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Book Review: Ring Shout

Erin Penn

Amazon Cover

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

IN AMERICA, DEMONS WEAR WHITE HOODS.

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan’s ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.

Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan’s demons straight to Hell. But something awful’s brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up.

Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?

 

MY REVIEW

A historical urban fantasy set against the backdrop of the South between the world wars, in the spirit of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” where normal circumstances are changed by adding horror elements. For Ring Shout, it’s making the hate-filled Ku Klux Klan into hate-fill monsters using KKK as their entry into our world.

Action-packed, this narrative follows three women – one a WWI war veteran, one a survivor of a Klan attack, and one a hot-head tired of being stomped on. They have the Sight and use it to hunt the monsters that have gained entry into our world. But can they keep ahead of the hate summoning more and more of the monsters into our world?

***

On one hand this book fits well into the monster hunter historical fantasies so popular lately.

On the other, it felt somewhat like the assigned reading in school – when I read “Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank” and “1984” by George Orwell – things that made you stop and think and examine your world. Are you eating the meat of hatred? What is the difference between righteous anger and fearful hate?

Both a simple read and a complex one, my book club had some deep dives for this story.

(Checked out through the public library; read for book club)

Flash: Peacock Caper

Erin Penn

Photo by Stacy Ropati on Unsplash

The canals of Venice, famous for their beauty, but infamous for their treatment of Carnival costumes, became an insurmountable barrier in Nemesis run from the police. At least, this one waterway in particular, and at least, so the police thought. Peacocks are not water fowl, blue though their colors be, but Nemesis wasn’t a bird, nor just a costume, but the best jewelry thief of all time. And insurmountable just mean you go under.

A lift of the skirt inverted the costume into a watertight bag holding all feathers, satin and costume jewels within, the criminal grateful to be out of the outfit. Waterproof lining meant the outfit did not allow any air in, and the breeze made Nemesis grateful for whatever slip since sent the police stumbling across their tail. The gems, wallets, and small bits and bobs of art procured over the three-day spree tumbled from sleeve to bag and they sealed it close. Larger, special-ordered items, had already been delivered to agents hidden among the crowds with a brush and bump. A twist converted the figurehead of the cane into a breathing mask, and the cane a very limited air supply.

The black full body suit kept the questionable water from touching skin, and Nemesis slipped away.

(words 210; first published 10/1/2023 – written for a Facebook group. Aim is 50 words.)

Writing Exercise: Theme

Erin Penn

Photo by Alexander Jawfox on Unsplash

I’m going to be honest with you. I really don’t understand “theme”. Theme is Big Literary Discussion, and I hated that part of high school English. I read to enjoy and escape, not figure out if the story was about the “futility of purpose” or “limitations of self-destruction.” To me, and my autistic-spectrum mind, the blue curtains were just blue. As an developmental editor, only once have I come back to an author and said “this is your theme” … and we needed that to pull together a story going off track. The writer hadn’t even known, but as soon as I said it (well, meandered through writing an email trying to nail the developmental issue until it hit me), he was like “exactly” … and hurried off our message-chat to fix the problem.

Sometimes my book club talks about themes, and I try to contribute. Mostly I restock my plate with the snacks everyone brought around that time.

Misty Massey wrote a Magical Words post on October 4, 2011 entitled “What Does It All Mean” discussing theme. Commentors included AJ Hartley and pea_faerie, both of whom are English college professors with doctorates – but they are also writers, so they know how to make discussion on theme interesting. (URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/misty-massey/what-does-it-all-mean/)

For the most part for me, genre writing is about entertaining. To be entertaining, the reader needs to be engaged. Engagement happens when more than just balloons and explosions are happening, when there is meaning buried between the words even if the reader doesn’t see it, their hind-brain does. And that meaning often is a theme.

“People are equal.” “People are not equal.” “Be kind.” “Be forceful.” “Think of others first.” “Self-care before other care.” “Health is wasted on the youth.” “Old age makes one stagnant.”

All that wonderful jumbled mess that is life.

WRITING EXERCISE: Review you present work-in-progress (WIP) to see if you have any themes.

Flash: Commitment

Erin Penn

Photo from Dreamstime (paid stock art)

“One way or another,” ja’Zel rocked back and forth, “I’m gonna find you.” She dug in with one foot, pushing hard into the soil, then exploded forward, pushing hard each step, gaining speed. “I’m gonna get you.” A moment to suck in air before …

Flinging herself into the Between. A chasm cut by the gods not a month ago to keep two tribes from war.

“Forever, you and me.” Her knees and hands hit the edge, the dirt still loose from the quake, but momentum rolled her forward the last few inches. Tears streamed down her face as her fear broke from where she had tightly bound it.

She sobbed in the early morning light, one, two gulps. “Enough of that. Time to move. ma’Drel here I come.”

(word 129; first published 9/24/23)