Month: April 2024

A Mythological Tale By JJ Taylor

In Greek mythology, Medea is not a positive figure. She is usually depicted as a sorceress, she was a priestess of Hecate, goddess of night, magic, graves and ghosts, she is the granddaughter of Helios and Circe’s niece, another figure with very few positive connotations (she was an enchantress very well versed in herbs and potions) who transformed her enemies, or whoever offended her, into animals.
According to the myth, Medea grew up in a hostile environment: since she was a child, her father had to deal with the notion she would have been her brother’s death, and that had always been cause of big resentment towards Medea, both from her father and her brother. According to the prophecy that accompanied the Golden Fleece, owned by King Aeëtes of Colchis, which is Medea and Absyrtus’s father, the kingdom was staying in the family only as long as the Golden Fleece did too. If this, for whatever reason, was going to pass into different hands, King Aeëtes was going to lose his first born to the hand of his daughter, and this would have been the case even if Medea was going to get married against her own will.
When Jason comes asking for the Golden Fleece, King Aeëtes promises he will have it only if he passes three very hard tests. If you pass them, says the King, then you can have the Fleece. He clearly set them up so that Jason is doomed to fail, but Medea offers him a solution: I will help you, if you promise you will take me with you. Jason accepts, partly because he needs the Fleece, partly because it’s hard to ignore the sparkle between the two of them. With Medea’s help, Jason is victorious, Jason moves his band on the Fleece and Medea packs her possessions and flees with him.
She is almost free from her father and his unjustified persecutions. But her brother is sent to follow her, and she knows their destiny is now sealed. Eventually, she kills him and cuts him into pieces, that she throws one by one into the sea, forcing her father to slow down his chase to collect all his son’s parts and grant him a proper burial to avoid him entering Hades’s reign.
Medea is finally free. She follows Jason to Corinth, were they settle and eventually marry, and they have two sons. But the sparkle between them is not a long lasting affair, and soon their relationship cools down, taking a turn for the worse when Medea brews a special potion to revive Jason’s father youth, but Pelias, instead of getting younger, dies. It’s the end for them, cemented by Jason’s will to remarry with Creusa, King Creon’s daughter. The official version is that, in this way, Jason’s sons will have a better future. But Medea is not having any of that and kills them both, then leaves Corinth and finds refuge in Athens, where eventually she marries King Aegeus and has one son, Medus, who will eventually reign over Colchis, Medea’s place of birth, giving her the rights of a Queen, like she should have had since the beginning.

Contrary to many other descriptions of Medea, this one, despite being extremely faithful to the facts as they have been transmitted to us across the centuries, depicts a strong-willed woman that has to fight in a world were only men are considered of value. She is stubborn and brave, and all the things she does, even the most nefarious ones – like dismembering her own brother – are forced by the situation, there is never real pleasure in them; she spends most of her life being used by the goddess Hecate which she serves, until the goddess discards her like a rag when Medea turns older. Despite the darkness and tragedy that surround her life in every aspect, Medea maintains a shade of humanity through it all, like the feeling of longing for her maid and special friend Alkippe or the way she treats every person she meets with the same respect.

It’s a brilliant read, presented in a superb prose, that deserves to be savoured and absorbed with calm and an open mind. A great example of a strong female character, and I found this passage simply amazing:

“You are power. You are change. You are an avenger, a fury in mortal form, born of the sun god, the goddess of the water, and serving the goddess of the underworld. And that makes you more dangerous than any priestess in any temple. Between your own power and that of the goddess filling you, you will burn through this life like a fire started by lightning in a land parched of water.”

‘Medea’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3UhbbFF

An Urban Fantasy Novel By Quinn Cameron (Book One of the ‘Marionette’ Series)

Fitch Farrow, aka Marionette, kills people for a living, using his telekinetic powers. He has not chosen this way of life willingly, but he’s very good at it. He’s been part of criminal (witch) organisation the Bloody Hex since his early teens, so he can barely remember what it means to have an ordinary life and that’s fine by him. Until his younger brother Donovan, as human as it gets, is about to be initiated into the gang through murder. To protect him, Fitch faces arrest and incarceration, a trial and potentially death, while pushed by the establishment, The Capitol, to accept a deal and expose the Bloody Hex. Spoiler alert: that is not going to happen. An epic prison escape, a surprising yet very welcome ‘not guilty’ verdict for Fitch and a mysterious plague come next, as the tables quickly turn. What will Farrow do next? Whatever it takes, surely. 

‘Pulling Strings’, released this April, is the first novel in a planned series of four, to be published every other month until October.
The craft, care and attention to detail with which Quinn Cameron builds and tells the story from beginning to end is impressive, gifting us with a book so well-written that is actually challenging to fault. Fitch Farrow is not a character to be taken at face value: while his numerous crimes – we witness only a couple gruesome killings during the story – paint a picture of cruelty and recklessness, his unwavering commitment to ensuring his brother does not follow in his footsteps makes him an anti-hero you can only root for, also as human as it gets. Mastering the principle of ‘show, don’t tell’ beautifully, Cameron has an unquestionable ability to make all the characters within the story and the world they inhabit come to life. The narration moves along nicely and never gets dull or boring, although the imprisonment stint could have done with a slightly faster pace. Dialogues are witty, gritty and often packed with irony, the bitter kind that I personally love. 

Overall, ‘Pulling Strings’ makes for a fiery start to what we hope will be an exciting, captivating series. Whether you are into urban fantasy and dystopian settings or not, you’ll read it in no time and be hungry for more. The good news is, Chapter Two will be released on June, 1^st, so you don’t have to wait that long.

‘Pulling Strings’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3xHamOR

/This book contains graphic content and is best suited for adult readers./

A Dystopian Sci-Fi Novel By Nikki Haase (New Release!)

‘Elimination’ by Nikki Haase is a harrowing, challenging read that starts off bleak and only gets bleaker.

Jack Cortex is an experimental military creation – known as a ‘subject’ – held in some non-descript underground lab operated by the US government. He is one of a new breed of elemental super-soldiers in training and has been given the power to control water (with often devastating results), as well as quick healing and resistance to physical damage. The story tracks his tortuous time in the lab whilst the evil Dr Thaddeus attempts to ascertain what will harm/kill the subjects through a series of horrific experiments, and which subjects are the strongest through a series of one-on-one fights to the death – to what end, we aren’t exactly sure.

It begins with someone close to Jack dying, and ends in the same way, and it’s hard to identify any progress he makes in between. He is held in his cell, is taken away to be tortured or to kill someone (or both), then is returned to his cell. This happens over and over in the same pattern. Each time he defies the guards initially, then each time after torture/a killing spree, he gives in and acquiesces. The challenge of this set up is that the reader is constantly waiting for/expecting something else to happen, but it rarely ever does. 

The writing is clean and error free, and there are many passages that are well put together with a high level of detail bringing you into the torture and battle scenes as you feel Jack’s pain. The lead subjects share a bond through their suffering, and some of the moments between them are touching. There are also some clever ideas about how the subjects are able to manipulate the elements to their advantage – and kill people.

I must admit I found it a challenge to really root for the subjects, including Jack, because in the midst of all their torture they commit so many brutal murders and sadistic acts themselves and with such glee. Obviously, you feel bad for them in their awful situation, and can understand their desire to rebel, but many of their actions made them difficult for me to totally like/relate to.

Overall, it is a quick read and the story moves along at a real pace with no lulls. If you’re into gruesome torture scenes, and brutal descriptions of fights to the death, then there’s plenty here for you!

‘Elimination’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/4azTfNA

(Review By Robin Stevens)

Book Four of the Phineas Mann Series By Mark Anthony Powers (New Release!)

In the latest instalment of Powers’s medical thriller series, we find our beloved main characters, Phineas and his wife Iris, a few years in the future. However, it’s not the idillic and peaceful setting we envisioned for Dr Mann, one made of happy memories and holidays in the sun… Phineas has in fact Parkinson’s disease.
The strong, energetic and resolute man, who pulled a whole hospital ward through the difficulties brought about by a terrible hurricane and subsequent blackout, is now a fragile little man, who gets weepy when he talks and has to wear a oxygen mask at night to help him breathe. Despite his poor health, Phineas is still perfectly conscious of his surroundings, and the fact that his wife Iris lost weight doesn’t elude him. Talking about a woman’s weight is like walking on egg shells, so Phineas tries to not to think about is too much; ‘maybe it’s just my impression’, he says to himself. But his wife’s weight loss becomes more and more evident and Phineas has to address it. While taking care of Phineas nowadays is a full-time job, and the couple is not getting any younger, Iris needs to seek medical attention.
Almost on a whim, Phineas had previously applied to take part in a Duke University clinical trial for patients with Parkinson’s disease, and he is eventually invited to enrol. It’s an experimental procedure and not an easy one, but Phineas can only benefit from it, because, in case of success, his life expectancy and quality will increase. If this does not happen for him, at least he would help future patients. While finalising all the tests he has to do before he can start, Iris comes back with her own test results: they are not a death sentence, but not positive either. She is offered a very risky treatment, which drives Phineas to utilise his medical expertise in an attempt to save her, while also saving himself. Will our beloved couple, fighting a terrible battle against two serious diseases, make it?

This time there are no hurricanes, or pandemics to stop, this time the story is much more personal. The clinical descriptions of a Grey’s Anatomy manual (without the medical jargon) are intertwined with a delicate plot made of everyday details and the common problems any couple that has been together for a long time encounters. This contributes to making Iris and Phineas more human, more real: we feel for them, we struggle with them and we definitely hope for the best, genuinely concerned for their wellbeing.

Powers’s style is light and well defined, with a prose that gets better and better with every book, creating a distinctive voice. This is, in my humble opinion, the best book of the series. For sure it’s the most personal one. Unfortunately, it might be the last – or one of the last – Phineas Mann novels, purely because he is getting old.
It’s never easy to let a character go, especially one I have grown fond of over the last couple of years.

This book is an absolute delight to read, and it would be really interesting to see what Powers can do with different characters in a non-medical setting, because I am sure he has the potential to produce pure fiction without any doctors involved, or even an enthralling thriller. Stay tuned to find out!

‘The Desperate Trials of Phineas Mann’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/4aLNJqO

For more information on Mark’s work to date, visit his website: https://hawksbillpress.com