The Amber Isle by Ashley Capes

Never has a curse. It's a useful curse to have at times, as it has saved his life on more than one occasion. But it's a curse nonetheless – or is it? Whatever it is, Never wants to know why he has it and what it means. He sets out on a journey to find out with nothing more than a hunch that the answer lies somewhere in the mysterious and remote Amber Isle.

The Amber Isle: (An Epic Fantasy Novella) (Book of Never: 1)

Crossings - Review

Crossings — the latest release from Ashley Capes

Ashley Capes is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. His epic fantasy series The Bone Mask Trilogy is among my favourite fantasy stories of all time (and he's just released the second book in the series — check it out now if you're a fantasy lover in search of a new author to follow). I've read pretty much everything he's published, and his most recent release didn't disappoint.

Crossings is difficult to categorise — it's probably most fitting in the paranormal genre. But essentially, I think I'd classify it as a supernatural mystery with a good dose of thrill.

The story takes place in small town, outback Australia, where eerie pale gums and messmate trees dominate the landscape. Lisa Thomas is our protagonist. On the face of it, she's an ordinary woman, a bit of a battler. She works as a cleaner, struggles with her ageing father suffering with increasing dementia, and volunteers as a wildlife rescue officer. And if all of that wasn't enough for us to feel sympathy for her, she soon learns that her abusive ex-fiancé, Ben is back in town, and for some reason he wants to talk to her.

As a main character, I found Lisa instantly likeable. While she is, on the surface, an 'ordinary' woman, Capes has done a brilliant job investing her with an extraordinary nature, especially with her affinity for animals. In her volunteer work as a wildlife rescue officer, she comes across dead animals (largely car victims) regularly. She keeps a packet of salt with her to conduct a little 'last rites'  ritual that I found particularly endearing.

What makes the story a real page-turner from the very start is the mystery of the strange occurrence of animal corpses appearing without any explanation — many of them at Lisa's house. The suspense is the kind that keeps you from doing things you're supposed to be doing, as you just want to find out what the hell is going on — and that's when you know you're reading a good story.

The way supernatural elements are woven into the story is entirely credible and adds to the tantalising mystery. There is a subtle link to aboriginal dreamtime mythology, which adds an interesting layer to the events.

Of course, one of the trademarks of Capes' writing is his outstanding skill with imagery, and once again, the frequent poetic descriptions within the prose had me in awe of his writing style.

By the novel's end, all of the disparate and tense-filled threads in Lisa's life seem to converge into a dramatic and suspenseful ending that had me flicking the pages faster.

Any reader with a heartbeat will enjoy this story, and particularly those fans of paranormal, fantasy and mysteries.

Book One of The Bone Mask Trilogy — a must read for epic fantasy fans.

To learn more about Ashley check out his site — www.cityofmasks.com

Review - 'A Whisper of Leaves'

A Whisper of Leaves by Ashley Capes is a beautiful, mysterious ghost story that will take you on an intriguing escape. I enjoyed it so much I'm giving away three (ebook) copies of this book to my mailing list subscribers - winners will be drawn end of July (more information below).

Riko is an ESL teacher on a working visa in Japan, and in a spot of bother. There's been some allegations that she's been 'inappropriate' with one of her students, and deportment out of the country threatens. When her good friend invites her to go hiking in the beautiful forests of Mt Fuji, Riko is glad to get her mind off work and her troubles. But in the forest, one should never leave the path. And when Riko inevitably does she finds a half buried treasure - an old mysterious journal.

Riko cannot keep her nose out of the journal. She translates parts of it into English; beautiful, and often dark, poetical passages add another level of mystery.

black clouds

brooding

was I ever a bird?

Just as she is drawn to the journal, Riko is drawn back to the forest, and suddenly her life becomes haunted by an unseen presence. Unknowingly, Riko's quest to find out more about the journal's origin puts her life in danger.

There are so many things I enjoyed about this book. The mystery builds and makes it quite a page turner by the end. I loved the supernatural element, told so convincingly, it almost seems like an actual Japanese folklore at times. Riko is immediately likable. And what I loved most is the imagery of Mt Fuji and those beautiful yet eerie forests. Ashley Capes is a poet and his power to evoke strong visual imagery is a wonderful element in this story.

The grass was cut close; the water's edge a brilliant deep blue. Across the lake, clear of snow, loomed Mt Fuji — a dark purple giant. Almost glorious, the way it hugged the sky lines, seemingly unconcerned with everything below it.  Even its reflection in the silken surface of the lake was proud.

Whether you're a lover of poetic language or not, the visual descriptions in this story will have you fully immersed in the landscape and the mystery.

Fans of paranormal mysteries and ghost stories will love this book. Readers will also enjoy the beautiful Japanese setting and 'mythology'. I fully recommend A Whisper of Leaves to anyone who likes a good story.

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If you'd like to enter a draw to win a free copy of A Whisper of Leaves all you have to do is sign up to my mailing list. I'm giving away three copies, and all my list subscribers can enter. The winners will be drawn at the end of July. Good luck!

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Interview with Ashley Capes

Ashley Capes is one of my favourite fantasy authors, and I'm currently reading his novel 'City of Masks'. It's a wonderfully intriguing read with characters that draw you in as much as the many secrets that reveal themselves slowly in the plot. I'll be reviewing 'City of Masks' in a future post, but in the meantime you might like to have a peek at the glowing reviews on Amazon. Ashley is also a poet and I have reviewed one of his anthologies in a previous post.

I'll be reviewing CoM soon!

Ashley kindly interviewed me recently for his blog. We had a great chat that touched on developing characters, the writing process and the challenges authors face. You can read the interview here.

'Between Giants' - A must for your bookshelf

Everyone should have a contemporary poet to follow. Sure, many people know the classics - Wordsworth, Blake, Yeats. Some can even rattle off a verse or two, but how many of us can recite a list of contemporary poets, or even one?

Ashley Capes is a contemporary Australian poet whose poems vacillate between making you question the world and marvelling in its details.  His latest work Between Giants contains 49 poems that, to me, seem inspired by ancient Italy and modern Australia.

Over recent weeks I have picked up the book and opened to a random page.  More often than not the poems have caused me to stop and think. They compel me to consider things I normally don't 'see', or to simply appreciate a mood or a feeling. Shelley famously said that "poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted." For Between Giants the poetry is a mirror that prompts you to glean some meaning about the world, but I think every reader will see something different, and it's not necessarily "beautiful". Don't get me wrong though, there is certainly beauty to appreciate in this work - particularly with the simplicity yet weight of meaning within the words.

There were 'things' that really caught me. I'm wary of labeling these 'things' for fear of reducing them to something that perhaps they are not. You might call them 'themes' or 'topics' or 'thoughts', but I like to call them things.

Things we all recognise

Moments are captured in detail that all readers will instantly recognise. I love the first poem Transitions and its portrait of an airport. In a few lines I was nodding, smiling and then wondering about this strange structure, shared by so many cultures but yet so homogeneous in its 'feel'. Capes remembers for all of us that in airports "we are sitting and eavesdropping through no fault of our own". We all recognise this place where "announcements are goddess-like" and "hands get shopping bag fatigue". The quip "voices travel - we should be envious" had me smiling - recalling my own memories of the tedious wait for the plane in uncomfortable chairs.  The last line got me really thinking "everything is duty free".

With Birds still talking I felt invited to smile at another moment. This one much 'smaller' and more like a passing mood. For me, this poem is about the simple visit to the letter box and the joy this can bring when the weather gives us a glimpse of summer, when despite the "sun pedalling downhill" the "birds are still talking". How such simple, natural 'things' give us "hope".

Suburbia

That word, 'suburbia' connotes mostly negative stuff in my mind. But Capes delivers a picture of it without prejudice. So, in 'Things without Beds' we stroll along footpaths and watch "lights from lounge rooms leak onto front lawns" - snapshots of an Australian suburb on a dusk walk home.  Although, like Bradbury or Kafka, something alarming lurks in the shadows.

One of the townsfolk is one of my favourites. The title conjures notions of community spirit but such ideals are quickly unsettled by the "fishbowl dance" of most suburban households when the TV remote calls to us - "its patience like an old, desert stone waiting for rain". Many of us will 'feel' the guilt in this poem and wonder with the narrator "what the television gives me".

Narrow beds shows us pictures of our shopping strips and business centres where behind the "registers beeping and clicking" the "summer flowers linger". We see the narrow flower beds squeezed but surviving "between heroic volumes of tar". With allusions to the seasons, I enjoyed the tension this poem drew between natural and urban settings.

Past vs present

That contrast we feel, between the grand narrative of the past and the oh-so-ordinary present, is also something I chewed my lip about.  In Vesuvius sleeping we struggle through the hot hotel with flies who "batted their drowsy heads against the glass". Such ordinary images are positioned starkly against Pompeii of all places, with its "deep wagon ruts". But, what he also does, is to give us a glimpse of the 'less-than-romantic' within such classical eras -  "the stone brothel" of Pompeii - so clever!

Mythical begins with:

Over a hundred years or more
shops and gelatin
have crept close to the Trevi Fountain

It goes on to speak about the tourists and "the gaping mouths of hundreds" at the Sistine Chapel to -

to Saint Peter's Square
where we shoot
the requisite photos

Ultimately, against a backdrop of classical history, this poem makes you contrast the "millions of 1s and 0s" of mass modern tourism with the 'true' intimacy of "two people in the sun beside a fountain".

Intimacy

Speaking of intimacy, I've always enjoyed Capes' willingness to share how those intimate memories feel. It's another thing that, as long as you're human, we can all tap into. Hutchi street had me at "when we're apart". I read this poem when I was experiencing some time apart from my own partner (we were in the midst of moving towns) and it caused some serious eye-welling. This poem brings back those lovely moments of blossoming love (sniff).

The poetry in Between Giants is, more than anything, truthful. Its imagery reflects pictures of reality to us, but just like a mirror, we will interpret that 'truth' according to our own experiences.  I loved the moments of reflection, appreciation and questioning that this book gave me.  I recommend this work and this poet to anyone interested in reading and life. I hope that the promise proffered in a table set for thousands, rings true:

"I will keep sucking poetry out of small things"

We hope so Ashley, we hope so!

Between Giants is available here.