"the native star"
Aug. 31st, 2010 02:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sergebroomA few years ago, I discovered a story. And a writer. The story was "The Hotel Astarte", and the writer was MK Hobson. She went on to write one wonderful short story after another. Today she will give us her first novel, "The Native Star".
The year is 1876. The place is the logging town of Lost Pine, up in northern California's Sierras. Things are not going well for Emily Edwards. It's becoming more and more difficult for her to get enough business to support her aging Pap when everybody prefers buying magical charms from catalogs that now come all the way from the East. Out of desperation, she uses herbs and poetry to put together a love spell that'll make Dag, the town's most wealthy man, want to marry her. Things immediately go wrong, a situation not helped by the local mine's zombie crew going out of control. When the dust has settled, Emily is stuck with a mysterious gem thru the middle of her palm. Unable to remove the stone, and unable to cancel the spell that has made Dag obsessed with her, she'll have to ride all the way to San Francisco with Dreadnought Stanton, a warlock from an East Coast institute who has a very low opinion to her approach to Magic. As one can imagine, this causes some tension during their journey.
The situation is bad enough, but there are also dark forces at work, humans in the government who have no qualms about wielding the Magic of blood. They want Emily's stone, even if it means having to hack her hand off.
Highly recommended.
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBhp5dsW6Hw )
The year is 1876. The place is the logging town of Lost Pine, up in northern California's Sierras. Things are not going well for Emily Edwards. It's becoming more and more difficult for her to get enough business to support her aging Pap when everybody prefers buying magical charms from catalogs that now come all the way from the East. Out of desperation, she uses herbs and poetry to put together a love spell that'll make Dag, the town's most wealthy man, want to marry her. Things immediately go wrong, a situation not helped by the local mine's zombie crew going out of control. When the dust has settled, Emily is stuck with a mysterious gem thru the middle of her palm. Unable to remove the stone, and unable to cancel the spell that has made Dag obsessed with her, she'll have to ride all the way to San Francisco with Dreadnought Stanton, a warlock from an East Coast institute who has a very low opinion to her approach to Magic. As one can imagine, this causes some tension during their journey.
“The zombies were animated entirely by magic.” Stanton chewed on a thick piece of bread, which he’d buttered and topped with even more sugar. “The stone absorbed the magical energy that drove them. But it seems not to affect magic that has already worked its way into a living creature’s life force.”
“That’s a shame,” Emily said.
“Not really. If the stone worked like that, you’d most likely be dead.”
“Instead of on a road to San Francisco, trying to rescue a man who loves me so much he hates me?”
Stanton looked as he tore another hunk from the now-ravaged loaf. “Still feeling guilty, are we? I’d have thought you’d be over that by now.”
“I have a nettlesome little thing called a conscience,” Emily hissed. “Ever hear of it?”
“They’re out of fashion in New York,” Stanton said, and though she guessed he was joking, he didn’t sound humorous. “Listen, you’ll be back in a fortnight, and you can smooth everything over. That love spell was strong enough for ten men. A few tears, some nice little endearments, a lighter hand with the lavender . . . he’ll marry you in a heartbeat.”
The situation is bad enough, but there are also dark forces at work, humans in the government who have no qualms about wielding the Magic of blood. They want Emily's stone, even if it means having to hack her hand off.
Highly recommended.
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBhp5dsW6Hw )
