Erin Watches Movies

In March, I read The Big Short, and over the past weekend, I finally watched the movie version on Netflix. 

It’s a very good film. Although it's no secret I’m a big Christian Bale fan, and I really enjoyed his performance as Dr. Michael Burry, I thought Steve Carell’s performance was the best. (I did appreciate how Bale was framed so that the left side of his face was de-emphasized to help create the illusion that he had a glass eye, like the real Michael Burry. Good cinnamon tography.)

I didn’t realize it while I was watching it, but later when Tit Elingtin watched the movie at my suggestion, I noticed Tracy Letts in the cast list. As you may recall, I heard his name in “HardcoverBound 2,” first thought he was a female and probably quite feminist playwright, and then thought to associate him with the films Bug and August: Osage County. 

Tracy Letts has a small role in The Big Short. It makes sense. He’s a theatre kid, writing plays and acting in movies. Also, his mother was the writer Billie Letts, who wrote Where the Heart Is. It was turned into a movie starring Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd. (I saw it in the movie theater with my friend Jamie in 2000.) Judd, who was in Bug, has thus appeared in films by two different Lettses. 

I didn't read this.

But I digress. In trying to find out a little more about Letts’ acting career, I found upon a photo of Letts with Rebecca Hall and Michael C. Hall (no relation to one another). The Halls and Letts are involved in a film called Christine, scheduled to be released in October (next month).

I recently saw Michael C. Hall in Kill Your Darlings, the drama in which Daniel Radcliffe played Allen Ginsberg. I loved that movie. David Cross was adorable as Ginsberg’s poet father, Dane DeHaan* is dreamy even though Lucien Carr was a shit boyfriend to Allen (repressed much?), and Radcliffe is now my second-favorite movie Ginsberg after James Franco. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the Norman Reedus/Keifer Sutherland/Courtney Love film Beat, with my sweet sweet baby Kyle Secor as David Kammerer, Carr’s creepy stalker. The Kammerer character in KYD is much better written and sympathetic, and Hall does an excellent job playing him.

Rebecca Hall, of course, played the long-suffering wife of Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) in The Prestige. It’s one of my favorite movies, and I’m not the only fan. The Simpsons had its season premiere this past weekend. Mr. Burns re-instated a vaudeville-like stage show like he remembered from his childhood, including a magic act performed by twins Sherri and Terri that referenced The Prestige.

I DID read Christopher Priest's novel - after I saw the movie

I’ve also been watching Rebecca Hall as Edwardian narcissist Sylvia Tietjens, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, in Parade’s End. She will play the title character in Christine.

Christine is Christine Chubbuck, a real person whom I read about in He Who Shall Remain Shameless. 

Sylvia Tietjens isn’t a very sympathetic character. One tends to feel more sympathy for husband Christopher, who is desperately in love with spunky suffragist Ms. Valentine Wannop (Adelaide Clemens, a young Australian who played Myrtle Wilson’s sister in The Great Gatsby), but too old-fashioned to divorce Sylvia. I'm on episode 2 of the 4-part miniseries, and so far the most scandalous thing Christopher and Valentine have done is get lost in the fog and stay out together all night…sitting next to each other. Just sitting, physical contact at an absolute minimum. It’s like the opposite of Jane Eyre. Where Edward Fairfax Rochester was not concerned enough about pursuing the woman he loved while in a bad marriage, Christopher Tietjens was probably too concerned. Lots of unresolved longing and surreptitious eye contact ensue.

Christine Chubbuck, conversely, is a very sympathetic character. Life dealt her a hand so much worse than she deserved. Her severe depression cost her her life. Live on television. We can't see the actual footage, thank Something, but we will see a dramatized version. 

*I saw him in the trailer for Tulip Fever while waiting for Love and Friendship (a Jane Austen adaptation) to start in the movie theater. I want to see that. Christine might be too sad, even though I'm sure Rebecca Hall's acting will be great. Let's see Tulip Fever instead. As of this writing, its release is planned for February 2017. 

No, I did not read this book.

Book Review: 'Vampire Academy' by Richelle Mead

Occasionally, I see a movie that sends me running to read the book it was based on. The Thin Red Line's film adaptation inspired me to read James Jones' entire Wartime Trilogy, which occupied much of my reading time in 2012. When I saw The Prestige, not only did I develop my Titanic-sized crush on Christian Bale, but I was also so intrigued by the story, I read Christopher Priest's novel.

So it was with Vampire Academy. I saw the movie on Valentine's Day (review here) and couldn't get it out of my head. Earlier this week, after a session of ghostwriting at my local library, I sauntered over to the YA section and checked out the first Vampire Academy novel by Richelle Mead.

As I expected, I liked the book even better than the movie. It explained some things that weren't clear, or that I got wrong, when I watched the movie. I thought Rose's mother was a human, for one thing, but it turns out her mom's a famous guardian and a Dhampir. I didn't know the child of a Dhampir mother and a vampire (Moroi, specifically) father was also a Dhampir. This explains Rose's mother's aloofness.

I was slightly less horrified by the dead and wounded animals when I was reading about them than when I saw them on screen. Sometimes it's the visual that really gets you. I know some people were just the opposite on this, but when I read about Rue's death in The Hunger Games, it didn't affect me on such a gut level as when I saw the scene acted out by the beautiful young Amandla Stenberg.

On the other hand, some parts of this book that were delightful to see on film were even more delightful to read. Christian and Lissa's kiss, for example. Richelle Mead's writing shines most when she's writing about a strong passion, whether it's lust, anger, or Lissa's healing powers.

What I hoped would be explained better in the book than it was in the movie - Lissa's Spirit power, and elemental magic in general - wasn't really explored as much as I'd hoped. True, as the first book in the series, Vampire Academy had to pack in a lot of exposition, and perhaps Mead picks up the theme more in later novels.

I find the "fifth element" concept a little fascinating. As a word nerd, I think it's cool that the word "quintessential" literally means "of the fifth element." But what is the fifth element, exactly? What is Lissa's quintessence?

I think I'll read on in this series. I'm curious to know whether Rose ends up with Dimitri or whether she meets someone her own age.

In the meantime, since I don't have the second book in the series, Frostbite: A Vampire Academy Novel, in front of me, I've picked up The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight by L.J. Smith. For me, it'll be the last book in the series, since I'm only reading the ones actually written by Smith.

I AM still reading Middlemarch, but very slowly, as it deserves to be read. It is not exciting book. Even though Jane Eyre told me I would like it if I liked Jane Eyre, I am almost 200 pages in and I am not finding this to be the case.

Enter to win Midsummer Night - Pagan Spirits Book 2 - from Goodreads through March 27

Our crime thriller Eminent Domain is a Kindle Bargain, only $3.99 for a limited time

Two Sexcerpts...

...from books I've read recently. First, Ivy Pochoda's description of sex with a magician whose magic isn't based on trickery or deception but on real magic, from The Art of Disappearing.

"I knew she wanted all the details, but I preferred to keep to myself how Toby's hands flew across my body in a maniacal sign language. When I could have sworn that he was massaging my shoulders, suddenly he was tickling my toes. And when I looked at my toes, I noticed that his hands had moved to my hair. And all the time it appeared that he hadn't taken his lips from mine. Sometimes he managed to make the bed vanish as if we were floating toward the ceiling in an erotic levitation. Sometimes the ceiling itself seemed to disappear and the room flooded with the sky. After it was over, after my magician's hands, which had doubled and redoubled as we reached the finale of our private magic show, had collapsed onto the sateen sheets, I woke up to find the remnants of the conjuring pressed into my body. I found coins on my inner thighs, poker chips on my lower back, the jack of diamonds stuck to my left buttock."

I'm on page 97. So far, the writing style of Harvard graduate and Olympic squash player Ivy Pochoda reminds me of Audrey Niffenegger. I never did read The Time-Traveler's Wife, but I did read Her Fearful Symmetry. Both The Art of Disappearing and Her Fearful Symmetry, I suppose, would be considered magical realism. TAOD also slightly reminds me of Christopher Priest's The Prestige, insofar as they deal with stage magicians whose talents lie not only in showmanship. Like Angiers in the movie version of The Prestige, Toby has lost a lovely assistant in a water tank - the difference is that while (minor spoiler) Angiers' wife drowned (it's completely different in the book), Toby's assistant simply disappeared.

 

Second, from Carrie's Story by Molly Weatherfield (review forthcoming April 4, along with an interview with the author). This snippet takes place at the pony farm, where Carrie is taking part in pony play training.

"We passed a stall where I could see Mr. Finch's shoulders and the back of his...head and hear his moans. I could also see a chain attached to the stall's back wall, trailing down the wall and onto the ground. The chain was moving rhythmically, and I knew, even though I couldn't see her, that attached to its other end, in the straw on the floor of the stall, was Stephanie on her knees with Mr. Finch in her mouth."

I am forever ruined by Person of Interest - now whenever I encounter a character named Mr. Finch, I will think of Harold. Oh, Mr. Finch, you have been very naughty indeed.

But not quite as naughty as Carrie. Her current relationship has introduced her to a whole new repertoire of sexual moves - although nothing as magical as Toby's wizard moves.

Several Hours I Spent Reading Conspiracy Theory Blogs

Once upon a time, I used to host a link on this blog to Nibiru Planet X, a conspiracy theory blog. Its author, Ray Austin, contacted me and asked me if I wanted to host a link on my blog in exchange for a link on Nibiru. I put up his link, but I don't think he ever put up mine. But anyway...

Nibiru Planet X maintains a post about Illuminati symbolism in Kanye West's "Heartless" video.

Creative Commons

What caught my eye about the post mentioned in the link was that it was about Lady Gaga. I'm a fan. Why, only yesterday I was moved to express my support for Mother Monster on Mandy Nicole's blog Pretty Little Endeavors, when Mandy expressed the opinion that she much preferred Madonna to Gaga. But anyway...

I ended up spending a great deal of time reading over MK Culture. Its main premise seems to be that much of pop culture is directly related to, and influenced by, something called Project MKUltra, which a Wikipedia entry defines as "a covert, illegal human research program into behavior modification run by the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Office of Scientific Intelligence. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and finally halted in 1973." Yeshua contends, however, that it still goes on, and that young pop stars all show signs of having been indoctrinated into a specific mind control program.

Creative Commons

Yeshua has a large number of posts related to Lady Gaga, dating back to 2009. One titled "Just Dance" also makes reference to Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna, Ciara, Britney Spears, and Janet Jackson, among other pop cultural phenomena. Across several blog posts, Yeshua contends that the on-stage or on-record alternate personalities represented by pop stars (Beyonce's Sasha Fierce, Janet Jackson's Damita Jo, Madonna's Dita) actually represent alternate personalities caused by intentional personality-splitting through ritualistic abuse.

Public domain

It was an odd thing to read - and, like a supermarket tabloid, it was far too odd, disturbing and intriguing to stop reading. Here are a few highlights of the blog, in chronological order:

Pyramid symbolism in the Spice Girls' "Holler" video

Gnosticism in Shakira's videos

Connecting Madonna to Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe

Goddess symbolism in Ellen Page films, Aaliyah videos

Nicki Minaj, Alice in Wonderland and the Barbie doll persona

Creative Commons

I notice a lot of these female pop stars are people whose names are already listed in my tags, women I've already blogged about. What does this say about me? 

Branching off from Yeshua's blog, I read this intriguing post about the symbolism in The Prestige (the movie that caused me to fall in love with Christian Bale). Then I explored the blog Invoking Mother Spirit (now defunct). Some interesting stuff there, too, such as: Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Amy Winehouse all died on the eve of major awards shows. To my chagrin, it didn't actually have much to do with mother spirit. I love my goddess symbolism, not because I belong to the Illuminati (or want to) but because I'm a witch. That's my spirituality. 

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with any of the theories presented in the posts I read. They were just something that caught my interest today.

My Besties - Favorite Books of 2011, That Is

Looking over the books I read this year, I was surprised by how much YA I read and how little paranormal romance. In part, I blame Amazon Vine - I keep choosing YA books as my twice-monthly free items. My TBR pile going into 2012 has several PNR paperbacks, but I'm in no particular hurry to get to them. I do feel that if I give the genre a bit of a rest, I'll only appreciate it more when I do get back to it.

Not all of these were published in 2011, but this is the year I read them. Here they are in alphabetical order.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. The whole thing is a delicious send-up of pop culture and sexism. My favorite character is Adina, Miss New Hampshire, a journalist embedded in the pageant. She's a smart, Jewish feminist - sort of a teenage Emma Goldman. I also like lesbian, comic-book-loving Miss Michigan (Jennifer), the transgendered contestant (I won't give it away) and Indian-Californian Valley Girl DJ-wannabe Miss California (Shanti).

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris. This is the 11th Sookie Stackhouse book. (Only 2 more to go - .) Loved it! Whether or not Eric actually ends up mated to the vampire queen of Oklahoma, Sookie's turning away from him. Bill's vampire "sister" is out of the picture once again...dare I hope Bill and Sookie will get back together in the series' last two volumes? I'm glad Sandra Pelt is finally out of the way, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Alcide scene (though I'm not sure how Sookie was able to resist the temptation!). If I were Sookie, I think I'd use the cluviel dor to wish Bill hadn't been sent by Sophie Anne, or at least that he hadn't lied about it.

The next book is going to be called Deadlocked.

Dream Lover, edited by Kristina Wright. A collection of diverse, elegantly erotic tales of paranormal romance. Given my personal preference for wolf tales, it may come as no surprise my personal favorite in this collection is Alana Noel Voth's "Moongirl Meets the Wolf Man." Full review here.

Family by Michael Ostow. The young protagonist of this unusual novel-in-verse, Mel, is one of those tragic young adult characters, the likes of which inspired Meghan Cox Gurdon to write her controversial Wall Street Journal essay "Darkness Too Visible." Yet it ends on a hopeful note. Full review here.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. A charming and delightful story, a witches' love story appropriate for all ages. I saw the anime version first (yes, with Christian Bale as the voice of Howl). The plots aren't exactly the same, but they both involve a good deal of green slime, and both are utterly charming. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fairy tale.

Isis by Douglas Clegg. The most beautiful part of this eerie tale is Clegg's description of what the Cornish call the Isle of Apples (Avalon), the land of the dead. But just as J.K. Rowling warned in "The Deathly Hallows" in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, those brought from the land of the dead do not belong in this world. Iris should have listened to the old legends.

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay. O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou some guy named Dylan? It's because in this immensely imaginative novel, Stacey Jay manages to turn everything we think we know about the world's most famous pair of impulsive teenage lovers on its head. At the risk of sounding like a young adult instead of an adult reviewer reading a YA book, OMG, this novel is SO good! Come to think of it, it's both YA and PNR.

Steamlust: Steampunk Erotic Romance, edited by Kristina Wright. There's a good reason why I keep reviewing Cleis Press titles - the publisher consistently puts out high-quality anthologies. I believe the key to good steampunk is the same as the key to good erotic romance: the beauty is all in the details. Fortunately, Wright's editing instincts do not fail her, and Steamlust is full of glorious details. Full review here.

The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty. It's sort of like The Prestige mixed with Harry Potter mixed with the Disney musical Newsies, but with more Jewish characters. Its protagonist is 13-year-old Sacha Kessler, who lives in the tenements, circa 1900. Magic is technically illegal in America, but still widely practiced, and one day Sacha learns he can see magic. This rare talent leads to his new job as an inquisitor's apprentice.

The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin. A Hu-Li is a werefox, but she's so much more than that. She's 2,000 years old, one of a sisterhood of werefoxes from ancient China. These foxes are a kind of energy vampires, using prostitution as a cover to feed off the sexual energy of men. Through a kind of hallucinogenic effect they produce with their fox-tails, A Hu-Li and her sisters never actually have to touch these men. A Hu-Li is, in fact, a 2,000-year-old virgin. For the first time in her extremely long life, A Hu-Li is faced with the prospect of falling in love.

What I'm reading going into 2012: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I read a few of these short stories in grade school, but not at all since then. I'm enjoying them.

The Hanukkah Hotness, Night 5: Scarlett Johansson

This 5th night of Hanukkah is also Christ(ian Bale)mas Eve, so it's only right that the Hanukkah Hottie is Scarlett Johansson, Bale's co-star in The Prestige. Scarlet is Danish and Jewish.

Johansson is a queen of literary adaptations. In addition to The Prestige, based on the novel by English author Christopher Priest, she's been in:

The Girl With the Pearl Earring, a novel by Tracy Chevalier

The Other Boleyn Girl, a novel by Philippa Gregory



Ghost World, based on Daniel Clowes' comic book, and

The Nanny Diaries, a novel by Nicola Kraus and Emma MacLaughlin

...And these are just some highlights - there are others. The Prestige is my favorite, though. In the book, Olivia Wenscombe is a bit more of a vixen than Scarlett's version; when she first auditions as a magic assistant for Alfred Borden, he asks if she brought a costume. She says yes, and then proceeds to take off her clothes and has absolutely nothing on underneath. Her blatant seduction works, and they make love on a nearby couch. I wish that scene had made it into the movie. Also, if I had directed it instead of Christopher Nolan, there would have been an Olivia-Borden-Angiers threesome. It wouldn't fit the plot, but I don't care. Scarlett Johansson, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman would all be naked.

Also, Scarlett released an album of Tom Waits covers. If that doesn't say "You go, Yiddish girl," I don't know what does.



Image: Tony Shek, Creative Commons license

Join me HERE on December 28th for a special Hanukkah post and giveaway.

Peter Joseph Swanson's Latest, 'Punk Minneapolis'

It's not exactly a hot tub time machine, but Peter Joseph Swanson's Punk Minneapolis will take you back to 1989. (I was 12 then.) Forget everything you've seen on I Love the '80s. That's all about corporate yuppie mall stuff that would make Raven, Becky, Sandra, Tope, and Bunny Umber want to puke. They're punkers, and their purpose in life is to rock out, drink beer, steal pizza and other essentials, and offend the yuppie world. Technically, Raven is a darksider, but he hangs out with the punk rockers and shares their philosophy.

Life isn't all pepperonis and salad bars, though. Strange things are happening, things that seem to center on the crazy nun who stalks the uptown Minneapolis pizza parlor (formerly a hair salon) where Raven, Becky, and Sandra work. Is that really her face Raven sees in his second-floor window at night? What is the K-Mart ouija board trying to say? Are there really space aliens in the walls, as Tope says?

Several bizarre accidents and cosmic revelations later, we arrive at the '90s. Punk is dead, and so are some of the characters. Others have moved on to become what they once feared and loathed. Only Raven has remained somewhat true to his artistic ideals, wondering how he can make a novel of the beer-soaked, pizza-greased, Plasmatic chaos that was 1989.

The weirdest part of all is that Peter Joseph Swanson's literary ouija board seems to have channeled some images straight out of my head. He writes about Gothic, a movie about Lord Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley I couldn't get out of my head only days before I read this book. I had also just finished watching The Prestige, which features David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. In the book, Tesla is one of Tope's fixations, even though Tope keeps calling him "Tescula." Peter Joseph Swanson, stay out of my brain.

If the epilogue of Punk Minneapolis puts you in the mood for a peek into the lives of Midwesterners in the 1990s, then follow it up with I Made Out With a Teenage Communist!

The Best Books I Read in 2009

Happy New Year! My first post of 2010 is a look back at the books I really enjoyed reading for pleasure last year.

10. The Surrender of Persephone by Selena Kitt (2009; Phaze Books) retells the Classical Greek myth of the virgin goddess of spring, Persephone, and her abduction by the god of the Underworld, Hades. In myth, Persephone grows into her role as queen of the Underworld to become a powerful and mysterious goddess. In Kitt's uncensored version, Persephone chafes at her mother Demeter's restrictiveness and dim view of males, both human and divine.

Up from the depths of the earth comes Hades, also known as Aidon. He lifts Persephone into his chariot and takes her to the eerily lovely splendor of his Underworld kingdom, the land of the dead. In his mind, this is a perfectly acceptable arranged marriage, a deal between Aidon and Persephone's father Zeus. Persephone feels a mixture of fear and attraction to the handsome, amber-eyed god. A thoroughly modern spin on an ancient fable.

9. From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris. Many things happen in this book (including Alcide's ascension to leader of the Shreveport pack and the appearance of a new fairy), but the entire effort is rather disjointed. Sookie is at her most fickle (she's suddenly keen on Calvin Norris and Eric, not so much Alcide and Quinn), and there is a notable lack of romance. Interesting, but not the best of the Southern Vampire series. On the other hand, Bill seems to want Sookie back...could the long-awaited reconciliation be in the works?

8. Dead After Dark by Sherrilyn Kenyon, J. R. Ward, Susan Squires, and Dianne Love. The four stories in this collection are all highly entertaining. The best of the best is J.R. Ward's "The Story of Son." It's not part of her Black Dagger Brotherhood storyline, but it's excellent, with a truly engaging heroine and a darkly romantic, tragic hero, a bit like Z in the Brotherhood. (And he's my favorite.) This is the first I've read from the other authors, but I'll certainly be wanting more in the future thanks to this introduction. All of the stories could be themed "They came from different worlds." Very spicy, very diverse tales, all very good.

7. Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez. Ever since the days of Scoobie Doo, teens have wondered whether adults were conspiring to get them. And you know what? Sometimes they're right. Daisy Giordano is not only a resident of the quirky town of Nightshade, but also the only "norm" in a family of psychics. When girls at her high school start turning up undead, she and her hunky best friend Ryan must get to the bottom of this mystery. Is a vampire on the loose? Could it be Nurse Phillips, or perhaps Miss Foster, the head cheerleading coach? Daisy may not be gifted with her mother's and sisters' special powers, but she is smart, curious, and above all determined. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, Daisy can.

6. Hell's Belles by Jackie Kessler. There are many reasons to love Hell's Belles by Jackie Kessler (Zebra Books, 2007). One is its heroine, Jezebel, who is literally a cloven-footed demon spawned in the depths of Hell. When Hell undergoes a change in management, succubus Jezebel is forced to give up her career of seducing the souls from mortal men and become a nightmare. Jezebel doesn't adapt well to the change, fleeing the Lake of Fire to become a mortal. And, since mortals have to pay the rent, she becomes a stripper.

Lacking a soul, Jezebel certainly isn't planning on falling in love. Still, when she meets Paul Hamilton, she's more fascinated by him than an ex-demon should be. Paul is beautiful, to be sure, but with his "poet's eyes" and boxer's broken nose, he's also a sweet and sensitive soul.

Other characters in this book are also well-written and interesting. There's Daun, the incubus. He gets his own book, Hotter Than Hell, two more volumes into Kessler's Hell on Earth series. Then there's Lucifer himself, who's given perhaps the most sympathetic and romantic portrayal since Milton's Paradise Lost. I was delightfully surprised by Kessler's reinterpretation of Lucifer.

Another wonderful surprise awaiting readers of Hell's Belles is the music. Kessler animates Jezebel's strip club with with classic Melissa Etheridge, new INXS ("Pretty Vegas," with JD Fortune as lead singer), The Bloodhound Gang and, best of all, a U2 medley with "Desire" and "Mysterious Ways." I wanted to stick a five dollar bill into the paperback to tip the dj.

A fellow reviewer of Hell's Belles found the ending "a bit pat," but I disagree. The ending made me cry, with its poignant blend of sadness and hope. I highly recommend Hell's Belles to all lovers of paranormal and fantasy romance.

5. The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl by Marc Schuster. First rule of parenting: you don't use drugs in front of your kids. Especially if you're the one member of the parent-teacher association charged with running the school's Just-Say-No program.

Audrey Corcoran is blindsided when her husband of ten years leaves her for a much-younger, thinner woman named Chloe. Desperate not to lose her young daughters the way she lost Roger, Audrey decides to get in touch with her fun side. Her adventures lead to her try cocaine, against her better judgement. In this tragicomic novel, Audrey copes with life on and off drugs.

I'm always a little amazed when a male author paints such a touching and realistic portrait of a woman's life. Scott Simon did it for 17-year-old Irena Zaric in Pretty Birds, and Marc Schuster does it for 30-something Audrey Corcoran. Thanks to Desperate Housewives, the suburban mom secretly on drugs may be something of a cliche, but Schuster never allows Audrey's life to become a caricature or a morality play. He simply gives her 292 pages to be her Super Mom + Party Girl self, and readers will be grateful for that.

4. Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta. Thoroughly enjoyable. In this witty novel, Acosta creates a wonderful heroine in Milagro de los Santos. Mil, as she is known to friends, wants what every girl wants: to be taken seriously as a writer, live in rat-free apartment, and maybe find a fabulous guy she can get serious with. That guy is definitely not her ex, Sebastian, the hot writer du jour (del dia?) who is sitting on top of a pile of dark secrets. Along comes Oswald, who may be a vampire, and whose secrets may or may not be of the dark variety. Wonderfully written, funny and romantic, this one is a real winner.

3. CrowWoman and MudGirl by Victoria Selene Skye Deme. The author is, I believe, the illegitimate love child of Sylvia Plath, Barbara G. Walker (who wrote the wonderful Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets), and American Indian writer Louise Erdrich. CrowWoman and Mudgirl is an all-too-brief collection of poems steeped in myth and folklore. The theme, generally, is the reconciliation of the age-old dichotomy of feminine archetypes: is a woman a sweet-faced angel, or a raging bitch-goddess? In Skye Deme's poems, she is daughter, lover, monster, and more. These are big poems for such a tiny book, and deeply satisfying. My personal favorite is "Dreary Summer Day." What sounds like something perfectly mundane is actually a beautifully spun vampire tale.

2. The Prestige by Christopher Priest. First, you have to see the movie, which stars Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as a pair of warring stage magicians. It's sort of a steampunk-ish thing, where turn-of-the-nineteenth century technology meets the late Victorian/Edwardian era. AFTER you've seen the movie (and drooled over your choice of Jackman, Bale, Scarlett Johannson or David Bowie!), read Chris Priest's awesome book, which stunned me by being even weirder than the film.

1. GoneAway Into the Land by Jeffrey B. Allen. Remember, in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, when Willy Wonka took the children and their guardians for a ride in a boat? Remember how the boat ride suddenly because dark and sinister, and you sensed there was something seriously evil afoot in the chocolate factory? Keep that boat ride in mind, and you'll have some idea of where GoneAway Into the Land (2008, Wandering Sage Publications) is going to take you.

"His name was Danny Greber, Daniel Johannes Greber, but I named him the beast." From its opening line, GoneAway crackles with danger. Author Jeffrey B. Allen creates a vivid, animated world in which trains breathe and an attic full of discarded housewares plots its revenge. Clearly, Allen has a poet's eye. His young hero, thirteen-year-old John, has a poet-warrior's heart. Imagine Harry Potter if, instead of the slightly unpleasant Dursleys, Harry had been raised by a full-grown mountain troll. John's beast of a father is unpredictable and dangerous. He takes the story book villain to a whole new level of greed and ignorance.

"The beast" finally goes too far when he disappears, taking John's little sister, Marny, with him. The search for Marny leads John and his mother, Ellie, in the Land, a place they couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams. (Think of Candyland crossed with Gregory Maguire's vision of Oz and you'll have something of an idea.) Allen skillfully combines the everyday world with the fantastic, a seemingly seamless combination which reminds the reader of the very best of fantasy novels. Yet, GoneAway never imitates the style of other fantasies. It remains fresh and surprising, giving the reader little thrills of recognition but never descending into fairy tale cliches.

A note at the end of the book promises the GoneAway series will continue in a second book. The GoneAway series promises to be a fascinating one, as the first book ends on notes of hope, but also of missed opportunity. It will be rewarding to see how the series develops.

GoneAway Into the Land is a highly satisfying reading fix for older children. It will not disappoint adult fans of fantasy, either. Readers who enjoyed Keith Miller's The Book of Flying and other fairy tales for grown-ups will also appreciate GoneAway.