Got A Glowing Review -- Okay, Not Literally Glowing -- In Witches And Pagans Magazine

[dr_pretentious]

Launching two books with two different publishers at the same weekend convention is strenuous — what a great problem to have! In case I topple over before I finish my big post about Balticon, I’m going to show you right now the enthusiastic review of Tales from Rugosa Coven in the new issue of Witches and Pagans. A print magazine that still gets onto newsstands these days has to have something special going for it, and Witches and Pagans is a case in point, so I’m especially pleased to see my book mentioned in their pages. Here’s what their book review by Natalie Zaman had to say:

Set in my home state of New Jersey (specifically, the upper southern part, that “down the shore” area that spreads across Monmouth and Ocean counties), this novel follows the lives of six modern Pagans and their human otherkin — spouses, lovers, family and coworkers — as they deal with this life, the afterlife, and the facts of life — both mundane and magical. But this isn’t Jersey Shore meets Charmed — not by a long shot.

Bob, Ria, Jane and company are smart, witty, thinking people who felt very real, right down to the “ritual-in-a-box-Rubbermaid-tub.” Each story features all of the coven members, but focuses on one, which means, hopefully, that Sophie, Amber and Sebastian will have their own adventures in a future volume. They’re an eclectic bunch, with believable lives. This is occult fiction that places Pagan people in the real world, and in the world of Rugosa Coven, being Pagan is normal. Sure there are other characters who raise eyebrows and make hasty exits, but there is an overall feeling of acceptance in this world that, fiction though it may be, is comforting. The realism of person and place made this an enjoyable read.

In the Author’s Note, Avery says to read the tales in any order — and you can, but I liked the juxtaposition of each story against the next. The first, and my favorite of this collection, “Closing Arguments” focuse on Bob — Wiccan, lawyer, dad, husband (of an understanding Christian woman), and brother to the free-spirited Sophie. He’s in the process of balancing his life in the face of the death of his parents — who maintain their contact from beyond the grave via post-it notes. The plotting loosens up a bit and becomes more character-driven in the subsequent stories, “And Ria Is from Virgo” and “Atlantis Cranks Need Not Apply” which focus on Ria (believer and doer of all) and Jane’s (the questioner) inner struggles. Amid the paranormal, esoteric and sometimes fantastical happenings, these characters face their inner demons: OCD, troubled relationships, and addiction. How they deal with these challenges and each other left me rooting for them and wanting more. Weird New Jersey, indeed.

I’ve been admiring this magazine for years. If Witches and Pagans sounds like your kind of thing, you can find it in the newsstand section at some branches of Barnes & Noble, in many Pagan shops, and online.

Comments

[kistha.livejournal.com]

You are so awesome!

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

That is a review I wish I could have written! It honed in on so much of what I love about the Rugosa coven. I'm so pleased that you are getting good press on these wonderful stories! And as she says - more about Sophie, Sebastian and Amber!!!! :-)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've got bits of those stories already, though I haven't seen everything the characters will eventually show me. Yes, universe willing, there will be at least one more volume, so that each coven member has at least one viewpoint story. There may, sometime after that, be a YA book about Bob's daughter. As violetmoon25 points out, Susan comes with some great built-in conflicts: raised by a Methodist mother and a Wiccan father in a house haunted by several generations of ghostly Theosophists, Susan has talents that her parents' religious truce required her to leave undeveloped. I'm halfway to an elevator pitch already.

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

Sold! I want five copies. :-)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

If my publisher can get them to me in time, I should have a box of them at FSG. I just talked to Stirling of Crystal Fox today, and he may order some, too. Weirdness of Print-on-Demand: Stirling will get a faster turnaround, since he can go straight to the book distributor (which also functions as the printer), whereas my author's copies have to go from the distributor to the publisher to me. Strange world in which the publisher has to get his copies from the distributor, but that's where we are.

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

No, I meant five copies of the Sebastian/Amber/Susan stories. I already bought half a dozen of Rugosa Tales 1 (see, that implies there will be a 2), one of which is currently wrapped in foil awaiting your signature at FSG. :-)

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

Sold here too!

Also, I'm so pleased to see you getting such lovely reviews for your great little stories! You are awesome and I'm really glad you took that long drive through the Adirondacks (a magical place for sure) asking what would happen if you stopped holding back and then followed through! *proud hugs of happiness*

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

I LOVE this!!!!! If I had one want lacking from the Rugosa coven stories is that they are a little too grown up for my daughter just yet. But Susan! What a great idea

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

It'll be a while before I come to Susan's story. Right now I'm almost done spinning off a novella from the Big Book, and when I get back from FSG, I plan to push a bit on Sebastian's novella for the next Rugosa book.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Love it, love it, LOVE IT!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[jaime-sama.livejournal.com]

yay! wonderful review! May it find many more readers to love Rugosa! :)

And I'm so glad there will be another volume of Rugosa stories to come!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I don't know how long it will take for the next book to come into being. It looks like we'll be experimenting with the public school for G next year, and if that actually works, my pace of production should get zippier.

[(Anonymous)]

I am so happy to see you getting the reviews you deserve for this book! There are so many many ways it could have gone wrong and still been a good book that a lot of people liked, but instead you made a book that does not have a major problem, that can speak to anyone, and it deserves all the praise it has gotten and more.

For reasons unknown the site is making me sign in again to comment and I can't, so I will just tell you it is spindlewand, with the pink knitted lace avatar.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've been so glad to get feedback from readers outside the Pagan community, to find that the stories really do work for anybody who likes fantasy.