FROM THE DESK OF
DONA PENZA TATTLE,
ESQ.
AND
ASSOCIATE WRYE
BALDERDASH
Greetings,
“There is a bit of a delightful chill in the air, and
so much to be thankful for in this month of turkey and pie,” announces Tattle.
Wrye slides into the room fully decked out in a tux
and tails. “Aye! Even for those who don’t live in the States
can join us in the Thanksgiving festivities and….”
Tattle interrupts as she spins about in her
Victorian era outfit, “Aye?”
“If you’re going to dress like that, I’m thinkin’ I
can talk in me own way.”
Tattle does the sigh and eye roll combo. “Fine!
Now, we can go on and on and on about our American holiday and your odd
choice of verbiage or we can get down to business and jump into our Love of
Literature Leap, a review of TRACKS by K. M. TOLAN.”
Wrye proffers his arm. “M’lady?”
Tattle takes his arm, muttering, “You are one
strange duck.”
“Quack.”
Tattle watches as the book’s paragraphs and
sentences transform into a temporary reality. “So here it begins, in a field,
where twelve year old Vincent Maloney and his seven year old sister, Katy,
discover railroad tracks where there hadn’t been tracks just an instant
before. And within moments both their
lives will alter forever.”
“Hmmm,” Wrye sniffs the air, checks out his
surroundings. “I can’t seem to track…”
chuckles, “get it, track? Track down the
genre of this adventurous tale.”
“Well, it is sort of a fantasy with a vibe of sci-fi
but it’s not sci-fi, it’s errr, wellllll, in a category all its own, a universe
totally unique, and wonderfully different.
We’re in a place of knights who don’t look like you’re typical knight,
hobos who are carded, steam children, yegg (monstrous beasts) and a mountain
made of rock candy.”
“So like another planet?”
“No, the here and now. A place that exists alongside us in a
way. It is here in the present, but not
here… maybe.” Tattle’s face twists with
confusion but also a mischievous delight.
“The word that describes it all from prose to characters to storytelling
is brilliant!”
Wyre’s expression mirrors hers. “It is indeed and the story keeps you on the
brink of anticipation from the instant the train soars by out of nowhere and
Katy disappears right out of Vincent’s hand.”
“It doesn’t help that, in time, his father leaves as
well, leaving Vincent to grow up with his mother’s hate and his life a tragic
mess that has no escape.”
Wrye flips through pages and points, “Until he helps a stranger who is
being beat up by two thugs. Though he is
too late to save the man’s life, the oddly dressed gent gives him an equally
odd nickel that has been transformed with the face of a beautiful girl on one side
and a
bas-relief of two circles touching, a hobo sign. With the man’s last breath he tells Vincent to save his sister.”
“Unfortunately, the cops think Vincent killed the
man, and in desperation he goes home only to face his mother’s bitter
hatred.” Face tinted with sympathy
Tattle goes on. “Fury takes hold and he
goes back to the field where his sister disappeared, determined to find the
tracks, follow them and find Katy.”
“Instead,” Wrye adds, “he finds Hobohemia, a land of
living tracks, trains with souls and the two men who killed the stranger. As he fights them, they turn into yegg. Samantha, a feisty, tough, angry, tragic, yet
in all opposition, endearing character saves him from the monsters. He alternately detests her and is drawn to
her.”
“He eventually finds his sister in a state he
doesn’t expect and to his dismay she doesn’t want to go home. He also discovers the stranger who had been
killed was his father as well as a gandy
dancer with the moniker Cracker Jack.”
“Samantha takes Jack to meet King Willy, and he is
given the moniker Brass. Vincent is then
set on a course that could lead to his death.
In the meantime, his sister is kidnapped by Bram Van Erie, the villain
who had ordered his father’s death. Now,
Vincent with Samantha’s help, must also become a gandy dancer to restore King Willy to his rightful place, help a
conniving, treacherous, yet lovable, Samantha, who he is falling in love with,
from her own monstrous self and finally to bring Katy home. However, first he
has to die, hitch a ride on the Westbound train to Hobo heaven (where his
father’s restless spirit rides the rails), grab a piece of mountain rock candy
and cheat death.”
“Is that all?” Tattle grins. “Seriously, I repeat the word BRILLIANT! The characters were dimensional and
unexpected, the imagery was like watching a movie rather than just reading
words, the storyline never gave you a chance to catch your breath. It was
unlike anything I have ever read, and I couldn’t stop reading it. I truly hope the very talented K. M. TOLAN
creates another story in this universe.”
Wrye guides Tattle back through the leap, saying, “I
agree. TRACKS is such an
imaginative work, where heroes aren’t who you imagine and the creativity of
every scene is beyond what you could conceive.
Way to go, Tolan! This is
certainly his best work to date. Keep
them coming.”
We hope you enjoyed our review of K. M. TOLAN’s TRACKS. Until next month,
keep reading.
Dona Penza Rutabaga
Tattle, Esq.
and Associate Wrye
Balderdash
of Blather City,
Wannachat
Created
and written by
Angelica Hart and Zi
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