Kathryn Troy's Blog, page 18

Being an expert in Spiritualism attracts me quite naturally to works of fiction that focus on that practice, or use it as a backdrop to set a mood. But it's a double-edged sword. Many works cannot fully satisfy because  I know too much. My standards for authenticity are abnormally high.

Which is why Things Half in Shadow was such a pleasant, enticing surprise. In this part mystery, part supernatural thriller, Philadelphia reporter Edward Clark begrudgingly accepts an assignment to expose the city's mediums as frauds, and support the strong strain of opposition to Spiritualism running rampant in the city, alongside devout, if gullible, followers in the wake of the Civil War.

Clark calls upon his childhood training as a stage performer to suss out the tricks of Lucy Collins, a third-rate medium at best, and cruel selfish huckster at worst. But before he can expose her, she learns his secret-his real name is Columbus Holmes, the supposed dead son of Magellan the Great, the world-renowned magician locked away for murdering his wife.

He reluctantly agrees to help her only expose her competition, but there's a snag or two. For one, Clark can't see any deception in the seance held by Leonora Grimes. Second, Grimes is dead by the end of the seance. Clark, Collins, and the other seance members were the only ones present. They become suspects in a locked room mystery. Fun!

Except, both Clark and Collins have secrets they don't need the police digging up. In the turmoil, Clark loses his job in the paper, his fiancee Violet breaks off their engagement, and the Police Inspector, his friend, is not helping as much as he hoped. The world Clark has carefully built for himself is crumbling around him, all because of his association with the strong-willed Lucy Collins. Well, you know what they say about opposites. Their interactions were delicious.

To save themselves, the take up the torch of the investigation, and get much more than they bargain for-including a secret society targeting mediums and insight into what really happened on the fateful day Clark lost his mother.

Everything about late nineteenth-century Philadelphia felt authentic: the fervor and opposition for Spiritualism, the sprawling impact of the Civil War, the rules of social decorum that break down once all hell breaks loose.

I might not have agreed with Clark's choice in the end, when it came down to the feisty Collins who knows the true him, and the fiancee who sees the error of her ways, but the book ended with the potential for a sequel. I will wait impatiently to see if one arrives. In the meantime, this was one of the best books I've read this year by a new author, and about a favorite subject of mine.

Rating: 5/5


**New Author Goal: 20**

The only thing I knew about The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) going in was that in involved an autopsy (obviously), and that it was directed by
The Autopsy of Jane Doe was a tight, nearly perfect horror, and the best scare I've had in a while. It features a father and son team of medical examiners pressured to complete an autopsy before the night is out, after an already long day.  The problem is, that the body is pristine-no bullet wounds, no stab marks, no physical aberrations of any kind. But she was found half-buried at the scene of a quadruple family murder. So how did she die?

The things the Tilden boys reveal about the girl, peeling away layer after layer of her body, are simply impossible. From a production standpoint, the pacing and the props are just brilliant. The very visceral horror of the autopsy was dramatic and well-shot, and complemented perfectly the sinister, psychological horror lurking just beneath the surface. And all the close-ups of the actress's face were beautifully creepy. I never got tired of it, because I never knew exactly what to expect.


My one critique is that, towards the end of the film, we're given an theory of the body's origins, and the meaning behind all the unimaginable things they've found. The explanation was too complete for my taste, too neat and tidy. I didn't need all that-some, maybe, fine. But I prefer more mystery in my mysteries. This only detracted from the plot for a very small fraction of time, so it did not affect the overall experience.


I love Brian Cox - he's so versatile!
And then, all hell breaks loose. And the chaos that happens after is a wonderful blend of outright carnage and terrifying atmosphere. To execute both horror and terror simultaneously is not an easy task, but the film uses a deft hand to deliver both in hefty doses. The result was a supremely satisfying experience, which lit up more than one of my brain's horror-loving zones.

Damn you, Trudi Canvan. Can't you let your characters be happy?

The conclusion to The Black Magician Trilogy, The High Lord , is everything I hoped it would be, and more. We learn the true intentions behind the High Lord Akkarin's use of black magic, a secret magic that will get him executed if it is discovered.

The slum girl Sonea has risen a bit since her flight from the Magician's Guild in the first book, (my review here) earning her place at the guild as a student and as the High Lord's favorite in The Novice, (review here!) even if she came to that position through blackmail for knowing the High Lord's secret.

In this final installment, Sonea learns all the honorable reasons behind Akkarin's practice of black magic, and joins him in the impending war against the Ichani, an ancient enemy that strengthens itself though black magic, drawing power from their slaves as well as the people they kill. Once the Magician's Guild discovers Akkarin's secret, Sonea stands with him, and the guild very stupidly and very publicly denounces and exiles them into the lands of their enemies, leaving themselves wide open to an attack too powerful for them to withstand. Meanwhile, in the Sachakan wastes, everything Sonea and Akkarin have been through together in the past few days, and the past few years, and all she now knows about him, comes to a head. In the most pleasant of ways.

The old arrogance of the Guild is turned on its head as they completely fail to defend the city from the threat, only surviving through the return of Akkarin and Sonea from exile, and their alliance with the Thieves and their secret nexus of tunnels through the city that allow them to pick off their enemies.  Then, of course, there's the final confrontation, just in case the guerilla-style warfare didn't satisfy, which it did, since it showcases just how strong Sonea has become.

I admire the tight, cohesive way in which the geography of Imardin, as well as its distinct, class-based neighborhoods played an integral role in the Ichani invasion. I have to admire the amount of thoughtfulness it took to have all these pieces come together in such an exciting and authentic way at the end. With most of Imardin destroyed by the battle, the Guild is entirely shaken up, both in numbers and their approach to black magic. It will be interesting to see how those lines get redrawn.

Can't say I'm happy about the ending though. It's powerful, authentic, and heartbreaking. I can't stand that Canavan seems allergic to a happy ending. But, for all that, it's a million times better than lots of stories that do give me a happy ending. Her books linger, so I just have to learn to suck it up.

I'll let this one simmer a bit before diving into The Ambassador's Mission , the first book in Canavan's Traitor Spy trilogy, which takes place in Imardin some time after the conclusion of The High Lord.

Rating: 5/5

Beyond the Door (1974) came into my orbit when I read about it on Fantasy Literature. It called the film a mash-up of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist , not giving it much more credit than that. The things it said it didn't like about this film, in relation to the well-known works, raised an eyebrow, as did the relegation of the film being to only for hardcore completist horror fans.

I beg to disagree. Beyond the Door has much to offer horror fans of all stripes, being a masterful mingling of a variety of horror themes and tropes popular to its time. It is a fine example of the charm that 70's horror exudes. One small indicator of the film's thoughtfulness are the children of Jessica, the pregnant woman who becomes possessed by the devil. They swear unflinchingly throughout the film. I found this both entertaining and intriguing - it was a clever twist on the idea put forth in The Exorcist that obscenities alone, from the mouths of children, are shocking enough to be labeled "demonic activity." Here, it is used to demonstrate the autonomy these young children have without substantial adult supervision, and sets the general tone for the family dynamic.

The trippy, non-linear storytelling is an essential component of this film which, no offense, seems to have gone above the head of the person whose review caught my attention in the first place. The Lynchian style "Is is future, or is it past?" sort of narrative makes the film more interesting and compelling, in my view, than the films which influenced it. It also allows for a stronger, more cohesive concept of the demonic here. The over-narration at the beginning of the film makes it very clear that you're dealing with the devil: not some random demon, not just one of his many faces. Such things are unclear in The Exorcist over the course of the franchise, and go from unclear to downright confusing the more Exorcist movies you watch.

The non-linear telling also served as a major plot point with the antagonist in the film, the character who at first lures Jessica into a satanic ritual, then allows her to escape. He exists on borrowed time for the purpose of retrieving her, but his existence brings to the story a stronger metaphysical character that is ultimately rewarding, and feels extremely authentic and organic to the alternative, metaphysical spiritualities that experienced a heyday in the 60's and 70's.

It also allowed for the more unique moments of possession in this film, with layered and split photography providing the backbone for the special effects. The best, scariest moments of the film were the ones that didn't look transparently like Linda Blair. There are some excellent moments (my favorite was the children being terrorized), and with the length of the film, the scenes that were too derivative could have been cut without detriment to the movie.


Lastly, this style of filmmaking is something I have seen before - it falls very neatly into the category of gialli, Italian horror from this period that is known, through names like
For all those in favor of demonic possessions, satanic rituals, David Lynch, vintage horror, international films, weird/speculative storytelling, and high art in films, Beyond the Door is for you.

K Rating: 5/5

My usual critique of fantasy fiction that just doesn't hit the spot is that the characters are good, but the world-building leaves something to be desired. For City of Stairs by Robert Bennett, the opposite is true. The world-building was great. It felt fresh and original, and I really loved the concept of a city filled with stairs that lead to nowhere--or rather, that the places they led to no longer exist. At least for mortal eyes. Also, the non-Western influences that are all the rage these days were noticeable, without being used like copy-paper. Well done.

City of Stairs is set at an interesting, clever point in Bulikov's history. It has fallen as the sacred city, conquered by the very people they had conquered for centuries. Their gods, the architects of the city and much much more, are killed by the Kaj, and any records or history of the gods are kept from their would-be devotees.

Not that I believe you can actually do that (cultural memory is stored in individuals as well as on paper), BUT, after the murder of an ambassador, the granddaughter of the Kaj is sent to Bulikov to solve the case. The deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that not all the gods were destroyed, as the new empire was led to believe.

All that was great. And the gods and their sub-deities are all very distinct, robust, and intriguing. What didn't work for me were the main characters: Shara, the Kaj's descendant, now working as some kind of field agent, her partner Sigrud, and Vohannes, one of the leaders of Bulikov's elite and a person of increasing interest. Shara is mousy but intelligent: interesting on its own, but not suited to "field-agent" work. Sigrud does all that. He's interesting, but the platonic chemistry between them doesn't really work because it's not offered in enough depth. There's plenty of backstory on the non-platonic chemistry between Shara and Vohannes, but what Bennett ends up doing is villainizing Vohannes by his behavior, even though it is clear he's not meant to be. I'm all for people needing to figure out who they are, but not at the expense of other people, and certainly not without remorse. Which is essentially how Vohannes is described. So when Shara falls back into a familiarity with him, it seems entirely misplaced.

Unlike my usual gripe, where the characters pull me through a bare-bones world, I kept anticipating the turns in the plot, and had to actively ignore the inauthentic behaviors of the story's heroes. And the sequel just sounds like a repeat of this story, focusing on one of the secondary characters I didn't care a whit for in the first place. The plot was wrapped up so tidily, I have no imperative to read any further in the series. Bummer.

K Rating: 3.5/5
**New Author Goal: 19**

Alexandre Dumas is one of my favorite authors of all time. His three (actually, four) musketeers are a treasure to me, so I was pleased to find a new action-packed series inspired by Dumas' fearless characters, with a bit of fantasy thrown into the mix.

I read Traitor's Blade  as quickly as Falcio (the D'Artagnan of the story) runs headlong into trouble, and then away from it again to save the life of a young orphaned girl, fighting to keep the entitlements of her noble birth.

The story of Falcio and his two friends is recounted in a nonlinear way, as current circumstances are paralleled with the recent past. We get just enough of the world's history to understand that the King's Men (the Greatcoats), have been disgraced by the death of their king, and that the world belongs to cruel Dukes who rule like tyrants. I came to understand perfectly the dream of justice and valor at the birth of the Greatcoats, and how that dream lives on in Falcio's heart despite the fallen state of his office and that of his fellow Greatcoats. The coats, by the way, the actual coats? What a nice touch, imbuing them with intelligent design and suggestively magical properties.

The introduction of magic into this kind of swashbuckling felt really fresh and I thoroughly enjoyed it; my only complaint is that I could have used more of it. In some places, the use and purpose of such magics was kept secret from the characters, and thus the readers, and I think maybe that was too much. I would have liked more insight into this side of the world. And the religion, too. We get lots of saints' names, which I found a very interesting use of the French Christian history, but grounding that kind of a system would have made it feel more complex and compelling, rather than just a unique way of swearing.

This was a terrifically fun read, but I did notice that it was unbalanced. It was clear without being stated in the bio that the author is a fight choreographer (among other things), because each encounter is marked out with precision. I appreciated that, but it took up so much space in the book, that in many ways the plot could be boiled down to running from one fight to the next. The best parts of the book where the instances of insight into the political machinations of the world, but, remember, I am an avid Dumas fan, and nobody outdoes the master in political intrigue. Nobody. The villains in Traitor's Blade were vile, to be sure, but almost stereotypically so. I craved for more depth on this front, more conniving, more deceptions, alliances, twists and turns. I felt a little bit of Lady de Winter, but not quite enough of her here. And no Richelieu-that is to say, no serious mastermind. Just transparently cruel Dukes doing transparently cruel things. That transparency, bred out of their entitlement and their laziness, robbed the story of an intriguing impulse, and sense of suspense.

I will definitely seek out the next book in the series, but with the sincere hope that de Castell will take away more than just the violence and fun from Dumas; that he will aspire to reach an almost unattainable layer of depth.

K Rating: 4/5
**New Author Goal: 18**

Some of the funniest frickin' cinema I've ever seen- if you haven't seen this 1973 version, you must.

Though I grew up loving unicorns, I'd never read Peter Beagle's classic The Last Unicorn before. Having returned to fantasy featuring a beloved creature after so long, I was disappointed.

Don't get me wrong-the language was beautiful, and many times, even more than that: it was magical. There were other times, however, more than I care to mention, where the attempt at lyrical writing got in the way of the story. Not every single thing in the plot needs to be described in some poetic, mythical, or allegorical fashion. At times, when what was happening to the characters was unclear, the language was a frustrating obstacle to the plot.

And here we come to the heart of the matter. Perhaps, in its day, The Last Unicorn was supremely influential, and became the inspirational bedrock for all the unicorn stories yet to tell. But the book didn't strike me as timeless. By that, I mean that I didn't appreciate it as a groundbreaking work because the plot was just so simple and straightforward, sometimes downright plodding, where the unicorn seeks out other unicorns, suspecting she is the last, and teams up with a magician and an old woman young at heart. The unicorn then transforms into a human and falls in love while saving the unicorn population from a wicked curse and a sinister king.

All that might sound very exciting, but the narrative moved along with no sense of urgency, and no real sense of danger. It's a very short book, and took me quite a while to read for its slimness. I've read 300+ pages a day with books that sucked me in. This was slightly less that 200, and it took me over a week.

Ah, well. They can't all be Into the Land of the Unicorns , now can they?

K Rating: 2/5
**New Author Goal: 17**

Though It was never my favorite Stephen King movie (that's reserved for Pet Sematary), and I didn't read the book (liked The Shining best), I do love my Tim Curry, and loved his Pennywise. Thinking, "who could possibly top that?" I almost passed over this new iteration of It. I never cared much for clown tropes anyways. But then I found out who was playing the new Pennywise-one of my new favorite actors, Bill Skarsgaard. I've been watching his amazing performance in Netflix's Hemlock Grove, and just knew I had to see what he could do to scare a bunch of kids into floating.

He did not disappoint. His Pennywise is his own, and it's quite scary. What I liked so much about this movie was that, as full as it was with "jump scares," they all served a very real purpose. Most of the time, those kinds of cheap thrills are for the audience's benefit only. That's not how the most horrific scenes in this movie are framed. It's the way that Pennywise scares the kids, isolating them and taunting them before spiriting them away-so you feel a connection to those characters. They felt entirely authentic and organic to the storytelling. It was so good that, even when I was scared, I was grinning like an idiot at how awesome Skarsgaard was.

I enjoyed the darker places that this version of the movie went to, pulling more from King's original text, which I appreciated. The history of the town's curse was really exciting as well. The woodcut-style colonial sketch with Pennywise peering out was especially good, and I won't be at all surprised to see some form of that on my walls one day soon. I'd love to see that story element developed further in the sequel to this film, where a very grown-up group of kids must rehash this nightmare.

K Rating: 5/5

I've waited for the frenzy to die down a bit, allowing myself to digest Showtime's revival of the David Lynch's cult show Twin Peaks. I've come to the conclusion that it was very much like the original show, in that there were certain things I couldn't get enough of, and other things I could have done without. Furthermore, that this sort of imbalance, which is frustrating because of how strongly the "good" segments resonate, is part of Lynch's style.

The great parts of this show were really great-I clung to every word during the FBI segments, and waited with baited breath for Dougie Jones to wake up, and realize himself as Agent Dale Cooper, the poor bloke who's been trapped in the red room for twenty-five years.  The segments taking place inside Twin Peaks were great as well-I especially loved Hawk's conversations with the log lady, and the seriousness of those scenes, despite their bizarre content. It made their dialogue feel immediate and urgent, despite its cryptic nature.  The same was true of the Garland Briggs narrative. You were never 100% sure what was going on, but you got more and more clues along the way. The special effects in alternative universes, swirling sky vortexes, and the lost time at Jack Rabbit's Palace were so out there, and yet so menacing and disturbing at the same time.Those scenes are the ones that satisfied the most.

On the lighter, humorous side, I loved the Horne brothers. They were endearingly hilarious, as were the Mitchum brothers.

Bringing everything we saw thing time back around to Laura Palmer was a master stroke. But the problem was we didn't get any sort of revelation or closure as to the nature of Laura and the larger significance of her murder, or Cooper's quest to rescue her.  Not even a Lynchian conclusion.

For me, that comes down to a genius who has too many ideas in his head to see them all to fruition. There was an inordinate amount of time spent on things that ultimately didn't matter. Audrey Horne, for example. And her and (evil Cooper's?) son. And Norma's diner. The worst offender was Jacoby's "shovel out of the shit" radio program. While I fully appreciate that these things populate the world Lynch has built and give it some of its flavor, there were many episodes that felt slow as sin because too much time was being spent with them, to the detriment of the things that keep me absolutely riveted. The end result was a big fat question mark for Laura Palmer and Dale Cooper, and an only marginally satisfying reunion of Cooper with the Twin Peaks Sheriff Station.

Lynch's "take it or leave it" approach to his art is his prerogative as an artist, true. But, Lynch does not exist in a bubble. He has editors, producers, distributors, and an audience that have allowed his creation to come into being at all. So I don't think it's unreasonable for a show that's so unconventionally good to be somewhat conventional in leaving its viewers satisfied. I'm not saying I need a happy ending, but I need to be satisfied by what I watch, not frustrated by it. So as much as I loved Twin Peaks, there were lots of misses within its greatness, and I feel that Lynch made a major misstep by ending on the note that he did. There is only one solution: more Twin Peaks.

Rating: 4/5

Seriously, Lynch? Come on!!!

I'm so pleased to announce the schedule for the blog tour of my historical nonfiction book, hosted by Pump Up Your Book!






Title: THE SPECTER OF THE INDIAN: RACE, GENDER, AND GHOSTS IN AMERICAN SEANCES, 1848-1890
Author: Kathryn TroyPublisher: SUNY Press - Summary from their website HERE





Participants:

Monday, September 4Interview at The Writer's Life
Tuesday, September 5Book Review at Mythical Books
Wednesday, September 6Guest Blog at Fantasy Literature: Expanded Universe
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Monday, September 11Book Review at Books, Reviews, ETC.
Tuesday, September 12Book Featured at CBY Book Club
Wednesday, September 13Book Featured at Mello & June, It's a Book Thang!
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Monday, September 18Book Featured at C.A. Milson Author Blog
Tuesday, September 19Guest Blog at Dear Reader, Love Author
Wednesday, September 20Book Review at Books for Books
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Monday, September 25Guest Blog at Lori's Reading Corner
Wednesday, September 27Book Review at T's Stuff
Thursday, September 28Guest Blog at Bloggin' Authors
Friday, September 29Book Review at Leigh Anderson Romance