Books: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (2013)

While The Ocean at the End of the Lane is short –a mere 178 pages- its none the less a brilliant tale of dark fantasy by one the best authors on the planet. It’s a magical tale that evokes a time when childhood seemed to stretch on forever, where time could stand still and where in the darkness, with its crevices and folds that only exist within our peripheral view, hide our dreams and nightscapes. 

The slim book begins with a middle-aged man from Sussex, who has returned to his home town for a funeral. While his family home no longer exists, and he feels a bit disenchanted with his family, he none the less feels drawn to a farm at the end of the road. It was here that our narrator begins to remember the little girl named Lettie Hempstock, her mother and grandmother and the pond that Lettie claimed was actually an ocean. As he sits by the pond, memories long since forgotten begin to flood his mind and he is taken back in time to when he was seven years old when he encountered dangerous, strange happenings that should have never happened to a child, let alone forgotten. 

But the pond evokes memories, pulling them from their hidden cellars and dank hiding places and our middle age man remembers Lettie –the magical young girl who promises to protect him from the dark things that have come after the death of a lodger; for this suicide will be the catalyst for creatures they’ve existed since time began, but banished by powers that live on the farm, in the pond, to get a foothold in this reality. And its target for entrance is a seven year-old lonely boy.

The book reminds me much of Ray Bradbury (and Stephen King), who’s love of his childhood, and that carefree time in our lives where summers where fine, soft and full of hope only to be replaced by the fall and The October People.  

Gaiman packs his story with an emotional punch and grounds his characters firmly in reality that you feel that even with the dark, magical forces wreaking havoc, you can easily identify with the boy (and in a lot of ways, the unusual logic children use to explain how the supernatural and family woes can morph into something horrible).

Books: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (2013)

Melissa Maerz, in her review of BBC America’s Broadchurch miniseries wrote that the “British tend to take their whodunits like they take their tea: dark, slow-boiled, and so bitter that you need a while to finish.”

Perhaps this is why I took a longer time reading The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith –who, in reality, is Harry Potter author JK Rowling (though I do go through times when I read many books quickly and then slow down and hardly read at all). Like many, until the press broke that Galbraith was more famous than God, this book was not even on my radar. It’s not that I don’t like thrillers and whodunits –hell, I read Agatha Christie in my early teens (and kinda overdosed on them as well), but for reasons that cannot be simply explained, this book would have never been read by me or more than the supposedly 1500 copies the book has sold prior to the world finding out that Rowling was the author. Well, maybe not. Had I still been working in the book business, had Borders still been open or had I moved onto Barnes and Noble, this title may have come under my interest.

And as soon as I saw the tweet that author Joe Hill put out revealing Rowling as the author, I quickly put the book on hold at my library (via the internet, because it was a Saturday and the library was closed and would not reopen until Tuesday) and then had the B&N in Glendora put a copy on hold for me as well –had I known that Rowling, using Galbraith’s name, had signed some copies of the book, I would’ve hunted down what that B&N had and tried to get that, as those are the copies that have more value than the first edition I did buy (though I’m curious at what was the print run for the first edition). 

Much like The Casual Vacancy, The Cuckoo’s Calling relies on a lot of mean, bitter characters, folks that are toxic to themselves as well as others. Some readers criticized Rowling for doing such a one-eighty last September with Vacancy, and I’m sure one of the reasons she chose a pseudonym with this book was probably two-fold –one to see if the biggest author in the universe could publish a book with no one knowing about it and thus taking the pressure off of her, plus to see if reviewers and readers would embrace a new crime writer in what is an already crowded field –though the prose of the book is vastly superior to most writers. 

Galbraith has created a complex and compelling detective in Cormoran Strike as well as a fully likeable and able assistant, Robin Ellacott. From the start, we know Strike is down-on-his-luck, having split from his long-time girlfriend that forces him to be living out of his office. He is a former military man, who lost a leg in Afghanistan. He’s well organized and thoughtful, despite his sometimes slovenly looks. He is also the son of a famous musician, but tries to hide from that. 

With bills due, threats of death from a former disgruntled client, Strike’s life takes a turn when new secretary Robin shows up (Strike has had many temporaries, but because he can’t afford a real full time assistant) followed by the John Bristow, the half-brother to Lulu Landry, an exotic looking model who recently plunged to her death from her luxury apartment. The police ruled it a suicide –Landry, while famous and rich was also a bit unstable- but her brother thinks it was murder. 

At first, Strike does not want to take the case –the police have closed their investigation, after all- but seeing the money lawyer Bristow is offering, he decides to investigate. Methodical as ever, Strike and very curious Robin are quickly thrown into the world of celebrities and their hanger-ons, as well as a look into Landy’s sad, short life. The characters are vividly drawn and the solution is stylish. 

Since the word broke Galbraith was JK Rowling, the sales of the book went through the roof. Some cynical folks thought this was the plan all along to boost sales of a book that had only sold about 1500 copies between its April 30^th release and July 20^th. But the story was not that simple (read it here). 

Anyways, Rowling says she’ll continue to write under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, which means more whodunits featuring Cormoran Strike and trusty assistant Robin. I think I’ll be there to read them.

JK Rowling Outed As A Father And Ex-Military Soldier

For popular authors, writing under a pseudonym is freeing. 

This was what Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was doing when in April, she released a crime-fiction novel called The Cuckoo’s Calling. Up until Saturday, it was assumed that the name on the book, Robert Galbraith, was the author –even though on the publisher’s website, the biography of the Galbraith says he married father of two with an army background and experience in civilian security. It also acknowledged that Robert Galbraith was a pen name. 

Still, the book got rave reviews back in April, with many saying that this tale was too good to be a debut novel by some retired military person. Was then just luck, as sometimes happens in the publishing industry, where a debut novel gets such high praise? Perhaps, but I don’t think anyone thought it could be bestselling author Rowling, who released her first non-Harry Potter book, The Casual Vacancy, last September to tepid reviews, even though it sold very well (and will be turned into a limited series for the BBC).

She’s not the first author to write under a pseudonym. Man Booker Prize winner John Banville publishes detective novels under the name Benjamin Black, while Interview With A Vampire novelist Anne Rice released a series of erotic novels under the name of A.N. Roquelaure. And long-time Stephen King fans have known that the author published four novels under the name Richard Bachman, while prolific romance author Nora Roberts created J.D. Robb as way to release her futuristic crime series (though she’s also uses the names Jill March and Sarah Hardesty).  Fantasy author Robert Jordan, who created the Wheel in Time series was really named James Oliver Rigney, Jr., but he also used Reagan O'Neal for historical fiction as well as Jackson O'Reilly for westerns. 

Why novelist do this is for varying reasons. Mostly, though, it’s because they want to shift genres and thus leave the bestselling name behind so the newest book can stand on its own. Still, this sometimes angers fans, but in my years working in the retail book business, I've also seen fans turn away from authors like Rowling and, in particular, Anne Rice, because they don't want their favorite author doing other stuff. Too many of Rice's fans have told me they avoid her work, unless it's a vampire tale. When Rowling released The Casual Vacancy, many were upset that she took such a one-eighty turn, and pondered why she just didn't give the fans what they want: more tales set at Hogwarts. But, of course, for writers of books, it's never what the fan wants, but what the writer has stuck in their heads and that must be excised. To misunderstand this equation is to misunderstand why people write at all.

Meanwhile others, like acclaimed author Joe Hill, used a shortened version of his middle name to hide that he was in fact the son of Stephen King.  But the point was with Hill and now Rowling, they wanted their books to stand separate from other works; Hill because he was writing in the same genre as his dad (and story goes that the publisher of his first collection of stories, 20^th Century Ghost, was unaware of Hill’s lineage until about three months before that book collection was released) and Rowling from her Harry Potter franchise.

But her ruse lasted only three months –and in this day and age of social media, maybe a surprise it lasted this long (it seems, as well, that most in the industry were kept in the dark -Kate Mills, a fiction editor at Orion Books, tweeted that she had turned down the novel. "So, I can now say that I turned down JK Rowling. I did read and say no to Cuckoo's Calling. Anyone else going to confess?"). “I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience,” she said in a statement. “It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.”

With the news that Rowling was indeed Galbraith, the book shot up quickly to number 1 on Amazon (and they were already out of stock on the title, giving it’s availability a nebulous 10 to 14 day wait. And over at BarnesandNoble.com, they’re also already out of stock on it) and a lot of brick and mortar stores were caught off guard, having only a handful of the books in stock (the three B&N’s close by my house still seem to indicate they have copies on hand). Depending on the print run of the first edition, though, the book should become a collector item much like the first UK and US editions of Rowling’s Harry Potter book has. If B&N stores are out, the next step is to find independents that may have acquired the book, but seeing that the novel was supposedly a debut from an unknown author, they may have passed it up all together or bought limited quantities.

Books: Lexicon by Max Barry (2013)

Lexicon is a clever, often humorous sci-fi thriller that is all about words. Set in some alternate universe –though we’re never fully sure of that, or the year it is set in- where power is wielded by word-magicians known as poets. People are chosen because they’re good with words, and have a knack of persuasion –the ability to make people do things against their own nature, even kill or be told to kill themselves. 

When we meet Emily Ruff, she’s a teenager living on the streets of San Francisco, coning people out of money by playing the old standard of three-card monte. She is whisked away to an academy, though there is no Harry Potter or Professor Dumbeldore awaiting her, just folks named after poets, like T.S. Eliot and Charlotte Bronte. 

And, as you might expect, she does well, moving swiftly up the ladder, to achieve the greatest accomplishment, a Poet (she is then called Virginia Woolf). Still, her rise to top is not that fully easy, as she has  behavioral issues that get her exiled to a small town in Australia. After a four year stint there -and where she falls in love with a paramedic (something poets are not supposed to do)- she is brought back to DC. But her love for Harry is so strong that steals the “barewood," a device of unimaginable power, perhaps biblical in nature, and ventures back to Broken Hill, where she unintentionally is forced to unleash its horrible power.

By setting the novel in some other place, it gives Max Barry a lot of room not to explain what the “barewood” actually is (and mostly, it’s a MacGuffin) so he can write about the power of language and the use of words, how they persuade us, how they engage us, and how they can be used in the most beautiful way, but can also be used in the most ugly way. It’s a well done thriller that will make you a bit less sure of your friends, foes, family and co-workers when they try to convince you they’re right about something.

Books: Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (2012)

It’s early 1987 in Westchester, NY and there's really one person who understands 14-year-old June Elbus—and it's not anybody at her suburban high school. Nor is it her nice but boring accountant parents or her older sister, Greta, who has recently "turned mean." The only one who "gets" June—who understands her need to wander the woods wearing Greta's old Gunne Saxe dress—is her mother's gay painter brother, Finn. And he's dying of a disease just starting to have a name. After Finn dies, Junie begins to learn the truth about her Uncle; she learns who Finn really was. And who was the tall man with the sad eyes who was banned from Finn’s funeral? Why is her mother so conflicted and why has Greta become so cruel and so distant? For June these questions and many more need to answered, even though her heart is breaking for the loss of her beloved uncle and godfather. 

There is much to love about Tell The Wolves I’m Home, the authors innate ability at turning a poetic phrase being her great talent. The narrative flows and you kind of can’t book the down because you want to know what happens, even though at times I was annoyed by June. 

And while all the characters are somewhat damaged –except Dad, who remains a cipher through the entire book- the cruelty seems a bit excessive. Hey, families are not perfect, I realize, but June seems to 58 year-old woman disappointed with how her life turned out, even though she’s a teenager. The point is, I was getting a bit tired of her doom and gloom outlook on life by the end.

Still, the novel is an emotionally charged coming-of-age story that paints a vibrant picture of a girl caught between being a child and the unknown aspect of adulthood, and Brunt does a good job painting all of June’s emotions. Despite some maudlin passages towards the end, the book is a worthy debut.

Books: Joyland by Stephen King (2013)

The Hard Case Crime imprint series was founded in 2004 by publishers Charles Ardai and Max Phillips. The series recreates, in editorial form and content, the style of the paperback crime novels of the 1940s and '50s that also features original art done in the pulp style. The collection includes both reprints of novels in that genre along with new titles written for that style. 

In 2005, Stephen King wrote The Colorado Kid for the line and it became the most well-known titles. Still, that book, offered little in the way of actual procedural detective-work, no sex, violence or action, possibly no crime, and no solution to its mystery (and somehow, the cable net Syfy was able to create a series called Haven, which is loosely based on the novella. It’s in its fourth season). 

Now King returns with his second story for Hard Case Crime line-up, Joyland. It’s the story of a college student, Devin Jones who spends summer and fall 1973 working at a North Carolina amusement park. Reminiscent of King’s The Body (the novella from Different Season collection that became the movie Stand By Me), it’s told by its sixtysomething narrator looking back. Devin has arrived in North Carolina after being dumped by his girlfriend and is still mourning the death of his mother four years earlier. So he’s escaping the ghosts of his past and trying to find a future. Joyland Amusement offers some solace, and soon the 21 year-old finds himself one of the most popular new kids there, and making life-long friends with Erin and Tom. He also becomes involved with a single-mother named Anne, and her wheelchair bound son Mike, who King gives his patented variation on physic powers. While Dev is enjoying his time there, learning the lingo and slang of carny-style life at Joyland, he also hopes to see the ghost in the park’s Horror House, which is supposedly haunted by young woman who was murdered there. With help from Erin, he begins to investigate the girl’s death and stumbles upon a possible trail of dead women that have spanned years. 

This novel is also, in many ways, a coming-of age story, and much like King in his later years (though it’s a theme that goes way back), he talks about how all our joys, the sorrows, our tragedies and even our triumphs are bound together and can assert themselves at any given time. 

But, for fans of this imprint, they will discover that not much really happens. The mystery is not that deep; the ghost –which is real-, makes only a fleeting appearance and I got the impression that the book is really an over-long short story. Still, I forgive King for these indulges. I love his work and even his weakest stuff is still worth reading.