Review: Afterglow Dust by Amos Keppler

 

  Janet has fallen. Afterglow will take her place.

  This is a relentless novel. We drop right into the story from the first sentence, and are never released from it. Afterglow has scars, both outside and inside, too numerous to count. She does feel like ashes, or at least dust blowing in the wind. There is nothing soft in her existence anymore. Everything has turned hard, like a blade.

  She does exist, in a way, is still breathing, moving, fighting, killing, reacting to stimuli, reaching for everything eluding her. She imagines it is there, somewhere ahead, a mirage on a desert road, forever in her sight, never in her reach.

  This is an inspired and very different story about a lone and lonely woman searching for something she might never find, a human being not even aware that she is searching for a quality missing from her life. She wanders aimlessly through streets she doesn’t recognize, defending herself against any threat that might come her way, not knowing why, why she keeps rising every time she is struck down. She scares people. Everyone is scared shitless of her…

  Her world, her realm is very similar to our own, with a few crucial differences.

  The story grabs us, and holds on, making us follow Afterglow through dark alleys and backyards, and beyond the veil of the material world. She knows something is coming for her, and so do we. There are forces out there that can even give a mighty sorcerer like Afterglow pause. The story begins with a bang, and works itself up from there.

  There is the same, vibrant storytelling as there is in most of Keppler’s writing.

 

Review: Forsaken by Amos Keppler

 

 Yes, the book opens in a great way with Janet making a great attempt at drinking herself to death. The ending of Falling, the previous book lingers in her mind like a wound.

  The story moves from there, describing her picking up the pieces of her life, with even rawer emotions ravaging her. She sets out on the journey through the connecting portals across the nine realms, not really caring what happens, if she dies or lives. She does connect with her fellow travelers eventually, drawn into what she can at least imagine to be a fellowship, something reminding her of everything she has lost.

  The first realm is a brutal, uncaring place. The next is worse. They eventually reach Earth, but she finds no more peace there. Her new friend and mentor, Dasek teaches her more about magick and about herself. It brings her no pleasure, nothing but more of the same, unending ravages tearing her apart.

  It’s brutal and riveting. We travel with Janet and her equally disturbed traveling companions. Everything is told straight up. Nothing is softened or concealed. It’s hard to put the book down. Even when I do, by necessity, I feel the urge to pick it up again. This is an urban fantasy, in a somewhat modern setting, but it doesn’t feel like it. It’s too different, too twisted for that. I have certainly never read anything similar.

  That is a great thing. I can already say for certain that The Nine beats all other fantasy series soundly.

  No matter how busy I am, I will find time to read the entire series. I have no idea what will happen, but I am looking so much forward to finding out. The tension and the stakes grow for each new chapter. But, as stated, it’s impossible to know what’s coming.

  And neither has Janet.

 

Review: Fury by John Coyne

   This novel starts off as one thing, and end as something completely different. I love those.

  It’s pretty much advertised as a horror story, but it isn’t, really. I would say it’s one more story not fitting into any genre, which is great. I prefer those.

  Jennifer Winters is a more or less average, no-nonsense modern businesswoman. She is frustrated beneath the polished surface, though, and doesn’t know why. When an old friend makes an attempt to pull her onto a new path, she rejects it out of hand as ridiculous.

  Later and shocking events she cannot ignore forces her out of her comfort zone, pulls her so far off the straight and narrow that she can hardly see the path ahead of her anymore, and there’s no way back to her dull, ordinary existence.

  The story begins right away. Very little of significance has happened before the first line, and there is no explanation, even though the Shirley MacLaine quote gives one possible clue for those of us knowing one crucial fact about her. We need to actually read the story for the explanation. Another good thing. We’re privy to Jennifer’s thoughts, and we experience the events through her, including her growing incredulity and fear as the story progresses. She has no idea what’s truly happening, and we don’t have either.

  The story does progress at an excellent pace. We’re slowly given more information, even though that doesn’t help much at first. The necessary confusion prevails, without the story becoming convoluted. There is a great balance to it. We’re torn between doubt and certainty in just the right way.

  The end is satisfying, and for most people it would feel a little strange, but also right, a natural progression of the story we’ve read. I liked it. I can’t claim to actually be enthusiastic, but the ending was still a great payoff. Everything makes sense to Jennifer, and to us at the end, even though it was far from the ending we expected. It made sense because it wasn’t the ending we expected.

  Recommended.

Review: Your Own Fate by Amos Keppler

   This came to my attention ten years ago, through a review at Amazon. I had read a few of Amos Keppler’s novels, like The Defenseless and Dreams Belong to the Night before that. It was an easy sell. I feared my expectations were too high, that I was bound to be disappointed, but I wasn’t.

  It starts off with a bang, and works itself up from there.

  Jeremy Zahn, a hunter of men and former British policeman, arrives in Los Angeles after a long, exhausting hunt of Timothy Joyce, an international fugitive that has become his archenemy. Zahn is a driven man, obsessive in his zeal, frustrated by his incomprehension of what’s going on, unable to understand the motivation and often baffling actions of his enemy.

  The story begins in Los Angeles, but also in London years before, successfully moving back and forth between the present and the past. Zahn is pretty much a typical, dull lawman during that time in London, one that hasn’t really pondered the hidden depths of the world. He’s forced to do that repeatedly during the three years of the hunt. Joyce seems to be his superior in all important ways, but Zahn refuses to be give up, following the other like a bloodhound never letting go of the scent.

  Who is really the prey and who is the hunter is open to interpretation, though.

  This is Amos Keppler’s shortest novel, but it feels much longer because it’s packed with details. You need to catch every one of them, or you might miss an important clue to what is actually happening. I didn’t realize what that was until the last few pages. It was still a great payoff, or perhaps a great payoff because I didn’t know. But when I read the book for the second time, and knew the basic story, I still loved it.

  It’s a complex story to end all complex stories, a tales of the unexpected to end everything unexpected. I predict you will be as stunned as I was when you’re done reading it.

 

Review: The Fury by John Farris

  This is another classic horror novel. It made Farris a household name after the release of the Brian de Palma movie in the seventies. That was long before I was born or could read, but it reached me through the grapevine of an eager reader. I searched endlessly for challenging and daring material, and this was one of the earliest I found.

  It starts off as an action-story, but quickly moves away from that, into far more satisfying waters. It isn’t a horror-story, not really a genre story at all, and I quite simply love that, love that, too. John Cassavetes played the sinister highly placed government man in the movie, but he had lots of great original material to work with. It is no hero-story. The reality in the story come off as quite cruel and gritty. In a typical Hollywood story, the boy’s father would have succeeded in his grim mission with flying colors, but he doesn’t. The boy and the girl are the main protagonists, even though it doesn’t look that at first. There is no moral here, or if there is none, it’s far different from the usual boring, mainstream stuff.

  We are presented with a reality beneath the somewhat pleasant daily existence where there are no rules, no mercy. We are drawn into a world of agents and victims, and both casual and deliberate violence. Powerful people want to become even more powerful by exploiting an emerging power, but this power is both beyond their understand and reach. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio. The before mentioned highly placed government man realizes that to his peril.

Review: Falling by Amos Keppler

  I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time, but haven’t found the time.

  It is, among other subjects, about a society, Arcadia, where bisexuality isn’t even called that, where it is seen as completely normal, and isn’t controversial at all, and not the focus of the story, only one of several exciting parts of it.

  That society still has its shadows. It isn’t a paradise, a heaven, but it has qualities lacking in our world, realm.

  I also loved that he doesn’t put gays on a pedestal. They come off as human beings with good and bad qualities and vulnerabilities. I never could stomach people wanting them to be perfect and invincible.

  Yes, Janet is falling, and she doesn’t know why. She just knows, fears that she is. She finds comfort along the way, on her wretched path, from friends and surroundings, but it is fickle and temporary, even dangerous, lulling her into a fake sense of security. Even when she has been through what she imagines is the worst, the worst is still coming for her.

  Dark secrets lurk beneath the surface in Arcadia, like in any society, but these are a doozy.

The story follows Janet on her path, as she discovers more about herself and her inheritance, and about what is lurking in shadows. It’s a great story, with many facets, many twists and turns, until the explosive, horrifying end.

  This is very much a feminist story, and we are presented for several tribes of amazon warriors during the series. You will love them.

  This is an urban fantasy, even though it’s far from being a typical such. It’s so atypical as it can possibly get, and so very satisfying.

  It is the best and most believable Nine Realm story I’ve read, by far.

Falling is a trilogy, and I’ve already started on book two, Forsaken. It’s also a trilogy of trilogies, so to speak, where the Afterglow trilogy is the next, and I can hardly wait to read that.

Review: Live Girls by Ray Garton

  This is an adult, mature vampire story, in all sense of the words. It contains everything I love, mature themes and execution, good storytelling, dodgy characters, and as a bonus, we get hungry vampires that has no compunction about feeding. Garton is approaching the myth in a serious manner. There is no comic relief here, very little lightening the mood, and that, too, makes me downright upbeat.

  This brothel mama is running a very particular type of brothel. The working girls aren’t just charging money for their services, but blood.

  We are introduced to very human characters, with frailties and faults. The vampires aren’t that bad either. It’s easy to fathom why this hasn’t been filmed. The sensibilities of the usual brainwashed citizen could probably not handle it. That makes it even better in my eyes.

  Good horror stories are like that. Even though most horror films and books are just as mainstream as most other stuff, there is a significant number that it written or made by the daring artist. This is certainly one of them.

  PS: Can you guess how some of the vampires are feeding?

Review: Shadows by Shaun Hutson

   This is one of quite a few hidden gems. I don’t care much for the author’s other novels, but this one is something else. Hutson was a horror writer of some renown, but this novel never gained much attention, for some reason.

  Shadows is diabolical and diabolically funny and well written. It’s the best gallows humor I’ve ever read. People on the train looked at me with anxious eyes when I started cackling in earnest.

  It’s very original and have an approach to the horror genre I’ve not seen anywhere else. I would say this is Hutson’s best book. He wrote quite a few horror novels. I expected him to come back from the dead at some point and prove everything he wrote about to be true, but he still hasn’t.

  The story is about astral projection, including some related themes. It’s very hard to guess what happens next, and those we believe are the villains are shown to be somewhat beneficial, and the other way around. We don’t really know what is truly going on until the last few lines of the book. Remarkable.

  Seemingly unrelated events are woven into a cohesive, explosive whole.

  Among other things, added to the pervasive horror, this is also an exposure of British society that is quite revealing. The horror and the mundane go hand in hand, blood to blood. The author masterly leaves out crucial information later revealed as a natural part of the story. Yes, the suspense is there all the time, even in the first, fairly quiet part of the book. Then, he takes it a step further. I love such authors. It keeps growing more intense, and the ending is a great payoff, discarding the Hollywood ending like wet dirt on the shoes.

Review: Shadows in the Starlight by Elaine Cunningham

  I quite enjoyed Shadows in the Darkness, the first novel in this series. This one isn’t as good as that one, but still has many of the same qualities. It is a fairly mature story, can’t easily fit a genre and doesn’t have many good things to say about the police and other dominant forces in society.

  Gwen, the main protagonist is still searching for the truth about her life and origin. She isn’t human and struggles to come to terms with what she is: an elf, another species that have existed side by side with humanity for a very long time. They have a different and occasionally cruel set of rules and motivations compared to the human society she grew up with, and she has trouble reconciling herself with that.

  She is a former cop with a rather strained relationship with many of her former colleagues, also a good thing to cover, and strangely enough not an angle covered much.

  I do think the story is too short. The reader has just taken a bite or two of the juicy action and then it’s over. I feel like I’ve only read the first third of a book or something. It ends too quickly, very much where the action should have started.

  I still appreciate the author’s attempt at creating something different, also with a strong woman as protagonist and strong, multi-level black characters, though. It’s way too rare in today’s mainstream marketplace.

  Hey, Elaine, I’m still waiting for the next book in this series. If no one wants to publish it, try self-publishing. I’m told it’s easy and inexpensive in this digital age.

Scandal

  There has been a scandal in British retail book-sale business lately, but the scandal is, contrary to popular opinion not that WHSmith has found lots of controversial novels among their titles, but that they have chosen to remove those titles from their assortment. They have exposed themselves as eager supporters of censorship.

  When you read their press releases and the explanation they give their customers, on and off their website you find one bizarre and sick statement after another. Yes, it safe to say they are practically lined up. There have been many cases like this throughout history, where mainstream citizens impose their narrow morality on everybody else. It wasn't acceptable then and isn't now.

  An oppressive society always blame art in order to distract people from what those in charge should be blamed for and this is certainly such a case. Established retailers and publishers have constantly supported this vile practice.

  A guy by the name of Jeremy Wilson in the online magazine Kernel eagerly call for censorship, and doing so without a single original and free thought in his head. He speaks of filth. What he writes is filth. Find themes most objectionable in people’s eyes, distort the truth, make things up to support your tyranny of the mind. The true scandal is that people like him and those eager beavers at WHSmith and elsewhere have any influence what so ever. The hysteria grows, as it often does in cases like this and all independent titles, those not published by established publishers come under scrutiny, which is exactly what the established publishers desire. I wouldn't put it beyond them to have planned and actually orchestrated this.

  There are lots of talk about ending censorship in foreign countries, but very little of ending it here, in the west, where it is just as bad. It's about money, of course, but also about power and influence.

  Censorship is wrong, without exceptions. Controversial titles should be hailed as a great thing, not removed from public eye. It should be proudly displayed.  It is all the boring and bland mainstream titles that should be thrown on the garbage heap where they belong.

Deep waters

  Indie author Amos Keppler's novel ShadowWalk is, among many great things a celebration of multiculturalism.

  What makes Amos Keppler's books unique compared to all others is the uncanny vision he brings to his work. I have read about half of his works by now, and even though the novels are vastly different from each other, they share that unique quality of being different.

  The visual power he brings to his stories is unquestionable. Others have related how they are able to easily visualize what they read in his books. I agree!

  But what the stories are about more than anything is the deep waters of humanity. You haven’t experienced truly deep in books until you read this one. At least I hadn't.

  The story is about Jill, a young woman, among other youths of all colors and many cultures on a quest to find herself and get a life, about her getting it, finding everything making life worth living. It is found under a rock, right before her eyes, and she grabs it, grabs its tail with both hands and holds on to it with all the considerable might she possesses.

  It’s about the dangers seekers find out there, on the freedom road.

  It’s about the mysteries of human existence and everything under the moon, actually. I would argue that it is about everything and contains everything, but that would not be completely accurate.

  It’s one hell of a book and you will find yourself immersed in it, deep below the surface of its waters, its fire lake.

  I wouldn't claim that each paragraph is a joy to read, but it feels that way. The prose is just as unique as the story itself.

  The boys and girls described in the book are teenagers, but this is a story for truly mature readers of all ages. It is a fantasy book. It is not a fantasy book. You will find no boxed in genre story here. You will find life in all its shades.

  No less.

Ever After by Kim Harrison, my thoughts

  «There's no witch in Cincinnati tougher, sexier, or more screwed up than bounty hunter Rachel Morgan». From Every which way but dead (book 3 of the Hollow series).

  Aside from having a «tendency» (pun intended) to name the books in her Hollow series of novels after Clint Eastwood films, Kim Harrison is quite the competent writer. I have to think so, right, since I've read every book in the series so far.

  I love the quote above. It more than suggests, in spite of the flaws that there is something more than the ordinary to these books, something confirmed at least to a point when you read them.

  Kim has set up a very elaborate universe of vampires, witches, demons and elves with more than one original twist. There have been ups and downs in my reading of the series, but I do come back for more. I don’t quite understand why, but I do.

  I like the fact that Rachel was revealed to be a demon and also accepted it without too much fuss. Most other writers in the genre of urban fantasy wouldn't have dared to do that, wouldn't have dared pushing even those minor boundaries.

  Ever After is the eleventh novel in the series. And even though Rachel has fucked up again and needs to fix it, she has reached a modicum of calm at her center, isn't the neurotic wreck she was in the first books. Even Rachel’s relationship with Ivy the vampire isn't that unlikely and filled with silliness anymore. As Kim has done earlier she continues building on themes introduced in previous books. There is a progression here that is kind of effective. She is fairly good at characterization, at least with some secondary characters for some reason.

  And I do want to know what comes next, even though I see, or at least initially saw Rachel, the main protagonist as a ridiculous, implausible character.

  One thing in particular is bad about this book. A very important event happens off camera, which can never be good. I could attribute this to the I-form Harrison use to tell her stories, but the event would be easy to work into even that, so it has to be a deliberate choice of the writer and one I can’t say I like very much.

  The stories remain a fashion show of sorts, a choice I don’t care for either.

  And my foremost criticism: These books are advertised as books for adults, but I think they are much more for young adults and hardly even that. The way sex and violence and general interaction is described (or not) is almost approaching that of a children fairy tale, not really for truly mature readers at all.

  I wish writers would stop being so cautious. I guess it has something to do with the fact that the books are published by established publishers. They don’t make waves and don’t want their writers to do so either, and that makes almost all their publications potentially very, very boring.

  As I said, I keep reading these books, but they don’t excite me and certainly not like they could have, if they hadn't insulted the reader’s intelligence.

  My conclusion, I guess, is that in spite of some positive elements in the stories, the negative outmatches them. The potential is far from being actualized. The setup is great, the execution isn't.

Review: Shadows in the Darkness by Elaine Cunningham

  This is a mature book, at least far more so than many others. It doesn't insult (much) the intelligence of the reader.

  You just don’t find many books like this anywhere.

  Gwen knows she’s different, but doesn't know what she is and she suffers because of it. She is former cop turned private investigator specializing in finding lost and kidnapped girls, like she, herself is lost. And the city of Providence’s steamy underside is where she’s doing most of her work, and she’s good at it, so good that she easily convinces club owners and vice bosses that she is her disguise: a sexy lap dancer, a woman making men turn their eyes at her wherever she goes.

  She’s a very believable «heroine». There aren't many unconvincing events in the book. The story feels very much like real life. Perhaps she is too much in denial when she discovers her true inheritance, and the fact that a sensual woman doesn't have sex during the book are the only things I find a bit frustrating and unlikely.

  It’s not a genre book, another point in Elaine’s favor, the way I see it. If you must label it, call it «urban fantasy».

  Elaine has mostly done licensed work. I guess she earns more money doing that than on her own stories and that is too bad. I will skip the Forgetting Realms, Star Wars and stuff like that and keep reading her real stuff.

  This book is out of print. I was lucky to find it at the local library. Again we see an example of how quality fails to become a bestseller.

The dismal quality of the Young Adult genre

  I don’t enjoy any genre as a rule, but Young Adult is truly raising my ire.

  Mixed with Romance, as it often is (the two are joined at the hip) it becomes an absolutely horrible experience.

  How anyone can enjoy this crap is beyond me.

  It is teenager’s life diluted, clouded by a thousands filters of censorship and misdirection, totally empty of reason and passion both.

  There is no sex, no violence, except off camera and nothing even resembling real life.

  I read LJ Smith when I was ten and couldn't (still can’t) believe the genre she practically started has become so popular. I must «confess» I've never more than browsed Stephanie Meyer’s books, but I read more than enough to form an opinion and it’s worse than its reputation. I forced myself to read Dark Flame by Alyson Noel, just to see if it ever amounted to anything.

  It never did.

  That was supposed to be her darkest story? Ridiculous! If she wrote for Christian grandmothers perhaps (perhaps she does).

  To my fellow young adults enjoying or pretending to enjoy this shit I have only one thing to say: up yours!

  In a world where stale and unexciting storytelling is dominant, this genre is truly the bottom of the barrel.

  I want to read and enjoy completely different stories. This quote from a review I agree wholeheartedly with:

  "ShadowWalk is a powerful tale of magick and empowerment which manages not to sound like a mind-body-spirit-self-obsessed-hippie book. This is full-on reality. Blood and sweat and shit - nothing's toned down or dulled. The intensity of life comes through strong and meaty. Real life bursting off the pages".

  Review in Green Anarchist (the original and best) No. 68/69 Summer 2003.

  This is a story about teenagers, but it is so far removed from the YA-genre it is possible to come. The quote says it all, really. ShadowWalk operates on a completely different level compared to the mainstream shit we are fed continuously today.

Dreams of the Human Being

«Dreams can’t die, but they belong to the night».

This is the most thoroughly radical book I’ve ever read, and I’ve read quite a few. I would say, until anybody convinces me otherwise that it is the most radical novel ever written. I know others have compared it to the Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, but that one doesn’t quite measure up, either.

Dreams Belong to the Night by Amos Keppler is a novel all true activists & radicals should read.

Everybody should read it, because very important issues are discussed there, but those that truly want to change society should definitely read it. It’s a book for advanced rebels, about rebellion in the true sense of the word.

In most stories about rebellion I’ve read and movies I’ve watched people stumble into it. They don’t have true awareness of their situation or the subjects involved. In short, they’re usually described as weak-minded idiots, which is clearly a part of the ongoing deception.

The people in the revolutionary movement the Green Rose make deliberate decisions to break away, to go to war against society. This is a kind of book I’ve wanted to read for a long time.

It’s a great story and well written, very intense and engaging. You can’t help caring about the characters and their issues.

Do we feel anything anymore? Is there any humanity left in us? Are we alive or no more than organic machines fit for the slaughter?

The book follows a group of beyond radical activists, from their first, initial conflict with the oppressive society to the beyond powerful, explosive peak. To say it is a great ride doesn’t feel in any way adequate.

I enjoy the pace, enjoy the slow-moving train of the story, how it’s slowly picking up speed and momentum, how the characters and the story itself are dominating the stage.


One thing among many I find great about this book is the casual way it portrays homosexuals. This isn’t a story about homosexual or bisexual activism, though, which is perfectly all right. The three, of about a dozen main characters are described as people, pure and simple, which is rare. I have personally struggled with society’s distorted view of bisexuality throughout my teens and feel this is one of the few books I’ve read without prejudice on the subject.

All in all, many controversial or perceived controversial subjects are touched upon and the story doesn’t shy away from asking any important question or challenging any grave imposition modern humans is subjected to. Yes, this is a book of books.

I can’t help fearing it will be overlooked, like so many great stories are in this day and age.

It will most certainly be condemned if it ever sees the light of day of public and official opinion. In case you’re wondering: that’s a strength, not a weakness.

It should be acknowledged, should become a part of humanity’s public consciousness, because in a way it already is. Dreams Belong to the Night is an underground publication to end all underground publications, roaming the subconscious web of humanity like an intense fire burning in the gray, sordid light that is the modern existence.

My Game of Thrones review

This is both about the novel and TV-series.

We experience old men and women, young girls and boys, and everything in-between in a brutal world where everyone can be a victim. There is sex, nudity, open homosexuality, boys sucking mother’s nipples, girls killing, girls being beaten and crying until they’re red in the face, decapitations, really scary walking dead, dragon babies suckling at a woman’s breasts and so on. This is a great far cry from «family friendly» stories.

This is daring and truly mature storytelling.

There is a sense of menace right from the start, a mature mood usually not present in many rather childish fantasy novels. We know something bad will happen and that it will rock our world and challenge our perceptions. Characters perceived as main characters may not remain so very long and not be long for the world. Bad people may survive and thrive, and good people may not.

I wasn’t initially very excited about the story, since I’m not very interested in what’s going on at royal courts and such, but the story is so well crafted and so engaging that I tend to forget my original misgivings.

It’s also well translated from novel to film. The few changes are mostly due to insufficient production funds. Large battle scenes, for instance are mostly left out. We only see the result, not what happened. A clear disadvantage to be sure, but not enough to put me off watching the series.

It has a very realistic or at least believable feel to it and I am hooked.

The ending, the revelation of the Dragon is clearly one of the greatest ever.

A novel extraordinaire

This is a review of the novel The Defenseless by Amos Keppler.

Today’s bookstores are filled with mediocrity, with the dreary and trite. Potential monetary value or narrow, very narrow cultural considerations more than resembling censorship rule what’s published or not.

Or… at least that was how it used to be. Now, when the age of POD (Print on Demand) and self-publishing has arrived in earnest, the future suddenly looks much more promising.

Three qualities were usually lacking in times past, often because of those reasons of monetary value and considerations mentioned above. The story is mostly missing in works published through traditional means, genuine penmanship and daring, controversial content as well.

If you by a miracle should find one, you won’t find the second and certainly not the third.

The Defenseless has all three.

Like others have pointed out the first chapter reminds me slightly of Metamorphosis by Kafka, but after that all resemblance to anything else vanishes completely. It becomes a blazing trail of originality, of life and realism jumping from the pages. Reactions from people reading a Keppler novel is usually one of two extremes: either you love it beyond measure or you dislike it intensively. One can understand that. It goes straight at the jugular of modern human life, exposing it for the hollow sham it is.

Ted Cousin, his brother and sister and cousins, and those who would be his friends are all strange birds in the present day human society, alienated from it and from themselves in ways wide like an abyss, desperate for some kind of connection, understanding. But the connection remains out of reach. Understanding eludes them.

As the story progresses the crack, the abyss widens to a horrible degree.

I love it when art tells me something straight up, and still leaves depth and texture, and this novel does. It is first and foremost an engaging story, but goes so much deeper than most stories, on so many levels of complexity. After a couple of chapters where the author has taken you beyond anything you’ve ever known or understood, you feel he can’t take you any further on that beyond passionate and desolate road, but he does, until the absolutely devastating, slamming in the face end. One cannot help being affected by it, pulled into its irresistible maelstrom. I read it in two hectic days and nights, and I sat there sweating afterwards, stunned, a wide range of emotions and questions raging through me.

That’s how I want to feel after having read a novel.

The book of books

I want to write a book, non-fiction or a film, a documentary, describing in detail, from the ground up the building blocks of the current society, how everything, every single detail is flawed, is fundamentally wrong.

The wrongness reveals itself to me piece by piece, blocks by blocks, like a slow-marching band. I want to reveal it all, from the ground up. It’s easy, really, since you notice it everywhere. The book or the film becomes a matter of logistics, not fact-finding. Those with open eyes have no trouble finding facts.

I want to interview people all over the world, both «experts» and people, about both the decline in the environment and in human society as a whole. There is no lack of illustrations looking at it from either angle. Food, health, green areas and life itself are fading away, slowly, quick as lightning, like the dew before the sun in the morning. There are those claiming the current human society, civilization itself has become a ravenous machine gobbling up everything of true value, leaving nothing but destruction, disintegration in its wake. That’s a more than a true observation.

From the smallest of truths to the big issue we know the truth.