders. Those on the mainland look down on the islanders and their strange ways, marked by the colorful native "plosh" fungus and their unusual relationship with the great beasts of the oceans, even going to war to keep mainlanders from hunting the animals. Ichiko's professional fascination with the Lupusians becomes more personal when she meets the islander Saorise, who longs to visit old Earth and defies her clan's reticent ways. But the bond between them is soon tested, as tensions between Terrans and Lupusians increase amid a string of odd happenings and misunderstandings, all pointing toward a great secret of the planet that may endanger everything, and everyone - even the Terrans aboard the Odysseus.
REVIEW: Amid the Crowd of Stars has the feel of older, idea-driven science fiction, which can be both a strength and a weakness.
The concepts explored are interesting enough, at least at the start. A combination of time, local biosphere, and radiation from the planet's sun have worked subtle transformations on the "Lupusians", to the point where there is a very real question as to whether they constitute a new species. This is heightened by the literal barriers that are placed between Terran and Lupusian, a necessity due to potentially deadly local pathogens that could threaten the starfarers (and Earth, if any made it home) and the fact that there's no guarantee that the Terrans don't carry any germs that could wipe out the Lupusians after so long isolated from Earth microbes. The world itself - a tidally-locked planet with a narrow habitable zone between perpetual light and shadow - is not exactly unique in science fiction, but has produced an interesting culture, in this case with strong roots in Irish traditions as the majority of original colonists hailed from that region. The islanders have assimilated much further into the world's life cycle than even the mainlanders, sharing a unique bond with the native biome (no spoiler if you guess whether any species in that biome counts as sentient)... a bond that is already threatened as younger generations seek better opportunities among the mainland clans, and is only further endangered when the Terrans arrive and threaten to upend the entire planet's culture in one fell swoop. The Terrans, meanwhile, treat the locals as technologically superior cultures have traditionally treated those who are less reliant on gadgetry to live their lives. Never mind that the colony's ancestors were as advanced as the crew, and that they managed to survive and even thrive where many abandoned planets perished, to the crew they're just dismissed as ignorant "Canines". This point starts feeling a bit forced, to be honest, as if the author were deliberately pointing to the fact that he was flipping an old genre convention on its ear by having a multi-ethnic advanced ship crew looking down on rustic native pale-skinned folk. The biology on Lupus is much more collective than the crew can understand, linked on a microbial or quantum level - which bears a deliberate and obvious similarity to how the Terrans are linked via brain chips and a network of artificial personal assistants, making their dismissal of Lupusians all the more ironic. This parallel becomes rather heavy-handed as the story winds on.
You might notice that I started with the concepts instead of talking about the characters and story. That is because the characters themselves, while they have potential, end up being thin and less impressive than I'd hoped, falling into too-familiar slots and stumbling in too-familiar ways. Ichiko is the starry-eyed anthropologist who ends up identifying more with the native Lupusians (particularly the isolated islanders) than with her own people, and ends up doing some rather questionable things as a result. Similarly, the islander Saorise initially dreams of visiting Earth and escaping what she sees as a trap of a life following in her mother's footsteps as eventual clan leader, a dream that transfers almost seamlessly from the concept of interstellar exploration to the person of Ichiko and which also leads her to some questionable actions. Up on the starship, Ichiko fights against the prejudices of her peers and superiors (plus a one-time lover who becomes an overprotective lunkhead cliche) and an increasingly intrusive artificial assistant (part of a subplot that could've done a lot more with its page count and never quite pays off as well as I'd hoped). On the planet, Saorise must deal with fallout over her increasingly close ties to a mistrusted outsider, which threatens one of the islanders' closest-held secrets. It all blows up in an explosive finale that feels both forced and rushed, and an ending that left me feeling dissatisfied enough to trim the rating.
While there are some nice ideas, and Leigh does a decent job sketching out the Lupusian culture and some of the local animals, by the end it just never lived up to my hopes for it.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The City in the Middle of the Night (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
Rocannon's World (Ursula K. Le Guin) - My Review
Elder Race (Adrian Tchaikovsky) - My Review
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Death Bringer (Derek Landy)
Death Bringer
The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 6
Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Fiction, YA Adventure/Fantasy/Horror/Humor/Mystery
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When the girl Stephanie Edgley - known among the hidden magical community of Dublin as Valkyrie Cain - turned from Elemental magic to Necromancy to help her rescue her mentor and friend Skulduggery Pleasant from an evil dimension of monstrous elder gods, she discovered an unexpected affinity for the dark arts... and inspired hopes in her tutor, Solomon Wreath, that she might become the prophesied Death Bringer. In the most secret and sacred lore of the Necromancers, the Death Bringer is a mage so powerful they can initiate the Passage, which will remake the eternal cycle of life and death and bring a new, harmonious order to the world - whether the world wants it or not. But now Melancholia St. Clair, student of the scheming Necromancer Vandameer Craven, instead appears to have fulfilled that promise. While that lets Valkyrie off the hook of a destiny she did not want, it sets her and Skulduggery once more at odds with the Necromancers as the cult's wildest, darkest dream appears on the verge of coming true, bringing the potential for yet another apocalyptic event. Can the girl and the living skeleton save the world yet again - and will their partnership survive what they discover along the way?
REVIEW: Six books in, and the Skulduggery Pleasant series continues to engage and entertain in a fast-paced, twist-filled installment, with characters who grow and change (not always for the better; magic and world-saving both require sacrifices and secrets that come back to bite people at the worst possible times) and great dialog.
As things begin, Valkyrie is enjoying some family time as "Stephanie" while attending her baby sister Alison's christening. Much as she loves the little girl and her parents, though, inevitably the magical world always comes first - especially when that world has painted a target on her back, though it's quite clear by now that, even if she didn't have active enemies, she'd still default to Valkyrie over Stephanie given half a chance. The mundane world is just too dull for her... as is, unfortunately, her good-guy boyfriend, the teleporter Fletcher. Even knowing the potential depths of her inner dark self - Darquesse, whom more than one seer predicts will destroy the world someday - she can't help craving the excitement and danger of magic. This flaw shapes much of her journey through the book, leading to various unintended consequences for herself and those around her... especially when combined with a bombshell secret from Skulduggery's past. As the threat of the Death Bringer and other challenges arise, Valkyrie and Skulduggery once more find their bond and their powers tested to the utmost and sometimes bested. The action is intense, the violence increasingly brutal (especially violence dealt out by Valkyrie herself; this is not at all the same innocent kid from the first volume, for all that she clearly still has a lot more growing and learning to do), the stakes ratcheting ever-higher on both personal and world-shaping levels, and by the end nothing is left unchanged. Along the way, various series elements get more development, such as the increasing (and somewhat disturbing) independence of Valkyrie's Reflection double, the down-but-not-out remnants of the cult of the Faceless Ones, the continuing exploits of the would-be "killer supreme" and "zombie king" Vaurien Scapegrace and his useless toady Thrasher, and more. Valkyrie also must cope with both her first breakup with her first boyfriend and the ongoing and increasingly-disturbed attentions of the vampire Caelen, who insists they are "destined" for each other. (Her complaints about Caelen's broody, goth brand of "love" nearly had me snickering out loud at work - as did several other witty exchanges. Landy excels at sharp banter that manages not to overstay its welcome in any given scene.) A running subplot about a journalist stumbling onto the truth about the hidden magical community establishes a threat for future installments, which I hope to get to soon.
My only minor complaints are a hint of "series sprawl" - so many characters and subplots that it can take a bit to catch up mentally on who and where and what everyone is and how they fit in - and the final battle feeling just slightly overlong, but those hardly count against the rest of the story, which remains as satisfying as ever.
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The Library of the Dead (T. D. Huchu) - My Review
Skulduggery Pleasant (Derek Landy) - My Review
Sparrow Hill Road (Seanan McGuire) - My Review
The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 6
Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Fiction, YA Adventure/Fantasy/Horror/Humor/Mystery
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When the girl Stephanie Edgley - known among the hidden magical community of Dublin as Valkyrie Cain - turned from Elemental magic to Necromancy to help her rescue her mentor and friend Skulduggery Pleasant from an evil dimension of monstrous elder gods, she discovered an unexpected affinity for the dark arts... and inspired hopes in her tutor, Solomon Wreath, that she might become the prophesied Death Bringer. In the most secret and sacred lore of the Necromancers, the Death Bringer is a mage so powerful they can initiate the Passage, which will remake the eternal cycle of life and death and bring a new, harmonious order to the world - whether the world wants it or not. But now Melancholia St. Clair, student of the scheming Necromancer Vandameer Craven, instead appears to have fulfilled that promise. While that lets Valkyrie off the hook of a destiny she did not want, it sets her and Skulduggery once more at odds with the Necromancers as the cult's wildest, darkest dream appears on the verge of coming true, bringing the potential for yet another apocalyptic event. Can the girl and the living skeleton save the world yet again - and will their partnership survive what they discover along the way?
REVIEW: Six books in, and the Skulduggery Pleasant series continues to engage and entertain in a fast-paced, twist-filled installment, with characters who grow and change (not always for the better; magic and world-saving both require sacrifices and secrets that come back to bite people at the worst possible times) and great dialog.
As things begin, Valkyrie is enjoying some family time as "Stephanie" while attending her baby sister Alison's christening. Much as she loves the little girl and her parents, though, inevitably the magical world always comes first - especially when that world has painted a target on her back, though it's quite clear by now that, even if she didn't have active enemies, she'd still default to Valkyrie over Stephanie given half a chance. The mundane world is just too dull for her... as is, unfortunately, her good-guy boyfriend, the teleporter Fletcher. Even knowing the potential depths of her inner dark self - Darquesse, whom more than one seer predicts will destroy the world someday - she can't help craving the excitement and danger of magic. This flaw shapes much of her journey through the book, leading to various unintended consequences for herself and those around her... especially when combined with a bombshell secret from Skulduggery's past. As the threat of the Death Bringer and other challenges arise, Valkyrie and Skulduggery once more find their bond and their powers tested to the utmost and sometimes bested. The action is intense, the violence increasingly brutal (especially violence dealt out by Valkyrie herself; this is not at all the same innocent kid from the first volume, for all that she clearly still has a lot more growing and learning to do), the stakes ratcheting ever-higher on both personal and world-shaping levels, and by the end nothing is left unchanged. Along the way, various series elements get more development, such as the increasing (and somewhat disturbing) independence of Valkyrie's Reflection double, the down-but-not-out remnants of the cult of the Faceless Ones, the continuing exploits of the would-be "killer supreme" and "zombie king" Vaurien Scapegrace and his useless toady Thrasher, and more. Valkyrie also must cope with both her first breakup with her first boyfriend and the ongoing and increasingly-disturbed attentions of the vampire Caelen, who insists they are "destined" for each other. (Her complaints about Caelen's broody, goth brand of "love" nearly had me snickering out loud at work - as did several other witty exchanges. Landy excels at sharp banter that manages not to overstay its welcome in any given scene.) A running subplot about a journalist stumbling onto the truth about the hidden magical community establishes a threat for future installments, which I hope to get to soon.
My only minor complaints are a hint of "series sprawl" - so many characters and subplots that it can take a bit to catch up mentally on who and where and what everyone is and how they fit in - and the final battle feeling just slightly overlong, but those hardly count against the rest of the story, which remains as satisfying as ever.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Library of the Dead (T. D. Huchu) - My Review
Skulduggery Pleasant (Derek Landy) - My Review
Sparrow Hill Road (Seanan McGuire) - My Review
Friday, February 7, 2025
The Witchstone (Henry H. Neff)
The Witchstone
Henry H. Neff
Blackstone
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The demon Laszlo may have an arch-duke of Hell for a father, but never managed to rise above a lowly Grade 3 himself... and that's fine by him. Sure, he may not have some of the fancier powers that come with advancement, but he has better things to do than play politics, things like drinking and spending family money and disporting himself with various consenting adults in various carnal manners. Even when his father arranged a job for him in the Ancient and Infernal Society of Curse Keepers (established 5036 B.C.), he hardly bothers checking in with the mortal family that he's supposed to be keeping an eye on, making sure they endure the full breadth of pain and despair and dashed hopes that come with a curse. But when new management takes over the Society with bold new visions of curse-keeping, suddenly his slacker ways aren't cutting it - and, for once, the mention of his powerful father isn't enough to get him out of a jam. Now, Laszlo has one Hell week - six days (Lord Lucifer never liked Sundays) - to make the Drakefords truly suffer the complete and utter misery of their already miserable curse and the snatching away of any whiff of a hint of hope for freedom, or he'll be boiled down into demonic essence and returned to the primordial ooze... and that's if he's lucky. Hell is, after all, infamous for its inventive means of eternal torture, for mortals and demons alike.
Maggie Drakeford is all too familiar with the Drakeford Curse. Ever since their Puritan ancestor struck down a witch performing unholy rites before the Witchstone - a strange, obsidian spire of ill omen deep in the mountains of upstate New York - every Drakeford has turned into a monster before their fortieth birthday... and not just a metaphoric monster. A tormented, twisted, barely-human thing that often begs for death long before the end, prone to fits of violence and rage. Maggie isn't even 20 years old yet, and already has the first marks of the curse, ending any idle dreams of a future beyond the family's miserable, rustic homestead in their miserable, rustic backwater town. Worse, it's only a matter of time before her precocious kid brother George, better known as "Lump", develops his own marks, too. It's been generations since any tried to break the curse by finishing the spell the slain witch was performing when killed, and none even know how anymore, the information lost over the years. Then a stranger in Gucci shoes turns up one night with a glint in his eye, an infernal case file, and an offer that sounds far too good to be true. He says his name is Laszlo, the demonic Curse Keeper of the line, and he claims that Hell needs to close out their long-running curse inside of a week or there will be dire consequences for all concerned. Thus, he's prepared to bend infernal rules to help them figure out how to break the thing. Maggie is skeptical - the man is, after all, admittedly a demon, and trusting demons almost never ends well in stories - but she doesn't have a choice... and, even if he can't deliver, at least she will have tried to fight back against the curse that has ruined so many lives.
Thus begins a whirlwind dash halfway around the world, gathering the ingredients for a spell that may or may not even work. Not only is the clock ticking against Laszlo and Maggie, but they face a slew of obstacles and challenges, plus betrayals and potential sabotage from the demon's new boss... and the possibility that the Drakeford Curse and the Witchstone are not at all what anyone, human or demon, thought they were in the first place...
REVIEW: With a sarcastic con-man demon and a determined young woman who isn't above blurring some moral lines to get what she needs, author Neff establishes a strong starring duo in The Witchstone, a fast-paced melding of hellish humor and eldritch horror and urban fantasy that may sometimes wobble on its tightrope but manages to keep its footing from start to finish.
From the first pages, Laszlo establishes himself as a scoundrel, more than a touch selfish and spoiled but with enough humanizing flaws (and an amusing enough voice) to keep the reader generally on his side, if mostly in contrast to the demons surrounding him in the Society of Curse-Keepers - and who doesn't tend to root for the slacker underdog against the new boss set on "shaking up" a department that was functioning just fine before they came along? Maggie's chapters, on the other hand, tend to be more serious and grounded, rooted in the generational misery of being a Drakeford and stuck in a tiny spot of a town full of cruel people who, rather than having any pity for the afflicted family, treat them like monsters, only deigning to tolerate their presence when someone dies and they need a traditional "sin eater" (since the Drakefords are clearly already cursed, what's a few more sins to pile upon their souls?). At one time, she'd hoped to at least experience a little freedom before the curse kicked in, but then she saw the patch of red skin and little tentacles on her elbow and knew it was too late already. The arrival of Laszlo on the family's doorstep invites immediate skepticism, but Maggie realizes she has little choice but to trust the demon, even if so she can at least know that she tried to fight back. (It goes without saying that her kid brother Lump also is involved in the journey, managing not to be deadweight most of the time). Laszlo may enjoy "playing" with mortals, but being Maggie's guide and escort through the hidden world of demonic and supernatural beings of the world is the first time in ages he's had to interact with them in any truly meaningful, prolonged manner; despite himself, he grows a little fond of the Drakefords as they face mutual enemies and challenges, even as he plots his own agenda that runs counter to their goals on a fundamental level. Likewise, despite vowing not to lower her guard, Maggie finds herself growing fond of the demon despite his often-obnoxious ways and tendency to flee (or attempt to flee) in the face of danger.
Things clip along nicely for the most part, with action and humor and some body horror, though there are a few wobbles, as mentioned earlier. Neff pushes a little hard on the aspect of the Drakeford Curse that compels victims to reproduce before their monstrous mutations make mating with a human unlikely, to a point that came close to compelling a "DNF" (did not finish). (Risking a spoiler, that is a line that is nudged, but not actually crossed; if it had, this review would not be written, because I do not review DNF titles.) The climactic finale also feels drawn out. The wrap-up and epilogue managed to pull it back from where it nearly lost a half-star on those accounts, though, feeling like Neff intends to set up a series (or at least leave the door open for one). There's certainly enough character chemistry and enough hooks in the world he established to carry at least one more book. The whole put me in mind of some older demon-themed urban fantasies, such as Esther Friesner's Here Be Demons and its sequels, but in a good and updated way, not a dated way. In any event, I found The Witchstone unexpectedly enjoyable and interesting, and I'd certainly look at a second installment if it ever comes along.
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Whatever For Hire (R. J. Blain) - My Review
You Slay Me (Katie MacAllister) - My Review
Discount Armageddon (Seanan McGuire) - My Review
Henry H. Neff
Blackstone
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The demon Laszlo may have an arch-duke of Hell for a father, but never managed to rise above a lowly Grade 3 himself... and that's fine by him. Sure, he may not have some of the fancier powers that come with advancement, but he has better things to do than play politics, things like drinking and spending family money and disporting himself with various consenting adults in various carnal manners. Even when his father arranged a job for him in the Ancient and Infernal Society of Curse Keepers (established 5036 B.C.), he hardly bothers checking in with the mortal family that he's supposed to be keeping an eye on, making sure they endure the full breadth of pain and despair and dashed hopes that come with a curse. But when new management takes over the Society with bold new visions of curse-keeping, suddenly his slacker ways aren't cutting it - and, for once, the mention of his powerful father isn't enough to get him out of a jam. Now, Laszlo has one Hell week - six days (Lord Lucifer never liked Sundays) - to make the Drakefords truly suffer the complete and utter misery of their already miserable curse and the snatching away of any whiff of a hint of hope for freedom, or he'll be boiled down into demonic essence and returned to the primordial ooze... and that's if he's lucky. Hell is, after all, infamous for its inventive means of eternal torture, for mortals and demons alike.
Maggie Drakeford is all too familiar with the Drakeford Curse. Ever since their Puritan ancestor struck down a witch performing unholy rites before the Witchstone - a strange, obsidian spire of ill omen deep in the mountains of upstate New York - every Drakeford has turned into a monster before their fortieth birthday... and not just a metaphoric monster. A tormented, twisted, barely-human thing that often begs for death long before the end, prone to fits of violence and rage. Maggie isn't even 20 years old yet, and already has the first marks of the curse, ending any idle dreams of a future beyond the family's miserable, rustic homestead in their miserable, rustic backwater town. Worse, it's only a matter of time before her precocious kid brother George, better known as "Lump", develops his own marks, too. It's been generations since any tried to break the curse by finishing the spell the slain witch was performing when killed, and none even know how anymore, the information lost over the years. Then a stranger in Gucci shoes turns up one night with a glint in his eye, an infernal case file, and an offer that sounds far too good to be true. He says his name is Laszlo, the demonic Curse Keeper of the line, and he claims that Hell needs to close out their long-running curse inside of a week or there will be dire consequences for all concerned. Thus, he's prepared to bend infernal rules to help them figure out how to break the thing. Maggie is skeptical - the man is, after all, admittedly a demon, and trusting demons almost never ends well in stories - but she doesn't have a choice... and, even if he can't deliver, at least she will have tried to fight back against the curse that has ruined so many lives.
Thus begins a whirlwind dash halfway around the world, gathering the ingredients for a spell that may or may not even work. Not only is the clock ticking against Laszlo and Maggie, but they face a slew of obstacles and challenges, plus betrayals and potential sabotage from the demon's new boss... and the possibility that the Drakeford Curse and the Witchstone are not at all what anyone, human or demon, thought they were in the first place...
REVIEW: With a sarcastic con-man demon and a determined young woman who isn't above blurring some moral lines to get what she needs, author Neff establishes a strong starring duo in The Witchstone, a fast-paced melding of hellish humor and eldritch horror and urban fantasy that may sometimes wobble on its tightrope but manages to keep its footing from start to finish.
From the first pages, Laszlo establishes himself as a scoundrel, more than a touch selfish and spoiled but with enough humanizing flaws (and an amusing enough voice) to keep the reader generally on his side, if mostly in contrast to the demons surrounding him in the Society of Curse-Keepers - and who doesn't tend to root for the slacker underdog against the new boss set on "shaking up" a department that was functioning just fine before they came along? Maggie's chapters, on the other hand, tend to be more serious and grounded, rooted in the generational misery of being a Drakeford and stuck in a tiny spot of a town full of cruel people who, rather than having any pity for the afflicted family, treat them like monsters, only deigning to tolerate their presence when someone dies and they need a traditional "sin eater" (since the Drakefords are clearly already cursed, what's a few more sins to pile upon their souls?). At one time, she'd hoped to at least experience a little freedom before the curse kicked in, but then she saw the patch of red skin and little tentacles on her elbow and knew it was too late already. The arrival of Laszlo on the family's doorstep invites immediate skepticism, but Maggie realizes she has little choice but to trust the demon, even if so she can at least know that she tried to fight back. (It goes without saying that her kid brother Lump also is involved in the journey, managing not to be deadweight most of the time). Laszlo may enjoy "playing" with mortals, but being Maggie's guide and escort through the hidden world of demonic and supernatural beings of the world is the first time in ages he's had to interact with them in any truly meaningful, prolonged manner; despite himself, he grows a little fond of the Drakefords as they face mutual enemies and challenges, even as he plots his own agenda that runs counter to their goals on a fundamental level. Likewise, despite vowing not to lower her guard, Maggie finds herself growing fond of the demon despite his often-obnoxious ways and tendency to flee (or attempt to flee) in the face of danger.
Things clip along nicely for the most part, with action and humor and some body horror, though there are a few wobbles, as mentioned earlier. Neff pushes a little hard on the aspect of the Drakeford Curse that compels victims to reproduce before their monstrous mutations make mating with a human unlikely, to a point that came close to compelling a "DNF" (did not finish). (Risking a spoiler, that is a line that is nudged, but not actually crossed; if it had, this review would not be written, because I do not review DNF titles.) The climactic finale also feels drawn out. The wrap-up and epilogue managed to pull it back from where it nearly lost a half-star on those accounts, though, feeling like Neff intends to set up a series (or at least leave the door open for one). There's certainly enough character chemistry and enough hooks in the world he established to carry at least one more book. The whole put me in mind of some older demon-themed urban fantasies, such as Esther Friesner's Here Be Demons and its sequels, but in a good and updated way, not a dated way. In any event, I found The Witchstone unexpectedly enjoyable and interesting, and I'd certainly look at a second installment if it ever comes along.
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Saturday, February 1, 2025
(Delayed) January Site Update
I had low hopes going into 2025, and already those seem impossibly optimistic in hindsight. (Going from "this is going to be terrible" into "do I really even want to bother surviving what's ahead?" territory, here, where there is literally not a thing in my world, my nation, and my life that is not being threatened and/or already irrevocably broken... and anyone offering glib platitudes or vague toxic-positivity admonitions about doing "something" will get a dictionary upside the skull.)
For now, at least, there are still books keeping me going, more or less.
Anyway, January's nine reviews have been archived and cross-linked on the main Brightdreamer Books site.
Enjoy, for the time being at least...
For now, at least, there are still books keeping me going, more or less.
Anyway, January's nine reviews have been archived and cross-linked on the main Brightdreamer Books site.
Enjoy, for the time being at least...
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