Empalado

by Javier Romero Valentín (Spanish)

 

This story is a painting as much as it is a book. I would liken it to a painting by El Greco, laden with gloomy and macabre details that give the eyes as well as the soul a great deal to gaze upon and contemplate afterward. However, I would be telling only part of the truth if I said that this book is about horror, a mere collection of words and thoughts to scare the reader, to appeal to the need for adrenaline. On the surface, it may be just that, but if you dig a little deeper, you will find that it has plentiful philosophical, geopolitical and religious underpinnings.

 

Almost everyone knows about the mythical Count Dracula. Not everyone knows, however, that there was a real Dracula named Vlad Dracul who ruled part of what is now Romania with terror. In fact, he was also known as Vlad Tepes, or the Impaler. Impaling, which I already knew about to some extent, entails forcing a wooden stake through the lower part of the body (I'll let you discover the exact part for yourself) all the way through the inside of the body, taking care not to damage any internal organs, exiting through the shoulder. The victim is then hoisted up, fully conscious, and left to die a slow, cruel death, usually of infection from the wounds made from impalement. The story starts out with the impalement of a young soldier, Mircea, who sought to avenge his relatives' death caused either directly or indirectly by Vlad Dracul who would either maim or impale a person over any trivial matter. Not only that, he took pleasure in watching his subjects suffer. The author makes it clear that Vlad Dracul is the closest thing to the devil himself on Earth.

 

The nice thing about this book is that it is well researched. I learned a lot about medieval Romania, the way people lived, the way they dressed, and especially about the conflicts. The Vlachs were at war with the Hungarians and the Turks. There was much instability at that time, and many saw Dracul as an ironfisted defender of his realm. The problem was that he took advantage of his power and showed no mercy to anyone. Everyone was susceptible to his wrath — nobles and commoners alike. Once a person fell out of his favor, he or she was doomed.

 

The real philosophical and religious exercise of the story begins when Mircea is impaled alongside a priest. The priest wants him to confess , but Mircea is reluctant to do so because of the way that the church treated him and his family — especially his sister, Nicoleta. She was probably mildly retarded or perhaps autistic, the author doesn't really let us know that part. According to the beliefs of the day, she was viewed as a witch because she didn't interact with her surroundings. She was always lost in her own special world. This is a firm reminder of the way people used to act and think and how that had a deep influence on those who did not fit in. In fact, this is an example of myth versus reason, an important motif throughout Empalado. The question of God comes up here as well. Why would God let people be so cruelly treated, their lives taken away from them only to die a slow, lonely and excruciating death? Why would an infinite and benevolent being do such a thing? The priest next to Mircea does his best to explain, but even then he falters once or twice and does not always come up with a clear answer.

 

I am still thinking about this book, and I will undoubtedly do so for some time to come. Being impaled can be construed as being in a finite situation of suffering or distress that limits one's existence. This type of situation occurs every day to humanity — without any physical stake being driven through us. It only takes one little mishap, even a psychological one that does not outwardly affect the body, to place one in a similar predicament to that of Empalado. I was moved by the way that the people who were impaled still cared about their lives even though they knew that they were going to die anyway and that there was no way they could be saved — even if they were taken off of the stake, because they would either bleed to death from opening the wound or most likely die from infection. It only goes to show how much life is worth living for, even in its terminal phase.

 

From my description, I surmise that have already made it clear that this is not the type of book that you can read in a hurry or even casually. To get the most out of it, you have to set aside some time, maybe make a few notes, and definitely look up some of the more arcane terms and find the place names on the map. Google Maps is great for that. I have been to get this book for free thanks to Amazon's policy of making certain books free for a limited period of time, but I believe that the original price is quite low.

Crown of the Realm by D. Dalton

This young adult fantasy book is about the return of ancient evil in which the Crown of the Realm was stolen. The main character, Derora Saxen was oblivious to that fact. What she does know, at her young age, is that she wants to be a warrior. As part of this endeavor, she set out from her village with her best friend Kelin. But by helping a stranger, she was pulled into an age-old feud which would determine her destiny. The good guys in the story are the elves, and the bad guys are called chemmen.

I am fascinated by the way Dalton weaves fantasy with reality. Some of the characters clearly have down-to-earth, modern-day human qualities, and this is evidenced in their dialog. Then there are other characters who are dwarves and elves who clearly denote a fantasy world. I like how she gives characters unusual names like Kaleb and Vlade. Though I am quite a bit older than the intended age group for this book, the quality of writing and the sheer imagery took me back to the days when I read the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. I found myself absorbed in this book. In fact, this is the kind of book that you don't want to put down. I spent every free minute reading it, and was annoyed when I was called away to do a household task.

I don't want you to think that Crown of the Realm is a mere copy of the famous fantasy books mentioned above — quite the contrary. It is blessed with its own identity and signature sense of humor. The author is a master at employing archaic language to establish the setting and let the reader know that he or she is in a different realm — a magical place. Here is an example: "… mayhap I'll go even later because I'm missing some sleep!" Though I have not read every fantasy book out there, I can say that it is unusual for the main character to be a young lady. Der's (Derora's nickname) drive and zest for life as she meets the challenges throughout the book are a breath of fresh air and a testament to women's modern-day place in non-fantasy society. Indeed, there are many lessons to be learned from this book. I came away feeling more courageous with a greater desire to help others — quite unusual when you compare Crown of the Realm with your run-of-the-mill fantasy book that is read for mere entertainment value and little else.

Crown of the Realm, the first of five books in the All Things Impossible series, is a must read for fantasy buffs, as it will open new doors and broaden your horizons. For those just getting your feet wet in the realm of fantasy fiction, this is a good place to start because there are plenty of references to our "non-fantasy" world for you to get your bearings. None too often, a fantasy author will devise a marvelous, fantasy world, but will forget to clue the reader in on how that world came to be and fail to give the reader sufficient references to the real world. Well, this is not the case with Crown of the Realm: I always knew where I was while reading this book despite the new and exciting concepts. If you like reading e-books, you can download this book free at the author's webpage: http://www.allthingsimpossible.com/ or, if you prefer a physical paper book, you can buy it from Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/All-Things-Impossible-Crown-Realm/dp/0578023253. If you have a sharp eye for typos (I found none), you might want to consider notifying the author about them, as she will send you a free bookmark for your troubles.

Going Home by Kim Welsman

Going Home is a medium length book set in the future, about 300 years from now in what seems to be North America, although the exact location is quite vague. Imposing names like the Lakeshore District are used. The main character is a woman named Lyrissa. She is hired by a man named Jenkins who works for the Queen to track down an object (I'll let you read the book to find out what it is). The person who supposedly has this object in her possession is a mysterious woman named Peggy. Lyrissa makes several inquiries with different people before she discovers Peggy's whereabouts. Although apparently not a drug addict, she takes pills called zyloftin that give her the power to get into other people's minds and to relax her and tame her anxiety. Peggy seems to be involved with what is known as the Agency, a heinous organization led by a man named Mitch Christie whose office is located in an immense building. More than just finding the object, Peggy ends up helping Lyrissa with her fears and troubled childhood. In fact, Peggy has powers much stronger than Lyrissa's and does not have to induce them with drugs; she made a blind man see again by just laying her hands on him. After Peggy goes home at the end of the book, Lyrissa goes back to her childhood home in the country and comes to terms with the events that kept her from leading a happy life.

Although I recognize certain ideas and concepts in this book that remind me of H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury and George Orwell, Kim Welsman has managed to establish her own style and carry the reader away with her. She has an excellent command of register: dialogs between people who work at a diner are colloquial and informal, and instructions given by important figures are formal; aliens are stiff sounding, and they don't use contractions. I was intrigued by how the past and the present, the familiar and the strange are interwoven in Going Home. A Victorian house will vie with a hovercar and aliens, making for an entirely new environment sculpted by the author. What I loved about reading this book is how vivid the imagery is. This is important because the author is describing machines and concepts that do not exist, and if they are not well-described, they are very difficult to conceive of. All of this aside, I was touched by how emotional the story was. I felt like I was right there, sitting next to Lyrissa in her hovercar, feeling what she felt, going where she went. Indeed, the author manages to establish a bond between the reader and Lyrissa through carefully crafted sentences.

There are several reasons to read this book. If you are a science-fiction devotee, you can't afford not to read it, because no matter how many science-fiction books you've read, this one will throw you a curveball, take you for a ride, and make you see fantasy the way you never have before. If your interest is fiction about women, you will greatly benefit from the power that Kim Welsman imbues in both Lyrissa and Peggy. If you want to see what life may be like in the future, and what people in the future think about life in the 20th century, this book will give you an eye-opening picture. Once you finish Going Home, you'll be happy to know that there are total of five books in the Alien Encounters Series. You can download this book from Amazon for only 99 cents.