If you’re a Melbournite you have the chance on May 4th to attend a kaffee klatsch with Alison Goodman (Eon/Eona) and Marianne. There is a maximum limit for this free event. So email b.asciak (at ) gmail (dot) com and register your interest. Start time will be after 4pm, at a place to be decided in the CBD.

Ask someone what the first image that pops into their head when you say the word “Angel” and they will more than likely describe a heavenly apparition surrounded by bright light and a chorus of astounding voices. Angels have long been revered as messengers from God and perhaps the most holy of all creations (except the big guy himself- but how do we really know?).

In Embraced, Jessica Shirvington brings us a new reality regarding angels and, although it is a work of fiction, some of her theories  tend to ring true. Take Cherubs for example, Cupid possibly being the most well known of them all. Sure that little guy takes aim with his bow and arrow to bring us all some love, but how many times is his aim a bit off? How often do we fall like a ton of bricks—madly and deeply in love—to find we have scored ourselves a real dud? Of course he does get it right, eventually; but, if he truly was holier than holy, wouldn’t there be no mistakes?

In the early part of this century, the British also tried to wake us up to the potential truth of the halo-wearing set with the cult TV Show “Hex” (where fallen angels were up to all sorts of no good). Portrayed as very selfish and bordering heavily on evil, they would stop at nothing to gain their goals. They also had a very human feel to their personas, but I can’t see them fitting in up above.

Many theories abound regarding Angels, but the most common thread seems to be that they are in fact tasked with guarding and watching over us mere mortals; but they are not averse to some inter-mingling on the side. Who doesn’t want a warrior with supernatural powers and foresight guiding their path?

MUSIC: Aerosmith – Angel

Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock

Cultural difference can be a rather heavy subject, one that Killing Honour by Bali Rai tackles with surprising diplomacy.

The urban England location sets an emotive scene for racial and family tensions and a rather adult plot that takes some understanding. The novel is based around Sat, a young man from a lapsed Sikh household, and his search for his sister who went missing in questionable circumstances.

The foundations for this kind of tale have long been set (some may say overused) so it surprised me that I could find the story told in such a way as to leave me turning the page in anticipation. There is much within the covers that is controversial; there is quite a bit of drug use, sexual references and acts and several references  to long-held cultural beliefs that would be seen as questionable in today’s world. That being said the content is controlled beautifully; this isn’t a book of  ‘shock horror’. The graphic imagery manages to emphasise the story where another author may have let it overwhelm it.

There is no way that a story like this can completely escape bias from its author; the novel jumps from character to character in intervals within the story, including from the viewpoint of several women in the midst of abuse, but the writing is such that it doesn’t feel like any particular view is being pushed. As such, it takes the reader on a visceral ride into places that they would not have expected to go.

“Nice” is not a word I would use to describe this book, and I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. This book is about as far as you can push an M15+ rating in literary form. Approach it with caution but don’t shy away from it; the tale within is more than worth the occasional queasy feeling you might experience while reading it.

Bali Rai — Killing Honour

288 Pages

Published January 8, 2011, by Random House

ISBN: 9781409026747

You probably met him in the fruit and veg section of the supermarket, your hands touching over the best looking cos lettuce. He took you out to dinner at the local vegetarian restaurant and you’re happily feeding each other carrot sticks.

1 – BEWARE… chocolate comes into the relationship come the end of December. From then on, you’ll be in trouble if you lay a hand on his chocolate stash. So buy your own or swear off the brown stuff until after April.

2 – It may not be such a good idea owning books like 101 funny bunny jokes, as most of them were written about his cousins. He’s not proud of how stupid they behave, and knows people look down on him because of them. Tell blonde jokes instead.

3 – Public opinion is he should be laid off, in support of the Easter Bilby. This is breaking his heart as a keen chocolatier. Sure it’s unnatural that a bunny is laying chocolate eggs, but really, tradition is important… right?

4 – Don’t forget to make sure he has a mosquito net over the bed and marigolds and chrysanthemums planted around the house and in pots, and there is always a bottle of RID on hand. Myxomatosis makes him feel pretty crummy and since mozzies are one of the major spreaders of the disease we need him to stay safe.

5 – He cannot holiday in Queensland, as rabbits are illegal.  So much for the two of you helping the state get back on its feet after the floods. No wonder he has to do a midnight flit around the state to hand out eggs.

6 – He’s the only rabbit that isn’t thinking entirely about creating the next generation. He knows how hard childbirth is; have you seen the size of some of those eggs OUCH!, so he’s not going to force you to go for the whole Beatrix Potter set, especially not before you’re Mr. and Mrs. E Bunny.

7 – If he does start asking for your hand in marriage, make sure the ring isn’t anything less than one carat… and watch out for those pesky stems. They wither and wilt. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

8 – Might not be a good idea to bug him after he’s been to the gym in preparation for the big hop around the globe; especially if the chocoholic’s anonymous group is holding their meeting in the yoga room. He’s likely to be a bit of a hot, cross bunny.

9 – Just because his ancestors live in holes doesn’t mean he wants to. Have you seen the price of Lindt chocolate these days? We’re talking penthouse and I don’t mean the girly magazine.

10 – Facy dress parties are a little stressfull for him, so throwing him one for his birthday probably isn’t the best idea. You can go as a playboy bunny, but what does the Easter bunny go dressed as; A March Hare? Definitely a dilemma worth a avoiding.

~Happy Hoppy Easter!~

The Forbidden Game Trilogy: The Chase

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t yet read book one (The Hunter), grab your copy and get reading…

What’s going on?

We left Jenny and her friends, at the end of book one, missing a paper house, a friend and a certain promise ring. After confining Julian with a rune of constraint behind a door in his own game, they escape back into the real world, only to have the paper house stolen. The two guys who were following Jenny at the start of the book are under the Game’s spell, and they break into her house and make off with it.

The search for Summer, who died during the Game, begins. Jenny and her friends go back to school, and seem to be falling prey to strange hallucinations.

Eventually, they find the paper house – exploded as if something has burst out of it. The guys who stole the house have played their own Game, and they lost… after freeing Julian from his prison. Now he’s trying to hold Jenny to her oath: “All I refuse and thee I choose.”

Jenny agrees to play a new game: Lambs and Monsters. What she doesn’t realise until afterward is that everyone who survived the paper house is a player: Jenny, Tom, Dee, Michael, Audrey and Zach, against Julian the Shadow Man and his supernatural assistants, the Creeper and the Lurker.

Jenny and her friends have to find Julian’s ‘base’ before all the ‘lambs’ are captured, or Jenny will belong to him forever.

Why does it rock?

The thing I love about these books is that the characters grow and change because of what they’ve experienced. Tom is insecure about his future with Jenny, after seeing her reaction to Julian. Zach, a keen photographer, gets artist’s block on his return from the Game. Jenny herself is stronger and more confident, and attracts the unwanted, admiring attention of the school’s quarterback as a result.

The second game is set in the real world, and is possibly creepier than the first one because of it. Being hunted at school, at home or out on the street is far more chilling than being hunted in a fantasy world.

Julian plays by the rules, giving them obscure clues before abducting each ‘lamb’, but the advantage is on his side. The ways in which each of Jenny’s friends are captured are suited to each of them, which makes each loss more distressing to Jenny and to the reader.

This is just as fast-paced and intriguing a read as the first book, if not better. The Creeper and the Lurker were barely featured in The Hunter, but LJ Smith more than makes up for that here. And Julian is still seductively, ethereally cruel. Fans of sexy supernatural beings won’t be disappointed, and fans of traditional terror will be more than happy, too!

The Chase (The Forbidden Game Vol. 2) – L. J. Smith

Paperback, 768 pages (Trilogy)

June 8, 2010, by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing