A fine historical fantasy tale featuring a memorable, tenacious protagonist.
In Ray and Vannier’s debut fantasy novel, a young girl flees the hardships of 19th-century China for America, chased by a cruel Englishman who seeks to obtain a dragon.
Twelve-year-old Leung Chi-Yen, sold to a brothel eight years before, finds a means of escape during the unrest instigated by the Opium Wars. She secures passage to the United States, along with a young warrior, Tam Sin-Feng, and his master, Liu Kun, both from the all-but-destroyed Temple of the Seven Dragons. The men are protecting their temple’s last remnant: a small, mysterious box desperately sought by the nefarious Basil Malvenue, who claims to be on a mission for the queen of England. He believes the box contains a dragon egg. Once the characters reach America, the fantasy tale becomes credible, assertive historical fiction; the trio not only experiences the gold rush and the Civil War, but also meets Chinese laborers working on the First Transcontinental Railroad. Chi-Yen is also constantly challenged by Liu Kun, an alcoholic opium addict and, at one point, is even snared by a sheriff’s posse. Although the story contains little humor, Liu Kun’s perpetual inebriation is sometimes played for laughs; for example, he sleeps through a storm at sea, his body rolling with the ship. Sporadic appearances by a dragon, however, keep the fantasy element alive, including a scene in which Chi-Yen is unnerved by glowing eyes in the dark woods. Although the dragon is a stunning creature and spectacularly described—with scales that change “from pale wheat to tan to umber to the color of rich, fertile soil”—the authors make sure that the young protagonist is the most mesmerizing character here. At various points, she disguises herself as a boy by shaving the top of her head and tying her hair, boldly tells the brutal brothel manager, “You shall not beat me again,” and earns a boat ride to America by teaching her fellow passengers English.
A fine historical fantasy tale featuring a memorable, tenacious protagonist.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1940776002
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Baaa Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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