Hand me my nose ring

 So, we finish up Mick Farren's Renquist Quartet with the really silly in its premise Underland, in which not only do we get to deal with covert Government black ops involved in the paranormal, but Nazi descendants living in the Hollow Earth that fly Flying Saucers. It sounds silly as hell, but the writing makes it work.

We start with Victor being kidnapped in broad daylight by the NSA-FEMA to be taken to their underground bunkers in Virginia. After some torture, creating a new Darklost, and sort of befriending a human mercenary on the payroll, Victor gets voluntold to enter the Hollow Earth to figure out what's going on down there, since communication between the surface and the caverns is increasingly spotty, with one field team vanishing, and another evidently defecting. Requist agrees, and he and Coulson (the human mercenary), Bridewell (the female Darklost created early on), and Lupo head to Ice Station Zebra to enter the Earth. Which leads to a dark, polluted world with advanced technology and a snake cult run by 3rd or 4th generation Nazis. 

Into this mix comes Julia and De Reeske (last seen at the end of Darklost with the head of her rival that also has a shard of Cthulhu in it), and a bunch of "missing link" vampires who retreated into the Earth during the last Ice Age. Which, of course, leads to chaos. 

By the end, all the dangling plot lines from the last two volumes are resolved, and we're left wondering what will come next, which sadly will never be told, since Farren died. 

Really fun book, despite the really absurd premise.

Brokeback Hill

 I can't for the life of me remember why I reserved Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, but I did, and here we go. 

Narrated entirely by Colin, we hear the story of an 18 year old man on his 18th birthday stumbling into a BDSM relationship with a likely older motorcycle enthusiast on Box Hill outside London. The Dom, Ray, never reveals much in the way of personal information to Colin, so we remain in the dark along with Colin on what the impetus was for their 6 year relationship. 

Then, about halfway though, when Colin's family takes him on a 10 day holiday to France on the hovercraft, Ray has an accident and dies. We hear about how Colin tries to find out anything about his lover, only to find that Ray's mother had burned everything he owned, he has no idea how or where Ray's body was disposed of, etc. 

While the descriptions of the relationship were well crafted, and it seems that Colin at least acknowledged the problems, particularly 20 year on as views changed and AIDS happened, it doesn't change the fact that once the central relationship ends, his horrible family life isn't particularly enough to keep interest alive. 

On the other hand, like a lot of gay men, I too have people who more or less turned into ghosts and have questions as to what ever happened to them. 

It's a short read, but if you like books with 20 pages of ecstasy and 100 pages of angst, go for it. 

Just because some watery tart lobs a scimitar at you

 Ok, so, back to The Renquist Quartet by Mick Ferrin, where More Than Mortal delves deeper into the whole Nephilim mythology and the Urshu, sterile ambassadors between the Mortals and the Nephilim. Given we're in England and Scotland for the entirety of this book, dealing with a sealed sarcophagus buried beneath Morton Downs, we're essentially dealing with Merlin Taliesin. Well, eventually. Said mentor to Arthur doesn't actually wake up until roughly 3/4 of the way through, which gives us plenty of time to delve deep into different Nosferatu political and social structures. 

Basically, the troika (three female Nosferatu) living in a castle on the moors are being disturbed by excavations at Morton Downs. One in particular, Columbine, is having horrid nightmares about 600AD and driving the Saxons off the land. Marieko and Destry join her in summoning Victor to England to figure out what's going on. Which sets off a bit of a territorial spat with the Highlander Nosferatu of Clan Fenroir. 

Eventually, Victor gets dragged off to Scotland as a prisoner/guest of the Laird, and the troika contacts the LA colony, which brings Lupo (about 20 pages from the end) and Julia (a bit earlier) to England. 

And of course, there's Merlin, who essentially has his own plots after a several centuries nap. Which is amusing, since his own plotting makes the Nosferatu plotting look a bit like amateur hour. 

I remember being not that thrilled with this one when I read it the first time, and some of that remains, since nothing really happens until the very end. However, as an older man, I can now see it as a "bottle episode", really showing off how things really work in this setting, just to watch it fall apart when a certain being drives through like a 70's car chase. 

I actually rather liked it this go round. While not as action packed as the first two, it has a lot of fun with what it is.

Something a little different

 So, since I know Vendla Branble in real life, I decided to finally start reading her series Blood Hunt. 

Which, again, since I know the author, I'll be trying to keep personal things out of this. 

The set up is a speculative future, where events over the next few centuries take odd turns, and certain people are born with psychic powers and are call Bloods.  In the era this is set in, the east and west coasts as well as western Alaska are under a Russian style socialist government, while the vast middle is part of Free America. 

The majority of the novel is following Kele-De McMahon, a Blood with almost every psychic ability imaginable by the end of this. She's paired with 1st Lieutenant Michael Yamoto in the Free America Corps for what starts as a series of extraction missions, but what turns into a vengeance operation by the end. 

Essentially, it starts with an extraction, goes into a find the person hunting certain descendants with Blood Powers, and winds up chasing the big bad in Africa. 

So, while it took me a while to get through (not due to the writing, but due to personal issues that curtailed my ability to read recreationally) it was a good read. Yeah, I think the big bad could have been stretched out into an arc over a few volumes, but there's enough set up for more that this isn't a big deal. Some of the formatting took me a bit to adjust to, but given a manuscript I'm working on has similar issues at the moment, we'll take that as a lesson learned. While there are a few things in here that I caught mainly due to knowing the author, normal readers would likely not notice them, not that they detract from the narrative.

 Honestly, worth the read. 

Have you been touched by his tentacle appendage?

 Book two of the Renquist Quartet, Darklost, picks up with the colony just having moved to Los Angeles. The new residence sits off an unmarked road in the hills, isolated from just about everything. However, isolation doesn't mean that the world isn't about to get involved in the Colony's politics. 

With the move, the colony is now using blood bags as backups, preferring to feed from live people rather risk another outbreak of Feasting. Renquist is still mourning Cynara, but everyone else in the colony seems to be adapting well, with even Segal the Grotesque riding with a motorcycle gang most nights. However, Victor gets roused out of some of his isolationism by seeing something bad rising from Beverly Hills. 

Mind you, Julia, who spent most of the first book playing secondary anatagonist, in this one becomes something more of an independent ally. Her own hunting trip leads her to find a psychic who resembles an overweight psychic Stevie Nicks, who's scan reveals she knows Brandon Wales (near as I can tell, a cypher for Marlon Brando). This sets off a plot line for Julia working with Dahlia (the child vampire) to bring Brandon over and restore him to his handsome youth. 

Victor and his second, Lupo, on the other hand, get sucked into investigating the strange aura, which leads to The Apogee, basically a pseudo-religious organization run by Three people with their own internal problems, not the least of which is that Marcus De Reske, who prefers the occult to the scam, has found the Necronomicon made some sculptural decisions, and the stars are aligning for the return of Cthulhu, whom he is convinced will give him Dominion over the Earth.

And we also have Elaine Dance, who was one step from being brought over by Cynara in the last book, now working as a professional domme in LA, and getting back to the colony via following broadcast commands via Julia and Victor. 

So, there's quite a bit going on here, and by the end, at least one eldritch tentacle has crosses between the dimensions. 

We also see Julia and Victor's "DNA Dreams" exploring what Cthulhu was to the Original Beings, who evolved into modern nosferatu, which includes more information on the Nephillim, the ancient aliens who in turn created the original beings and tampered with human DNA. 

When this series was first being written, this is the book I found and read first, drawn in by a B movie plot of Vampires vs Cthulhu. I find reading the first book first helps the much more involved plot of this one make much more sense. It's still a B movie plot, but every character in here understands the absurdity and also acknowledges that absurdity doesn't negate the dangers of interdimensional sushi looking to eat humanity.  

Honestly, it's held up better than I remember it being. Fun read.

Oi. Ouch.

 So, Seanan McGuire's Aftermarket Afterlife dropped a few weeks ago, and I pushed myself to get through it, since I really love this series. This one is narrated by Mary Dunlavy, the babysitting host that's raised all the children in the family. Mind you, Mary's afterlife has changed a bit since the events at the end of Annie's narration, as the Crossroads no longer exist, so she's no longer obligated to try and make deals on their behalf. 

On the other hand, Mary is dealing with a fractious family reunion as Alice and Thomas return to the compound in Portland to be with their kids and some of the grandkids. (And reunite James and Sarah, etc.) While the usual fireworks explode, it leads to new fun as The Covenant of St. George launches a major offensive on the US cryptids, creating a lot of collateral damage. While we don't reach George R R Martin levels of homicide of major characters, there are a few semi-permanent retirements in here. 

Anyway, eventually Mary does manage to get most everything squared away as best as she can, but in the meantime, a lot of other things outside her control happen, and she also runs afoul of her dimension's Anima Mundi. 

It's fun reading, for the most part, since we're getting to see everyone at once, from Verity in New York, Alex in Columbus, Annie in Portland, as well as Sarah and Alice, all of whom have narrated a few books in here. It also has some really really rough emotional moments as the cost of war is brought home for everyone. 

I hope there's more to come in this series, since it remains an always good one.

Creatures of the Night

 So, I randomly ordered all four books of Mick Farren's Renquist Quartet a while back, and finally finished The Time of Feasting this morning. I'd honestly forgotten how much fun these are.

This, the first book, introduces us to Victor Renquist and his colony of Nosferatu in lower Manhattan as the Time of Feasting is set to begin. Basically, vampires in this setting get by on blood bag infusions to eat, but every so often, the urge to actually eat a human takes over, and the Feasting begins. Renquist's idea for this outbreak is to do his best to make sure that everything looks like the work of a Satanic Serial Killer. 

The colony is facing internal drama as Victor's creation from the mid 1930's, Julia, has created her own progeny, Carfax. Carfax used to front a thrash metal band, and is now undergoing what amounts to the Nosferatu version of the Terrible Twos, challenging Renquist's authority and flaunting his nature while killing indiscriminately. Julia is creating problems of her own, vying for Renquist's affections from Cynara, Victor's long term flame. (Julia from what I remember in later books is a really fun character, acting as both ally and foil.) Oh, and a drunken defrocked priest is able to see through the Nosferatu illusions and see the colony as it is. 

Add into this another group of Voudon practitioners, annoyed with the fact the killings have unleashed 1990's style NYC police work on their population and basically telling Renquist they'll help Renquist with Carfax as long as the colony leaves New York within 48 hours and you have a really over the top Vampire novel that's both readable and fun. 

While the later three books delve deeper into the creation of Nosferatu, this one lays tantalizing hints of aliens creating vampires and creating death rays that kill them back before recorded history, and gives us Dietrich, the old master of the colony, who not terribly long ago walked away to meditate in isolation. 

I've played enough White Wolf games to place most of the colony in Clans and assign disciplines, but frankly, half the fun is in the little bits of irony that come out as the characters occasionally realize exactly how ridiculous the entire thing is. (Yes, it was the 90's.)

Highly recommended reading.

Filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing

 So, it took me pretty much a month to slog through The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake, which should be a warning sign. 

I hesitate to post this picture, but this narrowed down a bit has been my experience with this trilogy. 

 Because frankly, after spending the last book getting Libby back to the future via a fusion explosion, we spend most of this book watching the Six.... do absolutely nothing. I mean, Reina is running around trying to fix modern politics with Callum; Tristan, Nico, and Libby are at the manor trying to open up a door into parallel realities (or at least discussing it quite a bit); and Parisa is basicially busy trying to take over rival societies...

That's it. That's the plot. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. They spend 2/3 of the book talking about their goals, and realizing that none of them can accomplish them on their own, and facing down the reality that the archives still want a sacrifice. Eventually, they do open a door to alternate realities, but by that point, I'd long ago checked out of the narrative, mostly reading for the sake of completion. There are really out of place filler moments going on as well, including a chapter of Book Club discussion questions, and a later chapter when Tristan and Callum meet in person again, where we get 10 pages of different variations on how that could have worked out. 

I mean, if the author's point is that everything is arbitrary, she succeeded in that theme, but lord, this really was like reading a tale filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing,.

Uncomfortable Territiory Part 2

 So, part of my planned "Trilogy of Trauma" is The Lookback Window by Kyle Dillon Hertz. The title refers to a period when New York extended some sexual assault cases statute of limitations to allow for civil cases against people who molested children, even if they couldn't be prosecuted criminally. As such, our narrator, Dylan, is trying to figure out if he should go after his sort of ex, who more or less pimped Dylan out at 14 to older men in exchange for drugs and money. 

Dylan is obviously older now, and narrating his life as he marries Moans, navigates therapy, deals with PTSD, and generally does a bunch of really bad stuff. (In the middle, he starts breaking vows to his husband. In the last third, he does Meth and GHB, winding up in the hospital.)

I felt a bit like I was reading a cross between I Spit on Your Grave and Go Ask Alice through this. I understand Dylan. Money proves nothing. Revenge doesn't bring back the years you were being relentlessly abused. Yeah, he goes to extremes I couldn't bear, but I understand his impulses here. I understand when he and Moans fight, because Moans wants to comfort Dylan, rather than let Dylan figure out his own wants. 

The biggest problem in here has nothing to do with the plot or the writing, it's more to do with the narrative jumping all over the place, particularly when Dylan is smoking meth or other things. There are a couple of jumps in there towards the end where I lost track of the narrative, as we go from one paragraph of him fighting with Moans to the next being in bed with another man shotgunning meth to him. 

The ending is satisfying, providing a sense of closure, while reminding us life goes on even through trauma. 

While I enjoyed this, your mileage may vary.

Uncomfortable territory

 So, based on an odd recommendation in a LGBTQ+ book group I follow, I picked up Target by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson. Really kind of regretting that decision now. Indeed, really tempted to go wipe the dust off LJ and blog about it rather than try to keep shit off this rather public blog. 

So, we open on 16 year old Grady, who's walking home from a concert he attended with friends. A guy asks for directions, then he and a friend grab Grady by the hair and beat the shit out of him, followed by anal and oral rape. We cut to roughly a year later, the "After" as Grady thinks of it. Grady is starting at a new school, repeating 11th grade, having dropped out in November at his old school. Grady, frankly, has survivor trauma. He's got a definite eating disorder, eating very little, and puking up what does go down. He needs tactile stimulation to function. He can barely talk. 

What follows is a tale of finding the courage to talk about what happened in the van, however long it takes. Grady is helped by new friends who more or less treat him like a personal mascot, not caring that he doesn't speak often, and almost never in complete sentences.

But we get a very good look at the guilt that comes with it. The whole "Why was I a target?" "Why did the cop assume it was a boyfriend of mine and I having a fight?" "I'm bigger than they are, so why couldn't I fight back?" along with (since Grady was a virgin who had touched boobs once) "Am I gay because they convinced me they'd quit if I climaxed?" Oh yes, and the fucking goddamn shame of it all. The whole "I can't fucking tell anyone because they'll ask the same fucking questions I keep asking myself!"

We also briefly get into him getting molested by a neighbor as a kid (admittedly not as intense as what happened in the van, but still...)

I'm also proud of our fictional character for going to the cops after it happened (not that he had a choice, some lady found him bleeding on the side of the road), and for getting help by the end. Two things that are sadly the hardest part. 

It's ugly, but it's cathartic.