Book Review: All Places That Are Not Heaven

All Places That Are Not Heaven
Anne Fraser
By Light Unseen Media
© 2011


‘Lo Peoples,


Her Tangh-i-ness always enjoys reading Speculative Fiction that includes LGBTQ characters. Being a member of The Outer Alliance makes it easier to find noteworthy reading to share with others who delight in the same.

Long Before Sookie Stackhouse dallied with vampires and werefolk in Bon Temps, Louisiana; and just after Anita Blake started flirting with similar company in Saint Louis, Missouri; a Bi-sexual male vampire professor and former actor prowled Toronto and New York. At the same time in Europe, a hetero female vampire lived as a Prince. The stories in the anthology All Places That Are Not Heaven feature two of the dazzling undead: Adrian Talbot and Genevieve de Monet.

The Rosedale Vampires, Vampire Blues, Vampire Conventions, Acting’s in the Blood and Speak Easy are the stories about Adrian Talbot. These third-person stories progress chronologically by when they were written.

Watch and Ward and A Babe in Arms present Genevieve de Monet also in the third person. Fans of strong female protagonists may appreciate her as a literary digestif compared to the plat principal Adrian Talbot provides.

Honestly, it took a bit before this reviewer became entranced with Anne Fraser’s world. But once settled in, I no longer regretted the journey. I, too, snickered at the inclusion of some real-life personages such as the library technician from “Fort Book” and the law offices named for other vampire writers: Huff, Baker, Charnas, and O’Brien. Anne Fraser frequently inserts humorous dialogue exchanges between characters such as Sweat Sock à la Fowler with a request for a side of Grilled Jockstrap.

Adrian Talbot’s straight, unrequited love interest, Jake Fowler, inhabits the first four stories. Nothing titillating (in this reviewer’s opinion) happens between them although they develop a strong if unexpected friendship. Acting’s in the Blood the last of the Adrian Talbot-Jake Fowler tales is my second favorite story. The late Anne Fraser herself thought highly of her novella Speak Easy and Her Tangh-i-ness agrees. This story near outshone the whole collection. Jake Fowler doesn’t make an appearance. Speak Easy is tinged with explicit homoeroticism, tragic romance, but it also addresses the need to be loved unconditionally. and demonstrates what happens when one’s sexual preference and expression are judged more harshly than just being part of the Prohibition-Era underworld. Read it and try not to weep.

A Babe in Arms has to be my third favorite of the collection. Anne Fraser explores the difficulty of a relationship with a “traditional” male with a wandering eye and a resolute female who adores her scamp of a lover despite his frequent betrayals. These two just happen to be vampires rather than mortals. By the story’s end, Genevieve can finally abandon her Ice Queen image and entertain a polyamorous arrangement. Go Genevieve!

Note: This copy of All Places That Are Not Heaven was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Hellebore and Rue

Hellebore and Rue
Drollerie Press
©2011


'Lo Peoples,

Her Tangh-iness has been remiss in the blog department. She is delighted to return to defend the honor of works unfortunately besieged by the small-minded. As an Outer Alliance member and as an ally to the LGBTQ community, I applaud and am committed to inclusion especially in the worlds of the Fantastic.

Whenever I read a work of fiction, I am longing to be transported. I want to love what's going on and to love whomever it's happening to. Editors know this and the best of them patiently sift through hours of preternatural wordage in order to yield a suitable harvest. I bow to the wisdom of Joselle Vanderhooft and Catherine Lundoff here.

Twelve tales of women loving women and their magic brought me the required ensorcellment. Milleus ranged from a slightly altered here-and-now to a fantastical futureverse. Certain stories reverberated with the burr of a fast-moving dragon's scales, obscured their happy endings as in gazing into a cloudy crystal ball, and plunged the reader into another character's existence in the literary equivalent of bi-location. Several stories in particular act as threshold guardians with their shared archetype of a troubled stranger bringing challenge to an established magic-worker and two intimate companions relying upon one another to battle malefic forces.

Standout stories included: And Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness by Lisa Nohealani Morton where a good deed yields an unexpected and unforgettable sacrifice; Trouble Arrived by C. B. Calsing brings us down to the swamp where a card dealer faces off with the cheated man who once taught her all the tricks she knew; Personal Demons by Jean Marie Ward caught me totally off guard with a tale of what happens when a serious practitioner gives proof of the reality beyond the flesh; Connie Wilkins shared The Windskimmer where two seasoned conjurers of Sky and Green magic combine their arts to avert tragedy.

Special mention must be made of Rachel Green's multiple viewpoint tale, A State of Panic, where arcane detective work eventually leads a female police sergeant to a deadly ancient diety.

For those who appreciate a touch of wicked absurdity, do partake of D is for Delicious by Steve Berman; I want to follow Kelly Harmon's heroines of Sky Lit Bargains in a longer work if not a sequel; Gloam and Quinn Smythwood educated me as to the ills that attend corpse lights and life-stealing things that walk the earth; Witches Have Cats by Juliet Kemp answers the question: is a familiar that is not a feline just as familiar? RRain Prior takes a rogue elemental and a wandering songstress and pits them against one another in Bridges and Lullabies by RRain Prior; Thin Spun by Sunny Moraine gives an interplanetary exile a new appreciation for her adoptive homeworld and an end to her longing for a lover; and in Counter Balance by Ruth Sorrell a grandmother, a granddaughter, and the granddaughter's lover make a stand against a goddess.


Note: This copy of Hellebore and Rue was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Pumpkin Teeth

Pumpkin Teeth
Tom Cardamone
©2009
Lethe Press

'Lo Peoples,


For me, a stimulating short story anthology makes me want to start writing. I dunno. I guess imagination is catching. I should probably add absurdity and a penchant for pushing the barriers of reader comfort to my extremely communicable fiction list. The only item that left me perplexed about some of the stories were some endings in medias res. I found myself scanning the page for more words that simply didn't appear. Take this as evidence of Cardamone's ability to create immersive story worlds rather than a slight. Thirteen different times, I floated down the rabbit hole. I don't think one can fall into a Pumpkin Teeth story.

These were the journeys that I found most delightful in a wicked sort of way. I'm sure you'll choose your own.

Bottom Feeder presents a first person narrator who has evolved or devolved into the kind of "retirement community" that could be best described as a human version of Flipper or Namu engaged in proctophilic activities and singing.

In Suitcase Sam the first person narrator allows the reader a view into an oddly logical development of the ultimate in sexual submission and objectification. Paraphilia anyone?

Some mythical time ago, in the Far East, the first person narrator in Royal Catamite undergoes a transformation due to the imbibing of too much divine seminal fluid. Now there's a thought.

River Rat features a multi-person POV. IMHO, this is the sweetest of the stories. For those of us who adore outlandish comic book type characters, zaftig women, and free love between humans and former humans are in for a distinctly cupcake-with-sprinkles-shaped treat. I read, I chuckled and cooed in delight, and then I raided the refrigerator.

Since I already believe in the veil between the worlds of the Living and those who have passed on, Cardamone did not have to sell me. The Next Bardo brings its first person narrator "back" to another era filled with regret. What's so wonderful about this piece is the details of travel writing, gay marketing, the isolating effects of being closeted, all set against the loss inflicted by the appearance of AIDS.

Dare I say I look forward to reading the next Cardamone collection?


Peace,


Her Tangh-i-ness

Note: This copy of Pumpkin Teeth was an electronic ARC acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: A Handful of Pearls

A Handful of Pearls
Beth Bernobich
©2010
Lethe Press




'Lo Peoples,


I am rather fond of short story collections. So it was no struggle at all to read Beth Bernobich's A Handful of Pearls. I finished it in two sittings which is one of the wondrous things about short stories. For a reader with plenty of time, there is the fun of plunging into a fully-formed world, and then coaxing oneself onwards for a few pages more until one has missed one's bus stop, or the phone rings, or one can't keep one's eyes open any longer.

First, as a writer I must appreciate James Patrick's Kelly's Preface. He makes some observations about the themes Bernobich deals with in her work, namely, secrecy. He has "called it" as some Black people say in urban circles, so I almost have nothing to add there.

I will turn my attention to what I felt were the strongest of the nine stories. Five times, I found myself swept past my critical purview and delivered straight to the land of emotion. And that is simply what memorable stories do. They drop you somewhere and the rest of the world vanishes save for what comes next upon the page. Poison, Remembrance, Marsdog, the title story,A Handful of Pearls, and Jump to Zion paraded characters struggling with the weight of their desires. Daksa, a true hermaphrodite, and Kate, a soon-to-be grieving lover, could have been crushed by theirs but find new beginnings. Jimmy AKA Danu-vil-fa (the Talëdi spiderchild) starts with one desire and ends with another desire he had not given much thought to. Yan Dei moves from desire to desire to desire in his relentlessly self-absorbed manner. The herbalist Adjua desires to save her child, meet the demands of a former lover and a secret benefactor and to pay the price that the god of La Trinète requires from her.

I am delighted when a writer whom I do not know to be a lesbian, a devotee of the Orisha, nor a child molester, nor an alien from Jafal can write a character who is lesbian, or a child-molester, or an Orisha devotee, or an alien, and none of the characters can be stacked upon another the way one might do with Russian nesting dolls. I am as testy as one can get about the portrayals of People of Color and the LGBTQ communities. As ambivalent as I am about someone who is not from the Orisha tradition writing about my religious beliefs, I bristled and prepared to find something in Bernobich's work to grate on my nerves. I found only the word Orisha itself used in a milleu where the word Loa would have served more specifically. It is with great relief that I report this.

On an ending note, I am very much for inclusion of the erotic amongst the experiences characters and readers might share in the course of any fiction. I am grateful that Bernobich carries on the fine tradition of including sex (however delicately) in her work.


Note: This copy of A Handful of Pearls was an electronic ARC acquired from the editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Author Interview: Resa Nelson on Our Lady of the Absolute

'Lo Peoples,

Her Tangh-i-ness has been hanging out with other writers. I'm lucky I have so many interesting peeps.

Sooooooooo, we're talking with Resa Nelson the author of Our Lady of the Absolute. Ms. Nelson already has a published novel The Dragonslayer's Sword available. Our Lady of the Absolute will be her second title appearing in print from Mundania Press. See link for purchase info.

www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Our+Lady+of+the+Absolute

It's available now direct from the publisher as a PDF ebook and a Trade Paperback.
Amazon and Barnes and Noble will also offer it and you may see Ms. Nelson at upcoming New England events. Let's get right to the juicy questions.

Have you ever been to Egypt?

Yes, a couple of times. I've spent a total of four weeks in Egypt, spending time in Alexandria, Cairo, Giza, Memphis, Luxor, and Aswan. I've been to major attractions like the Egyptian Museum and the pyramids, and I've been to tiny villages to see examples of mud-brick architecture. I've visited the major temples located up and down the Nile. While in Egypt, I traveled by plane, train, automobile, bus, horse-drawn carriage, felucca (small boat), riverboat, and camel. There was one site that was accessible only by trekking through the Sahara by camel (it only took an hour or so), and it was about 112 degrees that day. But the desert heat is a dry heat and it was actually very doable. And very much worth the experience!

There a saying that all roads lead to Rome but does your book seem to be suggesting everything leads to back Egypt?

In some ways, yes. I think a lot of people all over the world are drawn to ancient Egypt. Because it was a civilization that lasted for thousands of years in a part of the world where the climate makes it possible to preserve everything from painted surfaces to sandals made from reeds, we're blessed to have a lot of artifacts in great shape. Scientists still don't know how the pyramids were built or how ancient Egyptians created paint that's still colorful and vibrant today, thousands of years after being created. And the ancient Egyptians documented a lot about their life (for example, receipts and records) in stone, and that reveals a lot about them and their daily life. Not to mention that everyone's lineage ultimately goes back to Africa.

What genre does this book fit?

Technically, it's a fantasy about a modern-day society based on ancient Egypt. It's a fantasy in the sense that there currently is no country where people dress like ancient Egyptians and worship their gods. But because I'm a big fan of mysteries, that influences my work. There are mystery/thriller elements as well as action/adventure in Our Lady of the Absolute. Right now my favorite authors are Harlan Coben and Dennis Lehane, and reading their work makes me think about my own.

Who is the suggested audience for this book?

I always write for adults, but bookstore managers and owners tell me my work is appropriate for ages 14 and up.

So why shoot your own book trailers and post them on You Tube?

I've studied screenwriting for many years and have been a huge fan of movies since childhood. I watch at least two new movies each week. I study what other people have done so I can learn even more. I wanted to find a way to promote my new book in a way that was fun and different. I wanted to try something I've never done before, which is making my own book trailers. However, several years ago I participated in a project of making three short independent movies, which was the equivalent of student filmmaking. It gave me the opportunity to learn by experience in addition to the courses I'd already taken in screenwriting. For that project, I wrote two screenplays and was a producer. My pre-production work included running casting calls, set design, blocking scenes with the director, and getting sponsors. During production I was on set and helped out wherever I could, including a little bit of camera, lighting, and sound work. It was a tremendous learning experience, and I realized I already had enough experience to make my own book trailers quickly and efficiently and I already knew the resources available to me and how to tap into them.

You wrote the book but what about writing a screenplay for Our Lady of the Absolute?

I'd love to do that. Ironically, soon after I wrote the book I kept seeing it as a stage play. I saw it as a musical, and kept seeing scenes of the characters singing. It gave me chills. I've already studied play writing, so who knows?

Why did you present these four characters from the novel?

Three of the four characters in the book trailer go on huge individual journeys, which intertwine. The fourth character is a somewhat minor character, but even she learns and grows and changes by the end of the book. I wanted to give people a glimpse of who these characters are and what they're facing.

What did you intend for the viewer to take away from viewing all four trailers?

There's a story behind the story of these four trailers, which you won't understand until you read the book. My intent is for each book trailer to be like a piece of a puzzle. When you see all four book trailers, you can probably figure out how these characters are related to each other. Seeing all four book trailers will answer some questions while raising others. I hope I'm giving viewers enough to pique their interest in reading the book.

Do you have a specific "ethnic look" that you wanted for your characters?

Yes. A lot of my characters are people of color, and I was really hoping to cast to match the ethnicity of the characters in the novel. It's not as easy as you might think. First, I have a tiny budget and have asked actors to work for no pay -- that eliminates a lot of actors right off the bat. I'm hoping the experience and exposure will benefit my actors, but many actors won't work for free and I respect that choice. But it gives me a smaller pool of actors from which to choose. Second, I didn't want to specify race in the casting call because I've learned from experience that it's a really bad strategy to limit yourself. If I ran the risk of specifying race or color, I would end up with an even smaller pool -- and what if no one auditioned for one or more of the roles? Then I'd have to cancel the entire project, because I've written the scripts so they interweave and depend on each other. There was no way I was willing to take the risk of canceling the project. I'm not willing to waste that kind of time, energy, and money. It's a good thing I made that decision, because the worst happened. For one role, no one of color expressed an interest -- that meant my choice was to cast someone white or cancel the project. For another role, the only actor of color (who looked perfect) for another role scheduled to audition and then backed out at the last minute. I'm not going to give the part to someone who doesn't audition. For yet another role, a few actors of color either auditioned or contacted me after I'd already cast the role. Those who auditioned were talented but didn't have enough experience to grasp the role or the script fully. This is what my experience of casting has been like: when an actor who's right for the role auditions, it's as if the heavens part and a spotlight shines down on that actor. To put it another way, after completing a casting call, I can't remember the vast majority of actors I've seen. I only have a vague memory of what their auditions were like. But when the right actor comes along, I can't forget that actor's audition. It stays in my head like a movie that plays over and over again. Frankly, none of the actors that I chose looks like the way I envision my characters. But they ACT the way my characters act. In other words, the right actor captures the personality of the character. Without that, you have nothing.

Why use ancient Egypt as an example of a utopian community that turned dystopian?

Thematically, this novel says a couple of things. One is that the root of all evil isn't money -- it's the desire to control other people. Another is that nothing in life is black and white -- it's all shades of grey. One of the things I wanted to write about is that it's not always a good idea to embrace rules and regulations without thinking about them and maybe questioning them. I think this is especially true when it comes to organized religion. But I knew that if I wrote about any religion that exists today, many people would be likely to misinterpret the whole point of the book. So I wondered if there was a religion I could make up or an ancient religion I could write about. That's when it dawned on me that I've been a huge fan of ancient Egypt and have studied it all my life. I have my own opinions about the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt and what I think the religion might have been like. So in that way, the book is speculative.

How do readers stay in contact with you?

My email address is ContactResa@aol.com, and my website is at http://www.resanelson.com, where people can sign up for my monthly newsletter. In that newsletter, I talk a lot about writing and the decisions I make and why I make them. My intent is that I would have loved to have had this kind of information when I was first starting out as a writer, and I'm offering it to anyone who's interested.

End of Interview

Soooo that's it folks. Break out your beaded collars and your party sandals. Check out the trailers on You Tube for Our Lady of the Absolute and be sure to grab yourself a copy of the novel. Mine will be autographed.

Our Lady of the AbsoluteTrailers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAuCQrbFNEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfRC5lzmIgY

Peace,

Her Tangh-i-ness

Proud of Pride in June

'Lo Peoples,

So this year I got to march at Boston Pride for the second time in my life. The first year I ever marched, I went with an employer group. This year I marched with the New England Leather Alliance (NELA) who went sandwiched between Machine and the Ramrod two well-known nightspots. Believe me, I felt thrilled to represent for the beautiful, leather people. The Kink and LGBTQ communities share members. So I just did my part as a straight, cisgender ally. LGBTQ folks have always been friends and family to me. I stuck two Pride flags in my dreads and wore my finest black leather for the event.

It rained on Saturday, June 12th, but people still turned out en masse for the parade. Monsoon heavy rain fell at times. Watchers choked the street along Tremont at some points and along the final stretch from Park Street leading to City Hall Plaza. I found a new use for my 8"x 11" Pride flag. As I held up one end of the NELA banner, I used my Pride flag to wave the crowds back. Directly behind me and my fellow banner-holders, a group of hunky leathermen held aloft a NELA flag.
So if you don't want to take my word for how fabulous Pride was. Take a gander at this slideshow by a kind soul named Bill. You'll see me in my leather with the rest of the NELA crew.

http://www.bostonnighttimez.com/Boston%20Pride%202010/

A writer friend of mine often mentally takes her characters along with her on excursions.

As I marched, I imagined a contingent of my LGBTQ characters trotting alongside me at Boston Pride or cheering from the sidelines. First up would be Gypsy, the gay, Negro hero of my dark fantasy novel. Gypsy would cut quite a figure with his suede suit, his pierced ear, and his satyr-headed cane. Back in his day, where Boston City Hall now stands would have been Brattle and Cornhill streets. The once-infamous Scollay Square would have faced Pride Festival and beckoned revelers inside to catch minstrels shows and other vaudeville acts. Gypsy stares around himself bewildered by the changes to the city he knew but at the sight of a lesbian family, an elderly gay couple, and the drag queens towering upon their platform heels would restore the grin to his dark face once again.

An African, albino, intersexed person who currently goes by the name Fielding would be the next of my creations to find his/herself swept up in the parade. Fielding hails from an alternate Boston called New Shawmut. Fielding would furrow his/her pale brow at the goings on. Fielding would be concerned about the five pony persons in the NELA contingent who brave the rain to pull male and female trainers along in carts. I'd assure him that the pony persons do so willingly. Everyone marches at Pride because they want to celebrate.

Finally, a lioness-headed and female dog-headed couple gesture Fielding over to their Pride accessory stand. This would be Qaset and Tsemweret who hailed originally from a very sunny land called Ta Netjeret. They load the albino intersexed person with rainbow beads and wrap him up in feather boas until Fielding breaks down under the weight of so much mirth and good cheer and smiles.

Yup. Yup. Yup. Those are some of my LGBT peeps. I march for them just as much as I march for their readers. Happy Pride everyone!


Peace,

Her Tangh-i-Ness

May is For Mutterings

'Lo Peoples,

My fellow speculative writer, Resa Nelson, has taught me to Google myself every few months and see what comes up attached to my name or my work.

Somewhere in the educational wilds of Wisconsin, my published short story, The Skinned, can be found on a syllabus for an Afro-American Studies class. Right on! I document this with a pang of regret that I can't be privy to what the students and their instructor might have to say about it. I know when I wrote The Skinned I was thinking of a particular experience I wanted to create. However, once a writer publishes anything, that writer lets go of her/his idea about what s/he was saying and it moves into the province of the readers. So, I must let the matter rest, but I did find it amusing for about forty seconds and then promptly devolved into a panic.

I am an African descended person; it is true. There are some less obvious elements of my heritage that I would be challenged on, for instance, say if I were to stake my claim as a member of Clan Boyd based upon my ancestor James Cloud Boyd's presence in my bloodline. No, it is not politically correct to talk about the "one drop rule" but I wonder why it is okay for my work to be categorized as an example of what "Afro-Americans" are thinking. Am I speaking for Afro-Americans? Am I a female, cisgender, pro-LGBTQ, speculative writer who just happens to be African descended? Why should it matter? Why am I even ambivalent about it?

Eeek.

I wish Samuel Clemens were here so he could say something completely off-the-wall and funny to me. Perhaps, I shall sit in front of my computer today and try to tap into his wise-ass spirit. I wish Octavia Butler were still only a phone call away so I could ask her what she thought about this issue.
Perhaps they would both gang up on me and tell me to just forget it.

Enough whining.
Back to my regularly scheduled writing life.

Peace,

Her Tangh-i-ness