Allison, P.G.: Missy the Werecat (2012)

2014-09-13 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Missy the Werecat - PG Allison

The cougar works a powerful magic on the human imagination. Perhaps it is envy. This majestic feline personifies strength, movement, grace, stealth, independence, and the wilderness spirit. It wanders enormous tracts of American wilderness at will. It is equally at home in forest, desert, jungle, or swamp. An adult cougar can bring down a full-grown mule deer in seconds. It yields to few creatures, save, bears and humans. (Mountain Lion Foundation)

Now take a look at one of the descriptions of Missy from Missy the Werecat. Missy has just come back from the wild, rescued a family and is thought to have been kept a prisoner for two years:

She moved with a smooth grace but also exuded strength and power, somehow giving an impression of greatness in spite of her only being a teenage girl. …

entering the room in full command of herself, alert and aware. Fearless. With depths that could not be penetrated. This Missy was not at all a victim, in any way …

Pretty similar, don’t you think?

After Missy comes back down from the mountains, having learned to control her changes, she befriends a girl called Alice. Alice was being sexually abused by her step-father and Missy stepped in to stop it. Stepping in while Alice was still so young, in addition to giving Alice the support she needed, helped Alice work her way through the sexual abuse as much as possible.

During a period of my life I went through some sexual abuse periods myself. To have had a Missy in my life at that point would have made a great difference. However, the norm in such cases is to have them explained away or denied. It’s simply too difficult for non-pedophiles to think that there are people out there who get turned on by such things.

Throughout her whole story of Missy the Werecat, P.G. Allison was carefully open about the darker sides of life. At the same time she made sure we understood the importance of people like Missy in the lives of those being affected by predators. Sometimes it takes a predator to hunt down other predators and, as most of us come to know, not all predators are out to hurt people.

Missy the Werecat is very US in its style. It is definitely written for a younger audience. Some violence was explicit and some sexual content was also explicit, yet it was explicit in an age-appropriate manner. I was surprised by the balance between sexual and violent content as I am not used to that from US authors. To make up for that there were the standard moralistic teachings found in US stories. In the end that did not matter to me and I for one was glad that such a person/mountain lion blessed the lives of so many people (and frightened the ☠@✴# out of others).

Missy the Werecat on Amazon US

Fantasy

Ryan, Lea: What the Dead Fear (2011)

2014-09-11 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

What the Dead Fear is a lovely novella about acceptance and compassion.

My reasons for choosing a story varies. In the case of What the Dead Fear it was the title that drew me. I found I had to know what the dead do fear. Well, they fear Gareth. But more than Gareth they fear

for the fates of the living, despite their witness to the hereafter. They fear retribution, but perhaps even more, they fear helplessness and insignificance.

Helplessness is an interesting sensation. Two of the characters (Juniper and Nikki) from the story suffer through acknowledging the need for different strategies. Acceptance is such a difficult choice but usually it is the only way to change. At least it is for me, and Ms. Ryan’s characters all either fight their way through it or remain stuck as they are.

I like the way the story plays out in Limbo and in the land of the living. What the Dead Fear is a ghost story riddled with strange creatures and plenty of action and humor. Definitely recommended.

Review:

What the Dead Fear on Barnes and Noble Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, It’s also available in audio HERE.

Fantasy

Winchester, C.S.: Past Life (Past III) (2012)

2014-09-06 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Past Life - CS Winchester - white background

Past Life - CS Winchester - black background

I like Dante. He is the kind of guy that would make me laugh. I wouldn’t want to mess with him, but I think I would like to hang with him (no, not the deadly kind of hanging!). He was appointed Frankie’s guardian during Josh’s negotiations with the Council in Half Past. I really hated that ending, because Josh was seriously cool. But that is the power of The Author: to mess with their readers’ emotions.

I wonder how much of a mess I am making of the lives of my sons. Parents seem to be good at handing work to therapists. Frankie’s mother is a good example of messy parenting. She has never accepted Frankie and all of her sides, while Frankie has worked harder and harder at getting that acceptance. In the end something had to break, and break it does. Sometimes fractured relationships end up being exactly what was needed to finally move forward and together towards the same goal. And sometimes not. Reading the story will let you know which is the case in Past Life.

Will is giving me a hard time. Do I like him or not? Hmmmm? Yes and no. Figuring out where Winchester is going with him is difficult. We’ll just have to see if another story is forthcoming.

Past Life is a mystery, and the crimes committed turn out to be against one of the people Frankie knows well. She is extra motivated to solve the bizarre killings and is learning to accept help to find her answers.

Answers is something Winchester has left us with in each of the stories in the Past series. Choices and their unintended consequences were an important issue of Past Life, and CS hands us her gift in a fun wrapping.

Past Life available on Amazon US

My review of:

Past Due
Half Past

Autism / Aspergers, OCD - Obsessive compulsive disorder

At the Intersection of Autism and OCD

2014-09-05 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

“Changing one thing inevitably changes everything else, so it makes sense that a shift in the balance of my autistic traits would impact the balance of my OCD traits.”

Musings of an Aspie

This morning I got my triathlon race number: 336. My first thought was, “yes, okay, good” because 336 is a pleasing number. If I’d gotten 337, I would have had the opposite reaction. 337 is not a pleasing number at all. I don’t even like typing it.

What’s good about 336?

3 + 3 = 6

6 / 2 = 3

3 + 3 + 6 = 12 which is divisible by 3 and 6, also; the digits in 12 added together = 3

337, on the other hand, is a prime number. Some people love prime numbers, I know. I’m not one of them. I find primes frustrating rather than interesting because I can’t do anything with them.

The strength of my reaction to seeing 336 printed beside my name surprised me a bit. I’m still getting used to this latest eruption of OCD traits and how relieving or…

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Autism / Aspergers

Aspergers and dating

2014-09-05 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Even as one of the opposite gender, I could recognize a lot of what was going on in this video.

Fantasy

Winchester, C.S.: Half Past (Past II) (2010)

2014-09-05 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

Thankfully, Half Past did not become mushy. Romance is fine. Once it becomes the focus of the story and reaches into bizarro-land I become confused and hope that no one actually has to go through that kind of stuff. There was romance in Half Past. Maybe romance is the wrong word. This is a confusing field for me. Frankie made decisions about her life that included Alex and Josh. Alex made a decision about himself and Frankie that stank to high heaven. Josh made a decision about his life that increased Frankie’s understanding of her feelings and value.

CS Winchester‘s vampires are far from glittery. These vampires are predatory creatures who do not hold back from what they deem necessary violence. Once a person has lived centuries their views on ethics and morals are bound to differ from whatever the fashionable view might be. Josh is the kind of person who can rip off a person’s head. He is also the kind of person who is willing to take in those in need of protection.

Frankie Wright’s powers are growing. She has a little more control over them now and is better able to use those powers to help the people around her. You see, Frankie suffers from an empathetic personality. Even though a person has been a complete dufus toward her, she has the ability to see that person’s suffering and need. Perhaps this has something to do with her psychic abilities. Or it could just be that Frankie is a pretty decent kind of person. Being decent doesn’t stop her from protecting society from the dangers the supernatural community might pose. I like Frankie. At times I find her annoying – like the people around her also do. It’s interesting being able to empathize with a fictional character’s compatriots.

I’m not sure what I think of Alex. He is seriously patronizing and seems to think that he owns Frankie. 700 years ago – when he began life – he would have. I wonder what it must be like to have to adjust to changing morals and ethics over and over again. I wonder if you would get to a point where you become stuck and lose the ability to fit in.

Half Past was a fun story with plenty of action, silliness and just a little bit of romance. I look forward to reading the next in line.

Reviews:

Half Past available on Amazon US

My review of: Past Due

Fantasy

McGuire, Seanan: The Winter Long (October Daye VIII) (2014)

2014-09-05 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Cover artist: Christian McGrath

A geis can be compared with a curse or, paradoxically, a gift. If someone under a geis violates the associated taboo, the infractor will suffer dishonor or even death. On the other hand, the observing of one’s geasa is believed to bring power. (Wikipedia)

Imagine a person strong enough to place a geas on the Luidaeg, one of the Firstborn. Daughter of Maeve and Oberon. Doesn’t seem possible does it? Except there is a person who is just as connected to Oberon as the Luidaeg is, although Titiana is this person’s mother. And we know who this person is. We have, in fact, been given clues as to this person’s identity several books ago. Not that I got it, of course. Ms. McGuire had to give it to me in tiny helpings. Shows how good a detective I am.

Family is a strange matter. All of us are born to one family, one we do not choose. Some of those families are extremely dysfunctional. Toby’s mother is a great example of that. Amandine is a nutter. Perhaps being immortal does that to you even if you are genetically engineered for it. After all, what is there to see and strive for once you have lived for hundreds, maybe thousands of years? How would you deal with the death of mortals and their envy? Humans would envy immortals. Just look at the research that is being done to extend our lives and find the key to eternal life.

Toby is just starting her way down the path of an extremely long life – if she isn’t killed during one of her heroic deeds. It’s a good thing her human part has receded as much as it has. Without being faery to the degree that she has become, Toby would surely have died during The Winter Long. She comes close enough as it is.

I’m wondering what Toby’s chosen family will end up being like. The beginnings of it are there. We have the changelings, May and Jade, Tybalt, Raf, Quentin and the Luidaeg. Beyond that, well? Perhaps in some instances Toby has misinterpreted her relationships or maybe refused to see the world as it really is rather than as she wishes it to be. We all do that. Lie to ourselves. Except the Luidaeg. She can’t lie. But the rest of us? Some truths about ourselves and our surroundings aren’t fun to acknowledge, so we change them to fit our desires. So too with Toby.

I have to say that Seanan McGuire is an excellent writer. She keeps her text tight and tense while interspersing it with bits of humour and goo. I love goo. Ever since I met her through her Mira Grant persona, I have loved her writing. Definitely recommended.

Reviews:

The Winter Long on Amazon US

My review of:

Chimes at Midnight

Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Sullivan Brothers: Shadowbloom: (Rhyme of the Willow I) (2011)

2014-08-31 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

I read other reviews before I publish my post. Sometimes that helps me understand why I enjoyed a story. On Amazon one of the commenters said something about the children not thinking about their grandparents and how that must make their grandparents feel. That got me wondering about my relationship with people.

Perhaps one of the reasons autistic people are thought of as not having empathy is because some of us are like the teenagers in Shadowbloom. If a person is not in my vicinity, I seldom think about them. Even when they are near by, I can completely forget their existence. I can love them to bits, but my focus tends to be in the here and now. Sure I worry if something is amiss with a person I care about. But allistics seem to get caught up in their worries. To me Axton and Anina seemed perfectly normal.

The two twins lost their parents to the Willow 13 years ago. All they know is that their parents crashed their car into a tree and then disappeared completely. Since then they have lived with their grand-parents. Anina and Axton have opposite reactions to the loss of their parents.

Anina is ANGRY and shows it. Her personality is probably a bit tetchy to begin with, but what she sees as a betrayal has brought out her barbs completely. Very fitting considering her changes in the Garden. Axton has become afraid of most things and delves into his mother’s field of study – botany.

Disappearing from the world and ending up in a place unlike anything the two could have imagined only intensifies their behavioral patterns. Axton becomes more afraid. Anina’s anger grows. But at least the two hope that they might discover what happened to their parents. Perhaps they will.

I really liked Shadowbloom. The Garden was a strange place where plants took the place of animals. Getting eaten by one was certainly possible. The Sullivan brothers write well and their cover was great.

Reviews:

Shadowbloom on Amazon US

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short story/novella

Edwards, Nigel: Garrison (2011)

2014-08-30 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Editing and cover design by Tim C. Taylor Cover images by KireevArt and fotola70 — Editing and cover design by Tim C. Taylor
Cover images by KireevArt and fotola70

Garrison is a military fantasy in novella format. It is set in another time and place with pre-industrial technology and strange creatures. Whether these people are human, I do not know. That is just a presumption on my part.

Von was the most interesting person of this story. His exact role within the company wasn’t completely clear to me. While regular soldier seems to have been his official title, his role was more likely as some kind of troubleshooter. New soldiers saw him as a father-figure. Being just another soldier seems to have given him an in that was not open to the officers. The two newbies were highly visible in Garrison, but their role seemed to be as supporting characters to Von.

I liked Von and I enjoyed reading Garrison and Nigel Edwards’ writing.

Reviews:

Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Halstead, Jason: Dark Earth (Dark Earth I) (2011)

2014-08-29 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Cover art by Willsin Rowe

In my opinion Dark Earth seems aimed at a younger Young Adult audience.

Jason Halstead starts off the story in modern US and then takes us to a parallel world set to a pre-industrial age. He describes this Dark Earth as meaner and greedier than our own. Perhaps that is due to the younger audience he is writing for and possibly a need to create a good and a bad world. I certainly know of plenty of people who are as mean and greedy on our side of the gates. Places that are more or less pre-industrial are in existence although these are becoming fewer by the decade.

Our heroes are Eric, who lost his wife 13 years ago, and his 13-year-old daughter Jessica. Eric is still caught in the grief of his wife being killed while in her 8th month of pregnancy. When a guy turns up at his house attempting to murder his daughter, Eric is understandably frustrated, angry, afraid and reminded of his previous loss. Then Eric and Jessica discover that they are part of a 2000-year-old legacy that reaches across to parallel world. Now the two will also have to deal with Jessica being kidnapped and Eric being bitten by a strange wolf.

I read Dark Earth a long time ago but had forgotten to write a review for it. That meant I had to read it again. Jason Halstead certainly writes well enough for me to also enjoy the second reading. Although Jessica was the person of interest to the various parties, Eric was the character that I saw the most of. He was the one that showed growth and development.

There was plenty of action and some violence. Only one short bit might be considered by some parents as too much for the youngest children. Other than that, Dark Earth must be one of the safer stories out there for a Young adult audience. There was no swearing, very little violence, some sadness and no romance (except in the memory of Eric and his late wife).

Reviews:

Dark Earth on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords

Autism / Aspergers, Reblogged

Newsflash: That’s called educating!

2014-08-28 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

” You see your kid’s strength and weaknesses, and as long as you’re ignoring the voices of those that will tell you that your kid is a tragedy (such as Autism Speaks or any other number of sources that make us out to be burdens), you’re going to try and meet your kid where they’re at. “

The Caffeinated Autistic

Someone on another website posted the following statement:

if u try to fix & cure autistic ppl as part of being an ally you are not an ally you are the enemy and we will destroy you

I’m not going to argue the semantics of the statement, and I know that statements like this often devolve into accusations about what is meant by the phrase “destroy you”. I tend to take a non-violent approach, and believe that it means “destroy the ideology behind this” rather than actually harming a person.

What I want to talk about today, though, is a response that someone wrote to this meme-like statement and the explanation that Autism isn’t something that needs to be cure.

actually, it does, to a certain degree. autism does not need to be eradicated, but it needs to be “helped” so that people can live a functional, productive life.

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Fantasy, Horror

McDermott, J.M.: When we were executioners (2012)

2014-08-24 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

http://julienalday.blogspot.no/2011/10/n193-when-we-were-executioners.html

When we were exectutioners - JM McDermott

I want to understand why writing a review of When We Were Executioners is so difficult. Part of it has to do with how invested in the lives of Jona and Rachel I have become. Not only they, but also the two Walkers of Erin seem to have a profound effect on me. There is this area from my solar plexus to the tip of my chin that becomes warm and weepy just thinking about the quartet. Sometimes art does this to me. Whether I am dealing with happy art or sad art does not seem to make a difference.

When We Were Executioners falls within the last category. From the beginning of the serial Dogsland we know that Lord Joni doesn’t survive. We soon come to expect the same with Rachel, and in When We Were Executioners it seems impossible that her brother Djoss will make it either.

People die all the time. They die all the time in the city/town Dogsland – a city of crime if there ever was one. Drugs are its mainstay. Drugs come into the city and are sold and traded on to the citizens of Dogsland and other places. JM McDermott shows us the darker side of drugs, both from the point of view of the users, the dealers and lords – sometimes one and the same person. It is a path that many tread both in fantasy and in the real world. Addiction.

But then I suppose we all suffer from one sort of addiction or another. Some of us will do anything for affection while others will stop at nothing to get another shot of their drug of choice. It is all the same, and oh, so very sad. Maybe evolution needs us to be this way to keep the human race going.

Lord Joni and Rachel Nolander are both half-demons and a hunted minority. Perhaps with good reason, for anything their bodily fluids touch (except for each other) ends up disintegrating and sizzling away. Somehow that does not make sense for their fathers had to have sex with their mothers and there is certainly an exchange of bodily fluids at that time. But perhaps what goes for half-demons is not the case with full demons. Even in death Jona and Rachel are deadly. Keeping their remains (especially their skulls) for magical purposes will end up destroying the magician. But in the end that is the way we all go. Death is just another part of life that we try to avoid and forget.

Could this be another reason the Dogsland trilogy thus far has affected me so strongly? JM McDermott makes no attempt to hide death from us. Nor does he attempt to make it more or less than what it is. Thus far the deaths we have seen in this trilogy have been difficult and painful ones. I wonder what my own death will be like?

Definitely recommended.

Review:

——————————————————-

When We Were Executioners on Amazon USA

My review of: Never Knew Another

OCD - Obsessive compulsive disorder

Feature piece: Battling to Get an OCD Diagnosis and Treatment

2014-08-23 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Through her son’s journey to diagnosis and treatment, Laura Chapman became involved in the OCD movement in the US. Her work led her to contribute to the PsychGuides.com website article: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Symptoms, Causes and Effects. Here is the story of her son’s journey. If any of this sounds familiar, please seek help so the quality of your life might improve.

Battling to Get an OCD Diagnosis and Treatment

Spencer had always been in good health previously and I initially dismissed his insecurities and altered behavior as just a phase he was going through. How wrong I was, as my son now has a diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and thankfully he is receiving treatment. Not only do I wish I had asked for help sooner, but I realize I should have been more assertive when it came to getting the specialist input he needed.

Symptom onset

Shortly after Spencer turned nine he developed strep throat, but he soon bounced back and I thought that was that. However, within a matter of weeks of that throat infection, I noticed a change in him. He had always been such a happy little boy, but he suddenly became withdrawn. Before his bedtime each night he also started to check the doors were locked, as well as the windows, and for those he couldn’t reach he insisted we check for him. Then I’d maybe hear him wandering about upstairs two or three times before we went to bed and when I found him up one night in the early hours, he said he couldn’t sleep because he was worried someone might break in. I couldn’t work out why he was suddenly interested in our home security, as it wasn’t as if any of our neighbors had been broken into. What surprised me even more was this carried on for weeks and added to this Spencer also grew increasingly anxious if either I or my husband was out. He would sit on the front porch waiting for us to return and one night when my parents were looking after him, they said he sat by the window all evening watching for our car headlights. Spencer told me the next morning he couldn’t play that night as he was so worried something had happened to us.

A disappointing start

With no sign of his insecurities subsiding and the seeming impact they were starting to have on Spencer’s life, I decided after months of waiting for things to clear up by themselves it was perhaps time to take a visit to our family doctor. I’m not sure what I expected, but I didn’t expect to be dismissed as an overly anxious mother. After asking very few questions, the doctor said that Spencer would probably grow out of these anxieties, so for the moment it was just a case of wait and see. That had been my initial reaction too, but after months of this, his symptoms showed no sign of abating. However, I took the doctor’s word for it and we tried to get on with normality as best we could. It was a few weeks later when I was speaking to my mother-in-law on the phone when it came out that my brother-in-law has OCD. My husband doesn’t get along with his brother and they haven’t spoken for years, so it wasn’t surprising I didn’t know. This got me thinking though and after a quick internet search I saw that OCD can run in families and what I didn’t realize was that it can affect fairly young children too.

Slow progress

With this new information I was back to the medical practice, but after a disappointing first consultation, I arranged for Spencer to see one of the other doctors. After explaining Spencer’s symptoms and that there was a family history of OCD, this doctor agreed that it was a possibility. He didn’t give Spencer a firm diagnosis, but it was a start. The doctor suggested a course of talking therapy and gave us the contact details of some therapists in the area. However, after reading up on the benefits of CBT, I wasn’t particularly impressed with our therapy sessions, as there seemed to be a lot of talking about his fears, rather than working through strategies to overcome them. If anything Spencer’s, insecurities and repeated security related behaviors were getting worse, so it was back to see a doctor for the third time. At this appointment the doctor mentioned medications were an option, but without a firm diagnosis and specialist input I wasn’t happy to go ahead with this. Thankfully, my husband attended this time and insisted he refer Spencer to a specialist who had experience of diagnosing and managing childhood OCD.

A breakthrough

After an inevitable wait we got to see the specialist, and finally it felt like we were getting somewhere. This time Spencer was assessed thoroughly and we received confirmation that it was indeed OCD. It turned out that his earlier strep throat may even have been the trigger. The specialist advocated a tailored course of CBT and although Spencer’s symptoms did improve to an extent following these sessions, at a follow-up appointment we agreed to a trial of medication for OCD, as by now he was 10 and deemed a suitable candidate after limited improvement. Within three months of taking citalopram we noticed a difference in Spencer and over the last year his insecurities and repetitive bahaviors have continued to get better with minimal side-effects from the drug.

My experience of not recognizing the signs of OCD in Spencer and failing to push for specialist treatment earlier encouraged me to put together a guide on its causes, symptoms and treatment. I was determined that other parents and family members wouldn’t have to put up with the wait that we did, so by raising awareness of the condition it will hopefully help others to access prompt treatment for their loved ones. Even if I can just help a handful of families, that would allow me to fulfil what I set out to do with this guide.

Now aged 11 Spencer still takes citalopram and is under regular review from his specialist. We’re hopeful that now Spencer’s OCD is well-controlled it might even be possible to trial a period off the drug.

International OCD Foundation

Norsk OCD Forening

Poetry

Kay, Loralie: “Old Joshua” / “Dawn” (2014)

2014-08-22 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

The Joshua tree was given its name by the Mormon pioneers, who were reminded of the Biblical Joshua of old lifting his arms to God, when they saw the high-lifting branches of the tree.

Joshua tree in sunset by Sam Scholes, 2010

Old Joshua

Old Joshua tree, you lift wild limbs
as a shield from the heat of the sun,
still as a statue, standing in sand,
named after Joshua of old.

Wild jack rabbits scamper and jump
around your shaggy brown bark,
scorpions crawl up and down your bent spine
and lurk in your odd-jutting arms.

Your pointed quills are home to lizards and wrens
and snakes slither past those cruel ends.
Yet just yesterday your sharp swords brought death
to thousands who stained the land red.

You marched around Jericho day after day
raising your bugles high, then you
gave the command, the walls tumbled down,
and your troops slaughtered all those inside.

You smote all the country, all of the hills,
with the edge of your mighty sword,
slaying soldiers and mothers and babes in their beds,
and kings, even thirty and one.

Joshua, recall how you lifted your eyes to exclaim,
“Look—the sun stands still!”
Even the sky’s light refused to go out
as it witnessed such carnage below.

Now you’re alone, epic Joshua tree,
grown old and smitten with time.
A lonely silhouette with bent twisted limbs
against a red flaming sky.

No mighty armies can you command
no promised land can you seek.
Only branches braced high against a searing hot sun
to block scorching memories.

Do you lift your prickly arms high in praise
for the heated battles you’ve known?
Or to beg forgiveness for the carnage you’ve wrought,
and seek peace to quench your parched soul?

Loralie Kay

Dawn

Many years I’ve lived the single life,
these long years since children and divorce,
a life complete with friends, laughs, and loves.
But not love.

Through these years I’ve wondered,
Is true love, the kind of love that lasts and endures
and often extolled in fairy tales,
merely a fantasy?

Then as my 66th year breaks over me,
love arrives, alive with hopes and promises
of fantasy springing to life,
with a new sky, and a new dawn.

We love quickly, perhaps too quickly,
before exploring the flaws that compose us both.
Then we slowly discover each imperfection
as we undress each other in the bed of familiarity.

Fantasy, so long sought, grinds slowly to reality,
complete with shards of gray and flashes of bright.
Ecstasy, tears, a day is still a day.
Did I really expect a different sunrise?

Then a new hand reaches toward me.
Fingers flicker faintly on mine.
“Fly away with me” he coaxes,
“We would be good together.”

If I reach forward to grasp this new hand,
will I discover yet another fantasy?
Bearing unknowns and hapless hopes,
a misty castle in the sky?

I turn back to the love
sleeping close at my side,
taking deep and steady breaths
in the early dawning light.

I look past illusive fantasy
and into his face filled with reality,
as the morning sun floods the room
and illuminates us.

Loralie Kay

Fantasy, Young Adult

Stewart, Michael F.: 24 Bones (2009)

2014-08-21 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

24 Bones - Michael F Stewart — Cover art by Martin Stiff; Hieroglyphs by Manfred Klein

This cover is stunning. Those green eyes and the light together. Wow.

I laugh a little when I see someone has picked up both Assured Destruction and 24 Bones because they are so different. And perhaps my apprenticeship is over and it’s time to choose a genre.

Nah! Take your time. Why ruin a good thing?

I arrived early at the Great Pyramid, and for a special few minutes I was the only one inside. Within the King’s Chamber I noticed that every sound reverberated strongly…soo powerfully. I had researched the resonance of the chamber but being there was entirely different. So, checking over my shoulder, looking down into the grand gallery to ensure I was alone, I then clambered inside the rose granite sarcophagus, and began to hum.

I really enjoyed 24 Bones. Not at first. Not when I was wondering if this was going to be a conversion attempt by Michael F. Stewart. Thankfully, Stewart wasn’t that kind of annoying author. What I had thought preaching was instead an in depth comparison between the Christian (Coptic) godhead and the Egyptian Osiris/Isis/Horus legends. I knew some of this stuff but hadn’t realized how many beliefs the two systems had in common.

24 Bones is kind of about good and bad, except not really. The person who apparently serves evil doesn’t really. The character who seems to serve good does but also faces his demons. Then we have the third person. I’m not really certain how to describe him. Maybe as some one who looks for the easy way out? In other words, regular people.

David, Sam and Faris are tools of a prophecy that comes to fruition every 500 years. All of them access something called Void or Fullness (a kind of magic). Fullness (order) is waning and Void (chaos) is on the rise. The ideal is a balance between the two.

Balance is something the world lacks. There is always some species threatening eco-systems around the world. We humans just happen to do so all over the place. Power is possibly one of the greatest motivators for making the world chaotic. Pharaoh has power as his main goal in 24 Bones, and with it he is going to do what all power-hungry maniacs have tried to do throughout history: topple existing power-systems and take over the world. History and today show just how power-hungry countries/leaders/people can be and what they are willing to do to achieve ultimate power.

There was plenty of action, strange people and strange animals. Egypt is an interesting country. I have only been there on a two-week holiday and there was never a sarcophagus around that I could climb into. I am thankful that there are people like Michael F. Stewart who will do that kind of thing so my reading experience can be more authentic.

Reviews:

24 Bones on: Smashwords