Tag Archives: Fantasy

Bird Summons: Light, Lyrical Lockdown Reading

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I’m almost ashamed to say that I had never heard of the multi-award-winning author Leila Aboulela. Bird Summons – her fifth novel – can be described as both Scottish and Muslim fiction; and yet, as a Scottish Muslim who loves to read, she had not been on my radar at all.

What a treat I had in store.

Bird Summons hinges upon a simple enough premise. Three beautifully, realistically flawed Arab-Scottish women embark upon a journey – a pilgrimage, of sorts – to the remote Highlands, ostensibly to visit the grave of Lady Evelyn Cobbold: “the first British woman to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, to educate themselves about the history of Islam in Britain, to integrate better by following the example of those who were of this soil and of their faith”.

Ostensibly is a good word. Bird Summons is so much than first presents itself. What begins as a nuanced bildungsroman of three immigrant women spanning their forties, thirties and twenties – Salma, Moni and Iman – soon becomes something much more. Into this blend Aboulela seamlessly incorporates ancient folklore stemming from the storytelling traditions of Scotland, India and the Arab world, creating something altogether more enchanting and thoroughly unique. As the threads of the three friends’ lives began to unravel, it was this new thread of allegory and parable that heightened the intrigue for me.

Be prepared: what starts as a story pleasantly grounded in realism, becomes increasingly, thoroughly and enjoyably weird. And yet it never jars. Aboulela makes it easy to embrace the fantastical.

Bird Summons also reads as a sort of love letter to Scotland, and the Highlands in particular. Aboulela’s sympathetic descriptions of the physical landscape her characters traverse certainly evoked a nostalgic, somewhat patriotic twinge for my homeland.

Special thanks to my childhood best friend for gifting me this novel and introducing me to this ‘new’ canon of work. You always promised you’d take me to Stonehaven, and I consider this a promise fulfilled. When they all converged on Dunnottar castle, I thought of you.

Bird Summons, by Leila Aboulela, was published in 2019 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. It was a Guardian Best Book of 2019; shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year 2019; and longlisted for the Highland Book prize 2019.

Reviewed by Nadia Tariq

 

The Boy Who Lost Fairyland By Catherynne M Valente Book Review

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The Boy Who Lost Fairyland By Catherynne M Valente Book Review, book, book review. The Boy Who Lost Fairyland , Catherynne M Valente

This book is the fourth instalment in the popular fairyland series, The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is an intelligent and wonderful fantasy novel for adults as well as children. The book has heart and is a compelling fairy tale. The plot keeps you on your toes and the story  leaves you feeling joy. This is a brilliant and charming novel for readers of all ages. Highly enjoyable. Bestselling children’s author Catherynne M Valente is a winner of the Andre Norton Award and also writes books for adults. Hailed as ‘one of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century’ by Time Magazine, get your hands on a copy now.

When a young troll named Hawthorn is stolen from Fairyland by the Golden Wind, he becomes a changeling – a human boy – in the strange city of Chicago, a place no less bizarre and magical than Fairyland when seen through trollish eyes.

Left with a human family, Hawthorn struggles with his troll nature and his changeling fate. But when he turns twelve, he stumbles upon a way back home, to a Fairyland much changed from the one he remembers.

Soon, Hawthorn finds himself at the centre of a changeling revolution – until he comes face to face with a beautiful young Scientiste with very big, very red assistant . . .

With The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, Catherynne M. Valente’s wisdom and wit will continue to charm readers of all ages.

The Boy Who Lost Fairyland is available here.

 

 

Desiree Holt – the world’s most prolific author of erotic romance

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~ Meet 76-year-old grandmother Desiree Holt: the world’s oldest author of erotic romance, with over 100 steamy novels and ebooks to her name and counting. .

Silver-haired Desiree Holt qualified for a free bus pass in 1996, but has spent her retirement writing over 100 “scorching-hot” sexually explicit novels and e-novels to the delight of fans around the world.

Until now, many readers believed the bestselling author of such steamy works as “On the Prowl” and “Carnal Caresses” was a buxom heroine like the ones featured in her books — released by British erotic romance specialist Total-E-Bound Publishing.

But Holt — whose ‘behind-the-bedroom-door’ stories often involve kinky sex play such as bondage, dominance and threesomes — has decided to come clean about her age.

Holt, who cites the runaway success of British author EL James’s number one bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey as helping the genre gain mainstream acceptance, said: “When I first started writing, erotic romance was still looked down on by many people as nothing more than a form of porn.

“But the incredible popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey
has really opened readers’ minds to the genre, to the point where it’s fine to admit that I am a pensioner in my mid-seventies who just so happens to write about passionate, erotic relationships.

“I’m one of Total-E-Bound’s best-selling authors of this genre and the demand for my books is growing all the time. I think that’s because erotic romance is a powerful form of fantasy — women, and men too, can read it and imagine themselves in place of the characters, doing and feeling things they might be too shy about in their everyday existence.

“Many readers have told me that my stories give them confidence to spice up their sex lives, experiment and express their sexuality. I guess in that respect I’m a bit like an agony aunt, only more graphic.”

Claire Siemaszkiewicz, founder of digital publishing company Total-E-Bound, said: “Desiree has been with us for four years now and in that time has become a firm favourite with readers.

“We believe she is the oldest writer of erotic romance in the world, but I’m sure none of her fans will be concerned with her age. The quality of the stories and characters is the important thing to them, not how many candles the writer blows out each birthday.

“If anything, Desiree should be seen as an empowering figure in the fight against age discrimination. There’s no reason why sex should be taboo for older people.”

Born in 1936, mother-of-three Holt carved out a successful career for herself in journalism, PR and music management — looking after a number of small-time rock bands — before retiring in 2000 at the age of 64.

At first she planned to spend her golden years fulfilling a life-long ambition to write mystery novels — but became “hooked” on erotic romance after buying a “racy” novel to see what it was like.

With the full support of late husband David, Holt “threw” herself into the underground sex scene to research what would be her first erotic romance novel, 2007’s Candy Caresses, joining online forums for the BDSM (Bondage, Dominance, Sadomasochism) and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) communities.

Since then she’s published 105 novels, novellas and short story collections, building up a network of regular contacts ranging from mistresses, swingers, and fetishists to Army soldiers — for her latest book, Unconditional Surrender.

Last year, she even visited a bondage club at the age of 75 to gain a better understanding of the worlds she writes about — though, she insists, as “an observer only”.

She is now believed to be the world’s oldest author of erotic romance.

She said: “The inspiration for the stories comes from every place and research is always ongoing. I based the hero of one book on my doctor — simply because he’s so sexy.

“Another book, my novella All Jacked Up, I wrote for my son, because I wanted him to settle down. It’s about a man reaching forty who’s still waiting for the woman of his dreams only to have the most unexpected female walk into his life. I think he appreciated my motherly concern.

“Though I’ve not tried all the things I write about, I do find them all fascinating — far more so than traditional granny pursuits such as knitting. I’m treated well because I respect everyone as individuals, regardless of whether they express their love through kisses and cuddles or whips and chains.”

Holt, who lives in Texas, US, says that though her family refuse to read her books, they approve of her writing and affectionately call her the “Queen of Hill Country Erotica”.

But, she adds, there will always be some people who find her choice of career “distasteful”.

“I was nervous in the beginning because, while my kids are all adults, I am still ‘Mom’ to them and therefore shouldn’t know this kind of stuff. But they are my biggest supporters and brag about me a lot. Even my 20-year-old granddaughter thinks it’s exciting.

“But I do live in a very conservative community and occasionally someone will look at me as if I have a contagious disease when I reveal what I do.

“I always tell them that maybe they should read one novella and see that it’s really not what they think. At its heart, erotic romance is still about exploring characters’ relationships and emotions — the sex just helps reveal the intensity of their feelings.”

Desiree Holt’s latest novel, Unconditional Surrender, is available now from Total E-Bound Publishing. Visit www.total-e-bound.com

Sucker Punch {Film Review}

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Ever thought Inception was lacking on imaginative sets for the dream sequences and weren’t too bizarre enough? Well Sucker Punch may answer to your prayers. Zack Snyder has had a tendency to produce films that look visually stunning, that if you pause it at any moment; it’d look amazing as your computer wallpaper!

Although where the visuals soar; the story/characters, however, fall flat! The characters in this film have barely anything to work with and hardly have any characterisation through-out the entire duration. Our main protagonist is Baby Doll (Emily Browning), and her story seems ripped off from Cinderella (one of her biological parents dies, so her step-father can inherit her will. Though slight difference is he doesn’t, and decides to get drunk and commit incest! The step-father is so cartoonish, that you feel he should have a mustache so he can twirl with his finger and laugh manically) and Alice in Wonderland! The problem I have with Alice in Wonderland (including last year’s Tim Burton’s take) is it doesn’t have a story. It’s just Alice going through a world and bumps into bizarre stuff that happens out of nowhere. This film has a barebones plot; Baby Doll gets committed to a mental institution after nearly killing her step-father, finds out (not too discreetly) she’s going to be lobotomised and plans to escape with four other female patients.

The girls are Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung). Again, barely have anything to work with from a script by Zack Snyder and Steve Shibuya. As soon Baby Doll arrives at the institution, she imagines it as a brothel (follow me so far?). This basically turns into Moulin Rouge but mixed with Showgirls. Not something you would want to mix together! Their psychiatrist/dance teacher, Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino), really hams her performance as it sounds like a hilariously clichéd Transylvanian accent. Jon Hamm is completely wasted in this film, he barely has screen-time to be considered a character! Scott Glenn plays as the Wise Man, he plays the archetype old wise man Fu Manchu (though saying that lightly). Some of the dialogue he’s given are cringe-worthy (i.e. “Don’t ever write a check with your mouth you can’t cash with your ass.”), it just sounds like rejected fortune cookie lines and just dumb!

The whole escape plan sounds like a video game, and this film would’ve worked better as a video game! They have to collect five items; Map, Fire, Knife and a Key. The fifth thing is a mystery (although you can see it coming a mile away!). This is where the action sequences that were the eye-candy in the trailer(s) come in.

The action sequences are shot very well, and can see Zack Snyder is a very competent action filmmaker. Although in order for your action sequences to feel exciting; you have to show your characters have their lives at stake or something that could jeopardise their goal. The action sequences in this film feel like it’s there for the sake of it! The characters jump out of a helicopter with no parachute, and smash to the ground like concrete. So there’s barely any moments where you feel worried for them because they just go through it like it was nothing. The worse part of it is it’s boring! There was not a single moment where it made my jaw-drop. Remember the hallway fight scene in Inception? Where they actually filmed with a real set and did it with no CGI? Well this is the complete opposite. We’ve dealt with films that have excessive CGI and have done better (The Lord of the Rings, Avatar etc.). This would’ve been great if it was a short film but having it stretched to a feature-length film with barely a story developed; you’re just asking yourself “what’s the point?”.

I know I shouldn’t think in a movie like this, but it just doesn’t make sense! For example; why do they use contemporary weapons, although this is set in the 50s/60s? How would Baby Doll come up with a futuristic setting with these anime robot-mechs? It looks cool, but logistically it doesn’t make sense in context with the time period it’s set in.

This is an unfortunate case where you give too much money (only estimated $82 million) and creativity to a filmmaker than sadly wastes it. This will without a doubt be an early contender for Worst Picture. Hopefully his next film, Superman: Man of Steel, will be a huge improvement because he’s going to need it!

Overall; If you’re easily amused to go see a film for the visual effects, beautiful looking girls in scantily-clad clothing and fighting against nazi zombies and dragons; then this is will be a treat. If you’re looking for any decent story-line or characters you give a damn; then I’d avoid this movie. A strong case of ‘style over substance’, and have had one too many of those (along with not only Alice in Wonderland but also Tron: Legacy).

2 out of 5