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Book Review: “A Lunatic’s Laugh,” by S. T. Blake

Zita Harrison

Is Dominique a clairvoyant? A witch? A seer? Or is she just plain mad? As a child, she foresees the death of a boy…or does she cause it? As an adult, she sees creepy dolls that are alive, shadows hanging from the ceiling, her therapist boss turning into a Russian doll, sobbing, laughing, spattered with blood…I would have checked myself into an institution by then or started taking antipsychotic drugs.

She inherits her Nan’s mansion, a creepy place with windows that stare into people, and live gargoyles whose laughter is like “the whistling sands in a desert storm” (shudder). It is the work of the “architect,” a genius who also designed an asylum in which he himself was incarcerated, who was thought to be mad, to practice black magic, and to have transferred his soul into the asylum, making the building “animate”. Yikes.

But things are even more complicated. As the book progresses, we are greeted with “Welcome back, Promised child” (creepy!), and discover that Nan had secrets that made her determined not to allow her granddaughter to return to the mansion.

Add to the above a priest who struggles with the terrible beliefs slowly being unearthed, a gardener and housekeeper who seem as mad as everyone else, and we have a macabre psychological exploration of evil bordering on madness, and perhaps the inefficacy of religion, akin to the Exorcist 3 – the most insidious one in my opinion.

The writing is jarring, with erratic back and forths in time, shifts between multiple points of view, and spine-chilling descriptions designed to make readers feel the chaos, madness, and the “lunatic’s laughter” themselves.

Being a fan of the understated kind of Gothic these days, (past my Exorcist days!) I would have preferred that it was a bit more toned down. But fans of all-consuming Horror will love it.

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Book Review: “The Contagion” by Jeff Chapman

Zita Harrison

This is a mesmerizing book about the adventures of a cat/human/shaman in the midst of a contagion. Merliss weaves through the fantasy world created by Chapman, using her vast knowledge of the universe and extrasensory perception to accomplish what mere humans can’t.

Everything is brought to life in Chapman’s narration – “plants whispered among themselves in dry, husky voices” – and Merliss sees them all: the rivers, trees, leaves, the air. In a stunning sensory journey of sights, sounds, smells, and touch, we follow her through the joys and perils of her mission to take care of and protect all life.

There is a plethora of fascinating creatures: shapeshifting pookas, water goblins – giant salamanders with “backward slanting teeth and claws”, tree spirits, ogres. And Merliss does whatever it takes to fulfill her role, including biting off a water goblin’s eyeballs – yech. Yes, there is lots of gory detail when appropriate for those who seek it.

I was continually amazed and charmed by Chapman’s creative and unique use of figurative language – “the decades weighed on him like stones crushing a condemned man.” Wow. The action as Merliss zipped in and out of trouble and different settings was also vividly and skillfully described.

I would give this book 5 stars just for the writing. However, I think the “contagion”, which was the title of the book and gives the impression that will be the main storyline, gets lost in Merliss’ exploits. I would have liked to have seen that more developed. By the middle of the book, the detailed descriptions almost became a little tiresome and I found myself getting impatient for news of the contagion.

Otherwise, a very enjoyable read.

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Book review: The Compound: YA Dark Dystopian by E.K. Frances

Zita Harrison

Alex and his friends and family live in a compound designed to protect them from savage creatures living in the forest. The creatures are not seen, but their handiwork is left on gruesome display, generating fear within the group and gratitude for the protection. And there’s a lot to be grateful for. They are housed, fed, given medical checkups, playtime.

But then we find out they are housed in a barn-like structure where everyone is crammed in like livestock. Their medical checkups consist of being poked, prodded, and measured without any thought to their comfort or dignity. And while the strongest ones are kept, and sometimes chosen to be “breeders”, the weakest ones disappear. Gunshots ring through the air and they look at each other in disbelief. Surely, they didn’t kill the weak one. They wouldn’t do that.

The children are kept there until they are teenagers, then taken somewhere else in a truck. Some like to think it’s somewhere better. But some of the mothers suspect otherwise. Alex’s mother keeps urging him to escape with Smithy, one of his many “cousins”. The word “clones” is thrown out now and then. Adolescents from a different life, one with schools and private homes, come to peer at and tease the ones in the compound. When the truth is revealed at the end, it is not a complete surprise, but one that I kept shying away from because it was too gruesome to contemplate. But there it was.

I enjoy this author’s style of writing. It’s not overly dramatic, easy to follow, and full of descriptive imagery and lovely rhetoric. The characters are well-developed and I found myself connecting with Alex right from the beginning. I felt his confusion, his doubts, his fears, as well as his adolescent crush. Clues are left throughout the book as to where the story is headed, but also to feed the reader’s doubts that it could possibly be headed in that direction. The end is nowhere as near as violent as his other book, The Hybrid.” It does leave a bad taste in your mouth, however.

I finished the book in three days, which is something I haven’t done in a long time.

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The Beauty of Gothic Architecture

Zita Harrison


This is the inside of the Girona Cathedral in Girona, in the Catalan region of Spain, which I had the pleasure of visiting recently. Interestingly, it’s where several scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed, but that’s not why I went, even though I am an avid Game of Thrones fan. 🙂

Gothic architecture through the ages has always touched me. The soaring ribbed vaults, the pointed arches, the light and the shadows, all designed to evoke the eternal mystery hidden deep within us. I’m not religious, but I believe in Art – its ability to express what cannot be put into words, its ability to stir emotions.

As I look up at the enormous pillars and vaulted ceiling, all the senses are kindled – sight, sound (the sound of stillness and awe), touch, smell, etc., even the sixth sense. I feel something in these places that goes back in time and knows no boundary, something that makes my heart swell and my eyes tear up. No wonder so many movies and t.v. shows have used Gothic churches for backdrops.

The picture next to the photo of the actual cathedral is my rendering of the inside of the Girona Cathedral.

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“The wind howled and raged the night Abigail Moore returned to Owl Manor.”

Zita Harrison

“The wind howled and raged the night Abigail Moore returned to Owl Manor, spinning the November snow into wild gusts, painting the windowpanes white. When the knocker on the front door resounded repeatedly, Patty hurried to answer it, wondering who it could be. They had just finished dinner and were not expecting anyone. Many of the staff had left since Gilbert had passed away, and those who remained had been biding their time until they received instructions as to what to do.

The flame from Patty’s candle dashed from side to side, sending frightened flickers up the walls as she reached the door. It opened with a creak, and Patty gasped.

Dark hair blowing around a pale face in the swirling snow, it could have been the spirit of the woman who had died at Owl Manor twelve years ago. The woman who had been chased by ghosts.

But, of course, Patty knew at whom she stared.

It was Abigail, the daughter.”

Excerpt from Owl Manor – Abigail, book 2 of the Gothic Suspense trilogy by Zita Harrison. Available on Amazon for 2.99 and also on KU! Get your copies now at https://bit.ly/3C6sPU2 !

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Zita Harrison

EXCERPT FROM OWL MANOR – THE DAWNING, BOOK ONE

One day at Owl Manor, everything came to a boil. Mr. Bradstone’s bedroom erupted in thuds, bangs, and crashes, accompanied by bellows and roars as if an angry bull were trapped there. Gilbert and Grenville raced up the stairs while the rest of the staff cowered in the foyer below.

Finding the door to the master’s room locked from the inside, they knocked urgently without success. Grenville threw himself repeatedly against the door. Finally, when the two men attacked the door together, it broke open.

The sounds quieted abruptly. They entered the room to find it in shambles – furniture turned over, paintings hanging askew on the walls, the mirror cracked, drapery in shreds, decanters and glasses broken on the floor, red wine spreading on the carpet as if the room itself bled. All this the master had managed to do in a matter of minutes.

Mr. Bradstone whirled around to see who had dared to enter, his lips drawn back in a snarl, his eyes crazed. Gilbert and Grenville exited the room in haste to stand outside the door with their backs to the wall.
Then they heard the master’s voice call out from within.
“Come…Gilbert,” he said hoarsely. “Do not…worry, I will not harm you.”

Gilbert peeked around the door to find the master sitting on the edge of his armchair, head down, shoulders heaving. When he looked up at Gilbert, the look on his face was that of someone defeated, lost, someone who did not know what to do with himself.

– Owl Manor – the Dawning, by Zita Harrison, Writer, Artist

ON KU FOR A LIMITED TIME! DOWNLOAD NOW!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08625H2F3 

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Zita Harrison

BOOK REVIEW: DUPLICITY OF POWER by S. Lynn Helton

Three people are thrown together by unforeseen circumstances in a city of “thieves and assassins, harlots and renegade mages.” We have Namid, one of the deputies of a group of thieves known as the ”Shadowers”; Aames, an old adversary; and Enric, a noble from a much-disliked family.

As they run from a poisonous fog and find themselves in unknown territory outside the city, they band together to search for the second half of a magic sword possessed by Enric. Their friendship deepens as the trek across the six realms of the monarch carries them through adventures steeped in action and twists, eventually coming to a surprise ending.

The author’s descriptions were beautiful, poetic even, imparting both mood and images: “The land they crossed was dry with autumn, gentle hills covered in knee-high grass that had turned a gold-brown color…no trees grew in the stony soil of this vast prairie…”. The characters were also well developed, each bringing something different to the story. I loved Namid, a resilient, caring young woman with skills to rival those of the men.

Sometimes I thought the narration and dialog were a little overwritten and found myself skipping over them. But then I became immersed in the story again. A satisfying ride for readers of fantasy.

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Zita Harrison

For comic book fans out there, indeed, for readers as well as writers of any genre, what would you do if you suddenly found yourself facing a villain from the story? Yikes. For that is what happens in Black Hat Blues.

Scratch, a comic book villain, is a wicked, murdering sorcerer with an inflated ego. He travels the multiverse conquering different realms out of, it seems, boredom.

Mark, the creator of Scratch, is an elderly, obsolete comic book artist. He finds his work inspires more vilification than praise these days from a culture with different standards, expectations, and viewpoints.

When Scratch suddenly finds himself in the same existence as his creator, using the villain’s own words, “Reality swirls.” Mark wonders if he’s going mad, and it’s all in his head. Scratch wonders if Mark is living his fantasies through him.

I wasn’t sure about the book when I began. It seemed scattered, constantly toggling between different points of view, dimensions, and storylines. But as I read, I found myself chuckling at the dark, scathing humor, even while feeling semi-outraged. The author touches on all aspects of life, at the heart of which seems to be the turmoil of aging and the increasing inability to relate to contemporary ways of thinking. It reminded me a little of Gulliver’s Travels in its clever, satirical wit.

Written in a unique style that seems to break all the rules of writing, it could be confusing for some. But It’s funny, brazen, full of surprises, and strangely relatable. In the end, you realize it could not have been written any other way.

Good read.