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Book Review: Conquer: Fear of a Black Cat by Edward M. Erdelac

Conquer: Fear of a Black Cat (John Conquer series, book 2) by Edward M. Erdelac

Self-published, 2023

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8856895413

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

 

Forget about those silly excuses for black heroes that Marvel comes up with: if you want a real black hero-you call John Conquer.  Whereas book 1 in the series was a collection of short stories, Conquer gets his own full-length (over 500 pages) novel this time.   The book succeeds on all levels, and hopefully won’t be the last one in the series.  John Conquer is without a doubt one of the most interesting book characters out there today.

 

Set in 1978 Harlem, private investigator John Conquer has finally got a case that may be too much for him.  People are turning up dead all over Harlem with their hands cut off.  For Conquer, this case is personal- one of the victims is the lady who raised him.  What follows is a good detective crime story that races all over the city, from Studio 54, to CBGB’s, to Untermeyer Park, as Conquer tries to put the pieces together.

 

This book is a period piece, and in that aspect, it’s absolutely perfect.  The author did a staggering job of making 1970’s NYC seem real: this seems so true to life you can almost smell the spray from the graffiti on the subways.  The descriptions, the mannerisms, the dialogue: it’s all perfectly true to life.  The book is a phenomenal example of world-building: .

 

The plot itself is a good one. The author again does a fantastic job of mixing voodoo and all sorts of magic into a standard detective story. It’s what gives the Conquer stories their unique flavor.  Sometimes Conquer has to pound the pavement like a normal detective, but often he has voodoo tricks he can use to help solve the case.  One improvement over the last book is this time, some of the lesser-known gods and magic items come with a bit of background, so readers won’t need to make Wikipedia runs.  Some of the characters from the previous stories return. Detective Lou Lazzaroni plays a part, and Conquer is, thankfully, still driving the Cordoba inhabited by the wise-cracking ghost, Pope.  Conquer and Pope make a perfectly mismatched team, especially when they are squabbling about disco.  Some real people from the 1970s also pop up in the story.  David ‘Son of Sam’ Berkowitz plays a part, and there are also appearances by Muhammed Ali, Andy Warhol, and…Donald Trump.  (anti-Trumpers will be ecstatic with Trump’s part)  The gangs from the 1970’s cult classic film The Warriors also pop up in the narrative.  The new characters in the book are quite intriguing, with Conquer’s drunken sort-of security guard Oshkosh being one of the most fun.  For a detective story, this one has a fair amount to keep track of, but the author wisely inserted a recap into the story around page 300 for any readers who might have gotten a bit lost.

 

‘Da bottom line here: this is a fantastic knockout of a story.  You wanna hang with the slickest, baddest cat out there? You’ve gotta read Conquer.  Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ll see of him.  Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on December 8, 2023 by , Reply

Interview with Steph Post

Steph Post

Monster Librarian reviewer Dave Simms recently had the opportunity to interview Steph Post, the author of the recently published book Miraculum, reviewed here.

Steph is also the author of A Tree Grown Crooked (Polis Books, 2018), a semifinalist for the Big Moose Prize, and the Judah Cannon crime novels Lightwood (Polis Books, 2017) and Walk in the Fire (Polis Books, 2018). Her short fiction has appeared in a number of publications and anthologies, and her short story “The Pallid Mask” was a nominee for the Pushcart Prize. She has published many book reviews and author interviews and is currently the writing coach at Howard W. Blake High School in Tampa, Florida.  You can visit her website at stephpostfiction.com.

This is a really fun interview, so definitely take the time to read it and enjoy! You also might want to check out her website now, as she is running a contest for art from the book through March 31st.

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DS: Miraculum was written between two of your Judah Cannon books  Why is this your third/fourth book and not second? Crazy publishing world or by design– or both?

 

SP: Definitely the crazy ins-and-outs of the publishing world, but I think the timing actually worked out perfectly. I sort of exist between different genres, so I think it worked out in my favor to establish a base with the crime fiction community before jumping over to fantasy/literary/historical/whatever we’re calling Miraculum today. Also, from the writing standpoint, I like to switch genres with every book I write. That way, there’s no chance of getting bored! I just finished up the last of the Judah Cannon books this past year and now I’m back to a novel that much more resembles the style of Miraculum, so I’m sticking to my zig-zagging path.

 

DS: Your art related to Miraculum is fascinating. Any thought to doing something professional with this? Art show? Illustrated version of the book? Booth at a local carnival?

 

SP: Thank you! I don’t consider myself a professional artist by any means, but I do love painting and printmaking. I especially love that it’s not a career in the way writing is for me. I can just mess around, without any of the pressure I put on myself when it comes to my novels. I’ve sold paintings in the past, and will be selling these Miraculum pieces as well, but mainly this project was a way for me to reconnect with a book I wrote three years ago, and also to connect with readers and fans. I wanted folks reading Miraculum to see some of the additional layers in the story that might not be obvious between the actual covers of the book. In a way, the paintings are a peek behind the curtain. I’m running a contest on Instagram right now— anyone who sends in a photo of the book (audio, Kindle, library book, doesn’t matter)—is entered in a drawing to win their choice of paintings. The contest ends March 31st and once the two winners (plus a winner of a custom piece) have chosen their paintings, I’ll put the rest up for sale. The contest is also a way to interact with readers and so I’m loving the project all around.

 

DS: I absolutely love your tattoos – and Ruby’s. The symbolism of her ink gives the novel a very cool dimension of character. Which of yours means the most to you?  I intend on getting one for every novel  published. Two down so far.  What’s your view on them?

 

SP: Well, thank you again. Speaking of… that reminds me. I need to make a tattoo appointment…. There’s no way I could pick one tattoo of mine that means the most to me—I don’t even know how many I have! My most recent tattoo is a quote from ‘The Little Prince’ in honor of all the dogs I’ve loved who have passed away. Every tattoo is hugely important to me, whether in what it means or in where I got it (I like to get tattooed when I travel), or in why I got it. I think everyone has different reasons for getting tattoos, no one reason better than another, but for me, it’s like a record of my life. A visual story, in a way, that only I understand, but that keeps me grounded.

 

DS: Ruby reminds me of a badass version of Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man. Where did the inspiration for her come from?

 

SP: See above…. I think the tattooed part of Ruby comes from me. What I love about her tattoos, though, is that they are a doorway to discovering herself and her power. They’re a mystery, but a Pandora’s box once unlocked and opened.

 

DS: A Tree Born Crooked, Lightwood, and Walk in the Fire live in the crime genre. Was there a conscious decision to jump back in history for Miraculum‘s semi-historical realm? I understand that you’re going further back for the next novel. Do you think this could be a trend for you?

 

SP: Oh yes. The novel I’m currently working on is set in the 1890s. I love studying history and I think time periods of great change (such as the 1920s, the 1890s, etc.) are especially fascinating. Above all, though, the story has to rise above the setting of the novel, and this is something I’m really having to learn to balance, the farther I go back in time to write. I’ve got a long way to go on this new book, so I haven’t yet seen the book that will follow it. But I really like playing around on the fringes of fantasy/history/horror/adventure etc., so we’ll see how it goes.

 

DS: Influences? Who has shaped your writing, personality, and soul? Beyond writers, what musicians or artists impacted your creativity?

 

SP: Oh wow, that’s a weighted question. I’m going to just stick to those who have influenced my writing: definitely Michael Ondtje, David Eddings, Sheri Reynolds and Dorothy Allison. I’m sure there a million more, but I was reading those writers back when I first started to consider the idea of one day becoming an author myself, and so I think they had a huge impact on defining my direction.

 

DS: What’s next for you? Don’t feel obligated to stop at books, although what I read about the story set in 1890 sounds intriguing.

 

SP: While I’m still promoting Miraculum, of course, most of my energy is now going into the new book, which will most likely consume me for the next nine months. When I’m working on a book, I tend to get hyper-focused, and so I’m not one of those talented authors who can juggle a dozen creative endeavors at once. But when I do come up for air, I’m busy with dogs, chickens, gardening and, of course, art projects.

 

DS: You are very active on social media promoting other writers, both new and established. That is amazing – and not something that’s common enough in writing. We’re good with the support overall, but to publicly do so is refreshing. Writers’ groups and organizations rarely help much (although ITW has done wonders for me and others).  Your thoughts on this?

 

SP: When I was first starting out, I reached out to a few other writers, on social media, because I had absolutely no physical writing community. I don’t have an MFA, I’ve never been part of a writing group, I’m a very lone wolf when it comes to the actual writing process. I didn’t know the ropes at all and I started asking to interview writers as way of making connections and trying to learn what the hell I was doing. And I was stunned by how many writers, famous writers, were so warm and kind and open. They instilled in me the need to always, always, support other writers first. Not just because it will usually come back around to help you one day (and it has for me), but because it’s the right thing to do. There is not a finite amount of author success out there in the world that we need to scrabbling over. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. And we should use any bit of success we might be fortunate enough to find to help pull up other writers, just as we ourselves were pulled up.

 

DS: What do you want readers to take away from Miraculum?

 

SP: I hope they get lost a little bit in the magic of storytelling. There’s a million layers to Miraculum and from what I’ve seen, all types of readers are taking away different things. But I hope everyone who reads it is reminded of why storytelling in and of itself is so vital. And so much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on March 17, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Evangeline of the Bayou by Jan Eldredge, illustrated by Joseph Kuefler

Evangeline of the Bayou

Balzer + Bray, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-0062680341

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook

While the supernatural Southern Gothic tradition and Louisiana setting are well-known in adult and YA fiction, I have never come across a supernatural Southern Gothic middle-grade novel like Evangeline of the Bayou,  that so beautifully evokes the wilderness of bayou country, so that it is almost a character itself ( I was reminded of Carl Hiaasen’s descriptions of the Everglades in Scat and the descriptions of the swamps of  Texas in Kathi Appelt’s Keeper and The Underneath,  also middle-grade novels, but otherwise these are very different kinds of books).

Eleven-year-old Evangeline Clement lives in the bayou with her grandmother. Evangeline is the last in a long line of  “haunt huntresses”, women with the power and skill to defeat the supernatural creatures of the bayou, and is anxiously waiting to come into her powers and meet her familiar, which must happen by the time she turns 12. Her disastrous attempts to overcome supernatural creatures on her own suggest that she’s not quite ready to operate independently, though. When her grandmother volunteers to help with a supernatural problem in New Orleans, Evangeline, as her apprentice and assistant, accompanies her to the Midsomer family’s luxurious mansion to try to discover what might be ailing the beautiful Mrs. Midsomer. At the Midsomers’, Evangeline encounters Camille, the solicitous housekeeper; Julian Midsomer, the maddening, bluntly honest, routine-bound son of her hosts; the skeptical Mr. Midsomer; the distressed Mrs. Midsomer, who is running out of time; and Laurent Andreas, leader of the exclusive krewe to which Mr. Midsomer belongs. She is not impressed with the trappings of wealth, and her inner commentary on it is great, but she has a good heart and genuinely wants to help.

When Evangeline’s grandmother breaks her leg just before things are about to go out of control, it is up to Evangeline, unwillingly accompanied by an unbelieving Julian, to stop things before it’s too late.  The tension builds slowly in the Midsomers’ mansion at first, but once we’ve met all the characters, the story moves at a breakneck pace, and exposition is tied in so skillfully that you almost don’t notice. As dark as the story gets (and it gets pretty dark) it still has moments of humor, and strongly demonstrates the power of love and self-sacrifice. There are certainly some outrageously unbelievable moments; for instance, Evangeline’s grandmother is far more resilient than anyone could possibly expect from an ordinary human being. In a story populated with banshees and revenants, though, I’m willing to cut Eldredge a little slack.

Author Jan Eldredge avoids writing in dialect, which I think works fine for this book, but the names of the creatures Evangeline encounters are so unusual that I didn’t realize that the supernatural creatures in the book are all grounded in Cajun folklore until I reached the glossary at the end (searching the Internet for more information on these creatures was a challenge, and there were many I couldn’t find). As a native of Louisiana, perhaps it didn’t occur to Eldredge that children interested in monsters and cryptids who are not from the area would have trouble tracking additional information down.

While Evangeline, the bayou, and the supernatural creatures of Louisiana are the most convincing characters in this book, as far as I can tell, it is unique in its combination of genres in middle-grade fiction. Try it with kids who are interested in ghost stories, cryptids, supernatural creatures, monsters and monster hunters, books set in the American South, and American folklore. This book has an audience out there, just waiting to find it. Recommended.

Contains: Violence, murder, death in childbirth, blood

Posted on May 3, 2018 by , Reply