'The Flowers of St. Aloysius' and Fave Tropes

The Flowers of St. Aloysius was my second effort at self-publishing a full-length novel (the first being Guardian Angel). This time I dove right into a full-on dark fairy tale, inspired primarily by two fiction tropes.

The first was the "poisoned maiden" trope or legend, which can be found in a lot of folktales from all over the world. My favorite incarnation of it is Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Rappaccini's Daughter" (a highly recommended read, btw). 

The second trope, one that's more modern and more common in romance fiction, is the forced marriage trope. In this instance, one specific moment in a movie I watched years ago was my main inspiration for the forced marriage between Laurent and Brys:

This is a still from the movie Le Reine Margot from 1994. Just get a load of the heaviness of the scene -- visually and thematically. Overseen by a host of cardinals on one hand and the scheming royal family on the other (right side of the picture). Henri and Marguerite don't look happy, and for a better understanding of the significance of the moment, here's a video of the actual wedding scene:

So that moment stuck with me and was easily recalled when I planned the outline of the novel. Forced marriage, enemies-to-lovers, and the poisoned maiden legend all worked well together in the end. In the course of writing Guardian Angel, I considered writing one-shots that are connected to each other not in terms of an overarching plot, but through other elements instead.

Like the country, its folklore and even its commerce, and how all those dictate occult events in each book. The Flowers of St. Aloysius takes place in France, and events in the story are shaped by nature magic and aristocracy and so reads more like a gothic fairy tale than a classic gothic romance like Guardian Angel. Oh, and there's also Roman Catholicism generously worked in (St. Aloysius Gonzaga is the patron saint of young men and boys).

The Flowers of St. Aloysius is one of the books on sale for 50% off all month. You can get a copy from Smashwords or Kobo, and for other online stores, check out the book page on Books2Read.

All Quiet (for Now)

Been spending time not only reading, but reconnecting with stuff from the past (recent and medium-recent, if you will). And after a shitty-ass February followed by a calming and considerably more cheerful March, I'm determined to find my center again in April. It's still too early to call, but this month's hit a couple of mild snags, and March's more hopeful energy seems to be carrying over. Knock on wood, obvs.

So, a quick rundown:

CONCLAVE -- as mentioned in a previous post, I decided to rewatch this movie since it's available on Peacock streaming, which we're temporarily subscribing to. On my first go, I fell in love with the performances and the visuals (cinematography heaven!) but wasn't convinced of the movie being a thriller (more of a mystery movie, and it's a very subtle one at that). This time around, though, I was able to focus a lot more on the story itself and took my time with it as I did four separate viewings to complete this movie as opposed to just one the first time around.

What struck me the most in my second viewing was the element of the gothic or even something of the otherworldly in the story and how events unfolded. Bellini said the late Pope always beat him at chess because he was never less than eight moves ahead. And that kept making itself felt, I thought, given how he refused to accept Lawrence's resignation, how he tried to help Benitez and also refused his resignation. How he spied on everyone's activities and kept records of bank transactions (proof of corruption) in a place he seemed to expect Lawrence would go to after his death. 

Like he knew everything that was going to happen once he dies and, in a way, helped guide things along. Orchestrate everything after death.

And there were environmental cues as well such as the turtles, Benitez's delight in seeing them, and -- especially this bit -- the nuns almost always awash in light and actively moving around with purpose vs. the cardinals who're sequestered and huddling practically in the dark from start to finish (until the penultimate moment when the car bomb explodes and shatters windows, letting sunlight in). 

That touch of the supernatural as I see it. The claustrophobic atmosphere of a place that's locked down completely where people pull friends and allies aside and confer in whispers. The way the filmmakers chose to shoot scenes in a very formal and even rigid way that blessed my eyeballs with some of the most striking visuals I've ever seen in any film. All of those together gave me a sense of the gothic, which actually made me appreciate the movie even more. 

I mean, really, seeing the dead Pope's fingerprints in everything that happens is kind of creepy. And that's a major win.  

ZINES -- I'm currently on a nostalgic kick with zines and have been checking out videos on their history and their place in counter-culture and punk scenes. 

Back in the 'noughts, I used to pass this family-run cigar shop in Berkeley as part of my work commute, and I'd stop by maybe once or twice a week to check out their stuff. They sold magazines from all over the world as well as literary journals and zines in addition to cigars, pipes, cigarettes, etc. I LOVED THAT STORE. I'd spent so much money there, buying literary journals that inspired me to pursue writing and publishing, and I also browsed through their zine collections. At that point, all my cash was already used up by the literary journals I got that I didn't have any more left over for zines.

I honest to God hope they're making a comeback, and I'll go to Half-Price Books or Moe's Books or Pegasus or whatever indie bookstore along my current commute for some zines. Now that I'm older and more aware of a hell of a lot more things in the world, I'd happily shed even more online and scrolling time in favor of some great DIY / passion projects that you don't find everywhere.   

April Backlist Bonanza: 'The Flowers of St. Aloysius' and 'Hell-Knights'

New month, new backlist sale! And for April, we have two novels from my Arcana Europa collection.

THE FLOWERS OF ST. ALOYSIUS

A dying young mother's desperate hope for her child leads her to a fateful meeting in the clearing of an old wood. A meeting whose otherworldly purpose quietly and gradually takes shape as the child matures. A meeting that has left the wood under a dark spell, unable to rise up in fury to undo what it sees as a violation of natural laws.

Two families from old aristocratic lines agree to end the century-long and bloody feud that has left one side fading and the other flourishing. To achieve such an end, Laurent Veilleux, the youngest of his family, and Brys Lajoie, the last of his bloodline, are forced to marry though still strangers to each other. Marriages of convenience and political marriages are common among the upper-crust, and despite their initial reluctance and disdain, Laurent and Brys slowly allow themselves to open their hearts and minds to each other in hopes that somehow, by some miracle, love would eventually bloom between them.

But their union has awakened something, a fragrant and deadly shadow that leaves a trail of bodies in its wake. Healthy people suddenly fall ill and die after suffering long, excruciating declines marked by symptoms of poison. Plants and flowers wilt, butterflies and birds tumble to the ground dead, and it appears as though this murderous shadow follows the young couple everywhere.

To make matters worse, this threat seems to gather more strength when Laurent and Brys develop the emotional connection they've always hoped for. And somewhere in the French countryside, the woodlands finally emerge from the dark spell, unleash their fury, and seek justice for a past wrong, the trees' reach spanning distances in search of the unsuspecting pair.

Inspired by the poison maiden legend from India, which Nathaniel Hawthorne also adapted in "Rappaccini's Daughter", The Flowers of St. Aloysius is a gothic gay fairy tale set in an alternate universe nineteenth century France.

and HELL-KNIGHTS 

Decima is a centuries-old Italian city on the water, a vanity project meant to be a fairy tale escape for the titled and the privileged. But something in the distant past had turned it into a murky, putrid dreamscape instead, a crumbling city haunted by a scourge of revenants whose origins and purpose now seem destined to be hidden in the shadows forever. Not even the brave, dogged attempts at fighting midnight creatures by the descendants of a select bloodline can rid the city of the near-daily threat.

Michele De Santis is a young minor sorcerer, a reluctant champion who, along with his twin sister and his cousin, has lost too much through the years and has resigned himself to a life of endless midnight hunts while selling healing and protection spells and artifacts during the day. A life of loneliness, of a forced solitude in a desperate bid at keeping collateral damage at a minimum appears to be his only future.

When long-dead corpses suddenly turn without vampire bites, logical patterns no longer hold true, leaving the weary hunters baffled and unsure for the first time. Decima's bronze guardians fall silent for no reason, a dark, binding spell muting their warnings. A long-abandoned church shows signs of life in the most grotesque ways imaginable. And everything seems to point to an unknown threat, one that's long lain dormant but has been awakened by the arrival of a young English heir and his amateur antiquarian uncle.

Romance and the gothic layer Hell-Knights with the dark, rich textures of an alternate universe Europe, a nineteenth century world where magic reigns supreme, and love knows no gender.

Both e-books are 50% off at all online bookstores, and just click the book titles to go to their respective pages over at Books2Read. Preferred listings are over at Smashwords and Kobo. Like before, I'll be posting background stuff about each book sometime in the coming month.

Yay, Gothic Horror!

The husband signed up for a month of Peacock streaming because of the upcoming Paris-Roubaix cycling race, but lo and behold, I spotted a few titles I want to watch while I still can -- and that includes Conclave, which I've already seen but still want to go back and watch again. I know some elements of the movie left me wishing for more, but I suspect a second viewing will settle me.

But firstly, I finally got to see Nosferatu, which Peacock streaming has on its list, and it's the extended version, too. Win.

Okay, so my impressions (SPOILERS AHEAD).

Firstly, from a diehard fan of classic gothic horror and of Dracula, I salute Robert Eggers for giving my eyeballs a goddamn FEAST of everything I love about the genre. There's nothing glamorized or romanticized, and that brooding quality that's one of the most basic requirements of gothic horror is elevated further with generous touches of claustrophobia. Every scene feels shrunk down and crowded (even wide shots feel uneasily cramped, if you get my meaning), and I'm here for it.

Now as I'm also a massive fan of Bram Stoker's novel, I was happy to see the story stick closely to the book -- enough to be recognizable as Dracula but also different enough to be clearly Eggers' vision. So the focus on Ellen and her psychic connection to Orlok (also a significant detail in the novel) is main plot of this adaptation and is also explained away not by a vampire's bite but by second sight, which Ellen is born with. As with Mina Harker, who uses her accidental link with Dracula to help Van Helsing and company in their hunt, Ellen uses her connection to destroy Orlok single-handedly. 

I -- am not sold on that approach to the plot's conflict and resolution, to be honest. That was one of the things that kept me from really loving this take (and I really do prefer it over other adaptations I've seen so far though I've yet to watch the original Nosferatu). One of the other issues I had involved Orlok and how un-terrifying he is (but he was so, so close!), likely because of this shift in focus to his single-minded goal to possess Ellen. 

Ellen's seemingly endless fits / seizures and hysterics kept me from enjoying some balance though there were attempts made to give nearly equal treatment to other characters save for Orlok. And I suppose that was what derailed my full appreciation of this film: an imbalance, for lack of a better word. I honestly still can't place my finger on what it was that left me a little cold even though Ellen's desperation actually left me in tears in places. Like -- the movie was both very intimate and unnecessarily bombastic, a combination that didn't sit as well with me as I'd wanted.

That said, though, I did like this movie a hell of a lot more than I expected. The issues I pointed out are insignificant compared to the issues that made me loathe Bram Stoker's Dracula to this day. This version is faithful to the book and is pared down significantly to key moments, and what it struggles with in some places are eased through lush imagery and the sustained tension and brooding atmosphere I crave from gothic horror. The performances are also terrific even if Bill Skarsgård wasn't given much to work with. 

It's also a very bodily fluid-y movie (as an aside: Yikes, Thomas! Lube! LUBE!). I found that to be repulsive and oddly a relief in equal measure, maybe because it helped de-romanticize this take on vampire fiction, which I was hoping for (and am grateful to see).

The Cold Caller

New week, more fresh Hells in store, I'm sure.

Thought to post this to get myself going. Tough luck for that kid to run across a pissed off Death. Anyway, nothing like dark comedy to jumpstart my day (and week).