[UA] Do you see an undead Jim Morrison in this?

[Chris Cooper]

Ray Manzerak has written a fantasy novel. It is
reviewed here:

http://www.emcit.com/emcit130.php#Tim

The actual review is here:

When you think about the music of The Doors I suspect
that two things will come to mind. The first, of
course, is Jim Morrison’s haunting voice. But the
other will be that swirling, magical keyboard sound
(think of "Light My Fire"). It is a sound that makes a
Doors song instantly recognizable, and it was created
by Ray Manzarek. Jim Morrison is very famously dead,
but Manzarek is still very much alive, and writing.

So what should a reviewer feel when presented with a
novel by Ray Manzarek? Some suspicion, obviously. But
then Manzarek is hardly a celebrity these days. It
isn’t like I’m being offered a book (supposedly)
written by Britney Spears. Indeed, if I wasn’t so
geriatric I probably wouldn’t know who Manzarek was.
As it is, I have Doors albums on my MP3 player, and
still listen to them. But this isn’t just any book; it
is a book from Night Shade. Jeremy and Jason are not
the sort of guys to publish a celebrity novel just for
the publicity. These are people with taste, and it
behooves me to trust them.

So to the book. Snake Moon starts as if it is going to
be some sort of Californian pagan fantasy. There is
stuff like this:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night of the full moon in Taurus was different
from the solstices, though. It was the night of
secrets and sex. It was the night of special ripeness
when Boone would drop his seeds into the soil and add
the golden water to the seeds and the mystery of
germination would begin. The mystery of life and
creation. Only the earth knew how life was created and
it was her secret. And it was called sex.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It soon becomes apparent, however, that what Manzarek
is doing here is setting up an idyllic rural paradise
for the precise purpose of contrasting it with the
real world; a world which, in 1863, was deeply
embroiled in bloody conflict. Boone Dillard and his
family don’t even know that there is a war going on,
but they soon find out, and it isn’t long before they
too are embroiled in it. This is the point where they
discover that wars, and civil wars especially, are
anything but civil.

>From here on in things get rather disturbing. The
Dillards live in country Tennessee. They are, in
theory, people of the South. Manzarek, thankfully, is
not. But it is still hard for any American to write
impartially about the Civil War, and it was a while
before I became comfortable with what Manzarek was
doing. Perhaps he intended that. Certainly he showed
how easy it is for innocent country bumpkins to get
carried away with the excitement and glamour of war. I
think he just about got away with it, although I can
see the more militant amongst persons of color being
deeply unhappy with this book.

Then, all too soon, it is over. Snake Moon feels more
like a novella than a novel. This, in part, is because
it is based on a screenplay that Manzarek wrote with
Rick Valentine. (I’m assuming that this is the same
Rick Valentine who, with Manzarek, co-wrote the horror
movie, Love Her Madly.) The plot isn’t exactly
complex, but the story does go somewhere and the
ending is impressively powerful. You wouldn’t be able
to sell this book in a mass market fantasy or horror
format, it is just too thin. But it is a book that it
was well worth Night Shade publishing, and an
enjoyable, if at times disturbing, read.

Of interest, the lead character, Boone Dillard
anagrams to bloodier land and Snake Moon is Aeon
Monks.

Cheers,

Chris.






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