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Book Review: Definitely Not Kansas: Book One in the Nocturnia Cycle by F. Paul Wilson and Thomas Monteleone

Definitely Not Kansas  Curses! The problem with missing out on getting up a review in a timely fashion is that this book, Definitely Not Kansas: Book One in the Nocturnia Cycle, initially published in a limited edition, is not currently available. I hope the publishers will put it out as a trade paperback or at least an ebook soon, though, as that’s the best way to reach the market this is actually intended for. Most readers of YA or middle grade fiction aren’t seeking out small presses for their reading material, and this sounds like a book that would definitely snag their interest. Here’s the review for Definitely Not Kansas, anyway, though, because with a recommendation this enthusiastic, certainly those outside the horror community ought to know about it. You know, like librarians. Who can’t purchase a book that is out of print, so come on, great publishers, and get that book out in a more easily available edition! Read on for a great review and go hassle these folks into getting it out into more hands.

–The Editor

 

 

Definitely Not Kansas: Book One of the Nocturnia Chronicles by F. Paul Wilson & Tom Monteleone

Borderlands/Gauntlet Press, 2013.

 

We’re definitely not home anymore, and I doubt Dorothy would last a minute in Nocturnia. Munchkins would likely find themselves on a menu in this imaginative, fascinating homage to Oz.

The last time Borderlands Press and Gauntlet Press combined their talents to produce a single book, readers were treated to Shadow Show, which garnered a Bram Stoker Award.  So when the two presses decided to collaborate again, fans wondered how the presses could top that title.  The result of their partnership is a young adult novel penned by two well-known authors.  F. Paul Wilson and Thomas F. Monteleone are no strangers to awards, blockbuster books, or each other.  Where many collaborations fall short due to varying factors, these two created a fantastic, delightfully horrific world , with writing that flows effortlessly. It could be due to the fact that they’ve been buddies for decades or that they both know how to tell a lean, mean, story.  Merging styles is difficult– here, however, the writing is seamless and it feels like a single author penned the entire novel.  Not once does the reader feel as if he or she is holding a book; instead, the covers disappear as the reader falls into the grand world Wilson and Monteleone have created.

Definitely Not Kansas owes something to The Wizard of Oz, of course, but that inspiration is merely jumping off point.  Nocturnia is a much darker, more frightening place and when the tornado drops Emma and Ryan into the strange world, the similarities end and all bets are off.  On a quest to find Telly, their missing older brother, Emma and Ryan are pulled through a vortex where reality ceases to exist. Nocturnia operates in parallel to Emma and Ryan’s world, separate and deadly, as readers discover the origins of these creatures on Earth and even the flowers can kill.  The nation of monsters is a nation of states which exist uneasily with each other and something much darker frightens them all.

Humans are considered slaves and cattle, bred for labor– and food — in a land inhabited by vampires, werewolves, zombies, and more. This could be considered a “kitchen sink” story, cashing on popular tropes, and likely would be just that in lesser hands. Yet here, the setting is character, and the creatures reside in a well-constructed world where they are anything but clichés.

Emma and Ryan propel this tale as they take the reader along a journey of survival and discovery. Both are strong lead characters and the cast of monstrous villains are anything but cookie-cutter caricatures. Surprises await around every corner and one can only imagine where the next book will travel.

An interesting afterword is included, on how the series was created by both authors, and will only further intrigue the reader. Monteleone and Wilson obviously love living in Nocturnia, and it shows on the pages.  It’s doubtful that readers will be able to resist, either, on this frightening, but fun, ride.

Nocturnia takes the reader by the throat and the heart, and never relents. Anyone who loves a good story, and who still embraces the youth within, will tumble head over heels into the vortex for this new series.

 

Reviewed by Dave Simms

The Witching Hour @ Your Library

What with vampires, monsters, and ghosts taking center stage, it’s really kind of amazing how much there is out there on witches! For those of a witchy bent, here’s a brew of fictional witches of all kinds. Some of them are good witches, some are bad and even evil, and some fall somewhere in-between. Got someone looking for a spellbinding reading or movie-watching experience? Here are some suggestions. Note, these are all over the map, so take care before making your recommendation.

    The Witching Hour is the first book in the Mayfair Witches series. Sure, it’s long, and it has a gigantic, annoying expository chunk in the middle, but I still find the story addictive and, well, bewitching. Par for the course with Anne Rice, in the next books (Lasher and Taltos) the story gets pretty twisted. But for gothic and erotic supernatural horror, it’s a slam-dunk.

 

 It’s impossible to write about witches without at least a mention of  Shakespeare’s literary creations, as they toil and trouble, making predictions that can lead only to disaster. Just as with The Crucible, the play-that-shall-not-be-named has been made into a movie– actually, more than once. The most recent production stars Patrick Stewart (formerly known as Captain Picard of the Starship Enterprise) who is a brilliant Shakespearean actor and only gets better as time passes. If you really want to make required reading of this play a killer experience, there’s no better way than with a live (or filmed, anyway) performance, right at Halloween.

 

        The ultimate American fairytale is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and from the book, and especially the movie, come some of our most memorable depictions of witches. Who can forget the evil, green skinned, hook-nosed Wicked Witch of the West, in her black dress and pointy hat? When most of us picture witches today, or go shopping for that evil witch costume (as opposed to the sexy witch costume) her face is the one that comes to mind. The recent but mostly forgettable Oz movie spectacular did kick that look up a notch, giving the wicked witch green claws and a truly hideous expression, and was probably the most memorable part of the entire film. Taking a different perspective, Gregory Maguire penned Wicked, a novel sympathetic to the Wicked Witch’s point of view and life. Wicked has a sequel, Son of a Witch, and also spun off a Broadway musical, complete with soundtrack. Seek them out and put them togethe with some of the gorgeous new editions of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and you’ve got a great-looking display that will attract library users of all ages. 

 

 I’ve just discovered Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan books and am really enjoying them. It’s not so much that I like Rachel, but she really shows ingenuity in getting out of some crazy scrapes, and she makes friends and allies in the oddest places. Rachel, a witch, lives in Cincinnati in an alternate world where paranormal creatures have “outed” themselves and live in a separate area of the city called The Hollows, with a legal structure parallel to the human legal system. Naturally this leaves a lot of room for chaos, much of which centers on Rachel and her supernatural business partners, who are a hoot, when they’re not being dangerously lethal. Readers who are looking for a fix after finishing the Southern Vampire Mysteries might very well enjoy Kim Harrison. 

 

      Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed are both great television series that had witches as either main or important secondary characters. One character arc follows Willow (one of Buffy’s two closest friends, for the uninitiated) as she grows as a witch, becomes addicted to magic, and overcomes her addiction. Season Six is the season that, while she grieves over her great love’s senseless death, she dives deeply into the black arts to seek vengeance. While not all fans of the show appreciate this season, it’s a very powerful and heart-wrenching television watching experience. Charmed follows the lives and decisions of three adult sisters who discover that they are witches and must work together to defeat evil wizards and demons. There’s no debate over whether these are good witches or bad witches, but their choices aren’t always so black and white. It’s a fun little show, but not one where you can expect chills and thrills. 

 

     The Witches of Eastwick and Practical Magic are both adaptations of literary works. The Witches of Eastwick is based on a novel of the same name by John Updike, and Practical Magic is based on a novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman.The movie of The Witches of Eastwick has a fantastic cast, with Jack Nicholson playing the devil and Susan Sarandon, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer playing three very bored women stuck in a small New England town, who are ready to rock and roll. Dramatic, sexy, and funny, it’s a wild ride. Completely opposite in nature,  Practical Magic is the story of two sisters who are also witches, with an unfortunate family curse that leads any man they fall in love with to an untimely death. This is a gentle, magical, and well-acted movie that definitely does not fall into the category of horror, and could be watched not only during the Halloween season but at any time of year.  Those who like Practical Magic might also like the novel The Weird Sisters

 

    There’s just something claustrophobic about small towns, whether they’re isolated in the mountains or gated communities.  Once you’re in, it’s hard to escape the supernatural… or the neighbors. That’s what happens in both Chris Bohjalian’s The Night Strangers and Susie Moloney’s Thirteen. In Bohjalian’s novel, a guilt-ridden pilot moves his family into a mountain village only to find that the unfinished basement is haunted by the deceased passengers of the plane he crashed. In addition to his personal ghosts, though, there are hidden dangers to his family from members of the local community as well. In Moloney’s book, the adult daughter of a woman who has recently died returns to settle the estate, only to find herself entangled in the lives of the people living in the suburb in which she grew up– a place where there seem to have been an unusual number of “accidental” deaths, and finds her beliefs tested by the people around her. Where are the witches in an isolated area, when a stranger moves in? Why, they’re all around you.

 

       So now let’s talk movies. The Craft is a mildly scary movie targeted at teens, with four misfit girls discovering they have supernatural powers and one of them deciding to use them for evil purposes. It has Neve Campbell and Fairuza Balk, and probably would appeal to fans of Charmed.  Hocus Pocus is about three witches resurrected by a teenager who spend most of their current Halloween also trying to capture children’s souls. While that sounds positively horrific, the child-chasing witches are played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, so it’s entertaining as well. This might be a little much for younger children, but the comedy and horror balance out nicely to make this one work as a good Halloween movie for families with older children.

 

               On to scarier stuff. These you won’t want to watch with the faint of heart or queasy of stomach. The Blair Witch Project, is, well, the Blair Witch Project, a movie that’s well-known by now. Supposedly an actual film taken by college students on a trip through the woods as they explore the legend of the Blair Witch, it’s shaky looking and the camera is unreliable as a storyteller, making it incredibly creepy. I don’t know how scary people find it today, but it had me shaking in my seat when I first saw it in the theater. The last movie, Suspiria, is about an American dancer who arrives at her new ballet school to find that it houses a coven. Suspiria is an Italian horror film by filmmaker Dario Argento, who is not well-known here but is considered a master in horror filmmaking. It is extremely vicious, violent, and gory, with a creepy soundtrack, unsettling atmosphere, bizarre colors influencing the set, and disturbing camerawork. In other words, if you have someone looking for an average, mainstream movie, this is not the ticket. But if you have a hardcore horror fan walk in looking for something different, this is it. 

Really, there’s a witch for everyone, be it from fantasy, paranormal fiction, comedy, children’s books, non-fiction, or horror in its various permutations (and you can see from this list that there are a lot of those). Have a great time connecting readers and viewers with the right witchy title for the Halloween season, or, really, at any time of year!