First Review!

[handful_ofdust]

Fiction
A Rope of Thorns
Gemma Files. ChiZine (Diamond, dist.), $15.95 trade paper (350p) ISBN 978-1-926851-14-3

Sacrificed to the bloodthirsty Aztec goddess Ixchel, flamboyantly queer outlaw Chess Pargeter is reborn and filled with a god's dark power in the powerful sequel to 2010's A Book of Tongues. Ixchel takes Chess's ex-lover Rev. Asher Rook as her hexslinger consort, and they create the magical city of New Azteclan in the desert and summon all hexes there. Meanwhile, Chess and ex-Pinkerton detective Ed Morrow are pursued south by the vengeful revenant Mesach Love, with fast-growing, magical Weed covering the ground in Chess's wake. A slow start yields to a spectacular blend of Aztec religion and Western gunslinging in a richly detailed cycle of blood and sacrifice that eventually draws in the great Pinkerton himself. Potent mythology, complex characters, and dollops of creeping horror and baroque gore establish Files's Hexslinger series as a top-notch horror-fantasy saga. (June) See review in its natural habitat, here (http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-926851-14-3).

So yeah, that's nice to wake up to.;)

Easter weekend went fairly well. Steve and I took Cal up to his grandparents' house on Sunday, where he impressed them with expanded language, relative good behaviour and, on the way back, an impromptu serenade in which he delivered five pitch-perfect, front-to-back renditions of "I See The Light" from Tangled in a row. Then Steve went to bed and I ended up watching this demented silent movie on TCM called The Godless Girl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godless_Girl), a Cecil B. DeMille epic which starts off as an ill-matched zealot-on-zealot love/hate romance between devout and uptight Bob the student body president vs. Judy the teen flapper atheist, but eventually becomes a searing expose of the juvenile penal system. There's also a 'ho with a heart of gold named Mame and a comedic second banana named "Bozo". Apparently, it was one of Hitler's favourite American films.

Okay, time for some oatmeal and tea...

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That is awesome! You're destined for great things :D

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Like...writing Book Three, When I can effing well make myself.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

ill-matched zealot-on-zealot love/hate romance between devout and uptight Bob the student body president vs. Judy the teen flapper atheist,

Wait – is that the one where she swears a vow of atheism on the head of a live monkey?

If so, I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen the clip in a documentary from decades later wherein the actress talks about how hard it was to not crack up; also, she mentions that the film was a big hit in the Soviet Union, which puzzled her until she realized they were editing out the last act and playing the rest as “look, the young people of America are throwing off the shackles of religion.”

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Yup! "Don't high-hat him, he's your cousin!" She tells her flunkies, cheerfully.

Yeah, it a crrrrrazy film. I particularly liked the part where JUdy and Bob touch hands through the electric fence, and the head asshole guard (who they later save from roasting alive during a fire) turns on the current. Both of them hang there smoking until he turns it off again, and hustles Bob off to Solitary. Afterwards, Judy realizes the burns on her palms form crosses!

[sovay]

Potent mythology, complex characters, and dollops of creeping horror and baroque gore establish Files's Hexslinger series as a top-notch horror-fantasy saga.

Very nice!

Apparently, it was one of Hitler's favourite American films.

. . . There is not enough *blink* in the world for that concept.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

I think he was actually more into Lina Banquette, the chick who plays Judy, than the rest of the film--and granted, she is pretty luscious, though not exactly Aryan-looking. Another one of those weird exceptions, I guess.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

She reminds me of Audrey Horne, who seems like a similar character? Wild.

Oh, and YAY for the review.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Ha! True, Judy does have a very Audrey Horne vibe. When she and Bob bust out, for example, she stops and goes skinny-dipping. But when he wants to throw caution and God to the wind and make out on top of a haystack, she's the one who suggests they take it slow: "Let's live, but let's not be foolish." (I'm also not really convinced she ever converts, even though she prays under pressure at one point--but then again, who wouldn't? She's handcuffed to a pipe inside a solitary cell-block that's turning into Dresden.)

[blythe025.livejournal.com]

Great review! I need to pick up a copy of Rope of Thorns. I'm dying to read it.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

It'll be out officially by May 31st, but I know they're taking pre-order at Amazon et al. Looking forward to seeing what you think.;)

[kmarkhoover.livejournal.com]

very nice review! :D