Karen Michalson describes her novels as “literary fiction tripping the dark fantastic.” She is the author of four novels, most recently The Maenad’s God. Here’s the blurb:
“Consider this a kind of prayer to the heartless void, for I am now in joyless communion with a dead god.”
Peter C. Morrow, former Special Agent
Boston Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Date: Eternity
Alienation. Myth. Music. Law. Madness. Death. Divinity.
Boston 1992. Pete Morrow is a misanthropic FBI agent whose only escape from the colleagues and society he despises is through reading literary classics. When his boss sends him to warn away a drug dealer on an obscure army base, he discovers a murder and becomes obsessed with Jade McClellan, a mysterious man whose rock band just performed at the crime scene. Tough-guy Morrow has never been in love before—but Jade is almost magical, an embodiment of myth and literature who creates living fantasies that rapidly become the only thing Morrow values in his otherwise miserable life.
But there’s a problem. Morrow is investigating a mafia family that is investing in Jade’s musical career. Being open about their relationship could get both of them killed.
Morrow’s murder investigation annihilates his hard-boiled understanding of reality when he learns that Jade is an abandoned, mortal son of Dionysus, the god whose energy informs hard rock. Jade’s mafia support is being arranged by Dirty Penny Starmaker, a witch who started life in 5th century BCE Athens, where she received a divine mandate to promote brilliant musicians throughout history. Penny is in a centuries-old war with Hugh McCrae, a primeval, human-like “monster” who has currently incarnated himself as a congressional aide with an unhealthy interest in Morrow’s work. McCrae (rhymes with “decay”) carries his own divine mandate to promote cultural decline by eradicating creativity and art. At the present time, this includes Jade, his music, and Morrow’s newfound happiness.
After all, the universe must balance, no matter who gets destroyed in the process.
A seamless blend of thriller, dark satire, magical realism, forbidden LGBTQ+ romance, and myth, The Maenad’s God is the story of a spiritual war that’s been fought for thousands of years; the war between the ancient arts of music, poetry, and love; and the equally ancient forces of artistic envy, oppressive law, and authoritarian religion.
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Her first three novels, Enemy Glory, Hecate’s Glory, and The King’s Glory, form the Enemy Glory trilogy, a literary fantasy trilogy that has been called “Brilliant. Unforgettable . . . a masterpiece of fantasy.” (Paul Goat Allen, Explorations, Barnes & Noble’s Science Fiction and Fantasy blog). The trilogy is narrated by Llewelyn, a brilliant young magic user who, in response to an unspeakable betrayal, makes a rash, irrevocable decision to become an evil cleric. Tag line:
Let’s play a game of choice and consequences. What if you had to destroy everything you ever loved or suffer eternal damnation? Enter the dark.
Michalson earned a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, focusing her studies on nineteenth-century British literature and history. She later earned a law degree from Western New England University and ran a criminal defense practice. Somewhere between literature and law, she formed a progressive rock band, Point of Ares, in which she writes music, plays bass, and sings. Point of Ares has released four CDs, two of which are concept albums based on her Enemy Glory books.
She keeps a blog called Matter Notes where she writes about the war on the humanities, creativity as spirituality, and her observations on culture and society as a self-described New England recluse: https://karenmichalson.com/blog/
“Michalson’s prose, as narrated by the loquacious Pete, is by turns wisecracking and obsessive. . . . Even so, Pete’s quest takes him in unexpected occult directions, opening up an intricate world of ecstasy and paranoia. . . . the novel’s angst and atmosphere—both authentically ’90s—make for a strangely alluring reading experience. An engaging, snaking, and spirit-tinged murder tale about obsession and control.”
– Kirkus Reviews
THRILLERS
THE MAENAD'S GOD
BY Karen Michalson
An FBI agent becomes embroiled with a magnetic rock musician in this crime novel.
Boston, 1992. Special Agent Peter Morrow is not winning any awards at the FBI. He only applied for the job as a joke in the first place, and he has trouble hiding his disdain for his bosses, co-workers, and some of the victims he works with. After being removed from the missing persons unit for punching a social worker in the jaw, Pete is given a new assignment. It seems an Army private stationed in Rome, New York, may be dealing heroin for the Utica mob. But when Pete gets to the Army base, he learns from the commander that the supposed dealer, Claude Hopner, is AWOL. Pete hangs around anyway to question the members of Black Dog, the Canadian rock band that happens to be playing a gig at the base that night—he suspects they are in fact a cog in the drug ring since they seem to know Hopner. Pete’s rewarded with a major development in the case: After the show, the base commander (another potential cog) is found brutally murdered, with a note affixed to the body referencing “Hopner’s sardines.” The story gets even weirder when it turns out the dead “commander” was lying about his identity. Pete’s interest in Black Dog only increases after that, particularly in the band’s otherworldly bassist and composer, Jade McCrae, whose extended family has connections to Hopner and the dead man—and to some really interesting ideas about gods and reincarnation. When Hopner turns up drawn and quartered in the Arizona desert, the case becomes so high profile that Pete struggles to keep control of it. Is it a mob hit? An instance of ritual sacrifice? There are many parties with a preferred outcome—the Mafia, the politicians, the FBI, a coven of cultists—but Pete has decided that this case will play out the way he wants it to, even if he has to work a bit of magic of his own.
Michalson’s prose, as narrated by the loquacious Pete, is by turns wisecracking and obsessive. Here, he experiments with a bit of the mysticism he encounters in an extended Black Dog scene in order to focus his thoughts: “I lit a candle and set it on my hearth. Put the charms into a large wooden bowl….Placed the bowl near the candle and imagined the sea. Felt the moment of autumn evening and knew Aphrodite was in it. Then I took out a yellow legal pad and began to sketch out a viable plan of action.” The plot moves slowly, and the book is easily a hundred pages too long. Plus, it will take readers a while to get over Pete’s sometimes-insufferable snark. Even so, Pete’s quest takes him in unexpected occult directions, opening up an intricate world of ecstasy and paranoia. The author doesn’t quite achieve the level of emotional depth she seems to be striving for, but the novel’s angst and atmosphere—both authentically ’90s—make for a strangely alluring reading experience.
An engaging, snaking, and spirit-tinged murder tale about obsession and control.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2022
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