by Jeremy Vineyard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 10, 2010
Deep myths and thrilling magic that will excite young readers.
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This intense young-adult epic pits a group of teens against demons, deities and the forces of nature.
Vineyard’s (Setting Up Your Shots, 2008) first novel brims with mythic power without forgetting the contemporary world. After their new friend, Nayana, disappears into a strange portal with a dark abductor, lifelong friends Masha and Thomas stumble upon a mysterious land where great heroes and deities are preparing for a world-shaking battle. Behind them follows Vanya, Masha’s uncle, an expert lock picker (locks recur as a leitmotif in the novel). A host of friends and enemies awaits the transplants, from wanted-thief Samuel Windspring to Irkalla, queen of storms. The friends quickly find Nayana, but the way home remains unclear, their destinies now bound to the gathering war with the Asuras—the demonic forces of Yama, lord of death. The group searches for a living weapon known as a Deva, which can perhaps defeat the Asura threat, as they traverse exotic locales on their journey, including Baudas, city of knowledge, and the Meadow Infinite. Many of the beings they encounter emerge directly from Vedic mythology and the Mahabharata, the Hindu lore that serves as excellent source material for a story about epic clashes. For a relatively short novel, the plot’s velocity is dizzying at times, but Vineyard packs in an abundance of characters and background. With so much happening, he rarely has time to slow down and describe the magical world’s landscape. Occasional flashbacks to the ancient past dot the narrative, but their abruptness and lack of clarification sometimes confuse rather than illuminate the story, even though Vineyard’s lyrical style will keep readers consistently engaged. Further chapters could allow this world to more fully unfold; in the meantime, however, this superb read provides a powerful adventure.
Deep myths and thrilling magic that will excite young readers.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2010
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Coin Bump
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by William Poe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 2015
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.C. Salazar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2018
A volume of poetry that shines when focused on the author’s experiences of race and culture.
A collection speaks in part to the poet’s Mexican-American heritage.
In these multifaceted poems, Mexico-born, Houston-raised Salazar (Of Dreams and Thorns, 2017) explores general human themes like love and war in addition to specific experiences as a person of color. The book begins with a sensual meditation on desire, featuring luscious descriptions of a lover, from lips “moist like youth” to the body’s “softest velvet” slopes. The poems shift to odes to cultural icons like the Tejano star Selena and Mexican-German painter Frida Kahlo as well as occasion pieces honoring his brother’s 40th birthday and a friend’s mother’s memorial service. The author hits his stride when he delves into identity. In “I Am Not Brown,” he contemplates the societal implications of skin tone and his inability to fit into the rigid category of Caucasian or Latino. “For white and black and brown alike / Are slaves to history’s brush strokes,” he writes. “Grateful for the Work,” perhaps Salazar’s loveliest poem, catalogs the day of a laborer, starting with an early morning awakening and following him as he toils in 100-degree heat, enjoys tacos from his lunch pail, buys beverages from a child’s lemonade stand, and returns home to an equally hard-working wife. The author then makes an abrupt turn toward Syria in a series of poems that condemn that country’s president, Bashar Hafez al-Assad. They serve as a rallying cry for Syrians and grieve for the murdered masses. Salazar’s closing poem, “Sons of Bitches,” is a clunky rant about a 20-year-old immigrant shot in the head by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent. The gratuitous violence and political theologizing are ill at ease with the intimate, personal experiences that preceded them, such as the fablelike “A Mexican is Made of This,” in which Salazar beautifully describes the “rainbows, bronze, backbone, butterflies” that his people embody.
A volume of poetry that shines when focused on the author’s experiences of race and culture.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9991496-3-8
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Bronze Diamond Productions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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