Continuing Review of Weird Tales Mag... Fae For a Day by Teet James Glenn

I think the most amazing thing for me was seeing the literary quality of this magazine. I don't have much experience with what's available in magazines now--my early years of checking out Cosmopolitan, the one slick mag I purchased on occasion, versus, older reading when romance story magazines were the rage, on newspaper-quality paper, remember? Well, you get the idea that I'm not a magazine reader to any great extent...

However, I found that not only the entire layout, editing, and art was being exceptionally done, but that the contributing writers were, apparently, well known as well as published in the genre. Not knowing a genre's writers and contributors does not stop me from knowing quality when I see it... And not knowing the genre as well as many of you, did not stop me from appreciating the stories...albeit some more than others. Those I'm going to give an overview review so you'll know more on some of the ones I really liked...

Take for instance, the 3rd Weird Story...

Fae For a Day

By Teet  James Glenn

Sure, everybody knows that the Irish are known for keeping the Fairy Folk (Fae), the little people happy... I guess they've learn they'd better??? For this author tells us that some of them, mostly living in the West Village have a bad rep with the cops. Robin Flannigan had been working that beat for 8 years when, on Halloween night, one of their precinct cars was stolen! Flannigan had been stupid brave by trying to stop them by standing in front of the car and shooting!

Now Flannigan was on disability with little likelihood that he'd ever be back... Well, there was always his favorite cop pub where the drinks ran continuously and the stories were shared, so he was always in the loop, at least. But he tried something different this night, Robin was there...and it was Halloween...again!

"So I drank. A lot.

"That was why I was in that weird bar on Halloween as a patron.

"The watering hole was called the "Phantom o the Opera Club" on Seventh Avenue sould of Christopher Street and Sheridan Square. It was a tourist trap. To me, booze is booze. They had beer from thirty countries so I could do a lot of world traveling in a night without leaving my barstool.

"The bouncer was a big black dude named Marvin who was the size of a house, gay as Tuesday and the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. Just don't cross him.

http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com

"I was almost to Fiji via Melbourne when there was a commotion at the door. Two bridge and tunnel jerks dressed as Jason and Freddy Krueger respectively with cheap store bought masks were arguing hotly with Marvin because he didn't want to admit anyone with "weapons." Jason's machete looked too real for the bouncer's taste and I'd swear Freddy in the movie didn't carry a baseball bat..."

"I was going to get up and offer at least moral support when this strangely dressed dude stepped right up between the three of them and everything stopped dead cold..."

~~~

Now any of us who have seen Freddy or Jason in action knows that a guy who looked like a Regency Dandy didn't have a chance, right?

"The golden giant moved like he had stepped out of an Errol Flynn film. He avoided the bat with a deft sidestep, spinning in the process to slice the blade upward along the underside of Freddy's left arm. A thin red line appeared along the entire arm, pit to wrist and Freddy let out a scream...

"Jason came in swinging his wooden sword with hard overhand. The dandy nimbly danced away, turned and yelled "Elah!" and did a perfect old movie lunge that put the sword point directly through Jason's left bicep and continued the thrust until the blade went through the right, connecting the two arms. Then the gold-haired gent stepped back leaving the sword piercing the touch guy's arms..."

But this wasn't just a man dressed up for Halloween in fancy clothes... Robin of course went over to introduce himself  and discovered who had really been fighting...

"My name is Oberon, "King of the Fairies, he said as I started to tilt over again. I managed to say, "Sure thing," before I pitched forward out cold... I came to, convinced I had been carried into a Halloween party. All around me were characters that looked like the cast party for Lord of the Rings except that the armor didn't look plastic and I had no way in hell to explain the guy with the goat legs and horns sticking out of his forehead. "Hey, hey," goat guy said to me, "I hear we have the same name. I'm Robin Goodfellow." He was clean-shaven and had almost a child's features though his body was definitely "fully developed" based on the size of his sch****. Yes, he was "naked" save for his fuzzy legs. "Hi," was all I could manage. I mimed a drinking motion and almost magically the satyr had a huge tankard in his hand. I managed to sit up enough to take a swig and wow! Grade A stuff..."Looking for Obi?" Robin horn-head asked. I looked at him with an expression that must have looked as puzzled as I felt. "I call him that because he hates it so much. I mean Oberon..."

                                                                                 ~~~

About that time Robin remembered the golden guy Dandy and began to wonder exactly where he was and who was who...and, more importantly, what?! Suddenly he realized that OMG, he was in the land of the Fae and every story that his beloved grandmother had told him came back to him...

What was going to happen next?!!!

Now, here's where it really gets weird, and I'm going to close so you can prepare for Halloween, but I will give you one little tidbit of gossip...What happened to Jason and Freddie? Why, they were placed under a spell and now were madly in love with each other! LOL, but...true... and... Robin? Well, here's a hint... Ohhhhh, My!

But now, he's only Fae just every once in awhile...

Enjoy this weird adventure story, just as much as I did,  in Issue 361!

Have a Happy Halloween, and if you happen to heard the Overture to the Phantom of the Opera...

Please...RUN!

Alexandrea Weis Pens Horror, The Satyr's Curse, Sure to Become a Classic... A Halloween Treat!

"Jazzmyn dropped her eyes to their joined hands. "If you could go back to the past, to any time, where would you go?"
"That's easy. I would go back to the time before the chaos of the Civil War, when people lived quieter lives and all the land surrounding New Orleans was made up of opulent plantations homes, not subdivisions and apartment complexes. Back to a world where grade was a way of life, and not a word in the dictionary...to a time when a man could hear his own thoughs, and reflect on them. I don't think we realize how noisy our world has become. I would revel in the quiet of that time."
"What about the future?"
"He Shook is head. "I think the future is overrated."
"How can seeing where we go be overrated? You wouldn't want to live long enough to see what progress we make over the next hundred years, or two hundred years?"
...Julian's dark brown eyes grew a little colder. "Can you imagine the monotony of living that long? Think of the knowledge people who live to a hundred have. How they know human behavior so well because they have experienced so much of it. Life would hold no mystery if you lived as long as that. Passion would hold no mystery if you lived as long as that. Passion would become extinct, because there would be no surprises left for you..."
"He stopped walking once more and turned to her. "Technology is a diversion, a simple sleight of hand that keeps you from seeing what really matters in life; people. If you were to outlive all of your friends, your time, your generation, and had to exist amid a world of strangers, it would be quite difficult, I assure you. There would be no one who knows you, no one to reminisce with, and no one to share a life with. Relationships would be made with every intention of leaving when it became heartfelt to spare you the eventual pain of heartbreak. You would wanter among people who had no understanding of your plight because you would be the only one of your kind. Sunrises would lose their poignancy, and sunsets would only bring the agony of another longely night. When eternity is within your grasp, the promise of forever becomes a curse and not a blessing."

~~~

The Satyr's Curse

By Alexandrea Weis

Nobody does Louisiana horror novels like Alexandrea Weis. This plus The Ghosts of Rue Dumaine (review coming soon) are sexy, savage and superb! I was pleasantly surprised when, upon picking up some definite clues, I was totally wrong when a main character Julian Devereau explained that vampires did not exist... cause I sure thought it was going to be "another" vamp...

Of course, Julian had been around New Orleans for over 150 years and would know...

But he's been around due to a curse placed by a Voodoo Priestess... Quite a difference, of course...

Jazzmyn Livaudais dropped out of college when her father had become ill and when he died, she inherited both their Bistro and home. Jazzmyn had discovered that she liked running the Bistro, but still had trouble making ends meet, given the cost of keeping up their home, which had been in the Livaudais family for decades.

Now, Jazz considered the employees at the restaurant as her family and spent the majority of her waking hours there, keeping the Bistro open 24-7. Most of the time was quiet, but her chef Kyle, would sometimes drink and cause trouble with the staff, being loud enough to be heard by customers... Most of the time it was because of differences that occurred between Kyle and Jazz...

Kyle was in love with her and, foolishly, one night Jazzmyn had drunk too much as well and had fallen into bed with Kyle. Now he acted like he owned her.

Most of the time that also didn't cause a problem, until Julian Devereau started coming in each night, sitting at the bar, sipping wine, but never eating... He had slowly started to flirt with Jazzmyn and she was finding it hard not to respond to his overtures. In fact, sometimes she wondered if he somehow hadn't cast a spell over her, since lusting after a man was not something she normally did...

Obviously the tension increased when Kyle took offense at Jazz's attentions to him... Especially since there had been several murders in the area--women mutilated as if by an animal...

"A table had been set at the edge of the gardens beneath the branches of a crape myrtle tree. Atop the white linen table glistened fine white china, sparkling crystal glasses, and gold utensils. All about the garden white tea lights flickered in glass sconces. There were even tea lights set on lily pads and floating about a round pond in the center of the garden. Rising from the pond, a gold satyr stood erect and staring up at the bright waxing moon, ascending in the evening sky. Several other satyr statues were nestled in and around the manicured shrubbery. In the background, a soulful Billie Holiday tune echoed across the gardens from an open french window on the second floor balcony above..."

~~~

"Stay," she pleaded, breathlessly.

"Julian's lips hovered teasingly over hers. "You're ready."
"When his lips met hers, the universe exploded inside Jazzmyn. She was overrun by an intense white heat as she slammed her body into him and began grinding her hips against his. She had never wanted a man like this, and the frenzied hunger that was taking over her mind frightened her. Her grip on rational thought ebbed away as she became consumed by her need for Julian. His kisses only seemed to intensify her feelings, and when his lips began working their way down her neck, she thought she would cry out with desperation.
"Julian groaned against her as his hands roamed over her breasts. He frantically pulled at the buttons down the front of her white satin blouse. Once he had forced the shirt from her shoulders, his teeth nipped at the tender flesh about her neck and breasts.
"I'm done waiting for you," she said against her skin, the frustration evident in his husky voice. He picked her up and cradled her in his arms before he started for the stairs. As he kissed her face and neck, he climbed the wide steps two at a time. When he reached the second floor landing, he went straight for her bedroom door.
"He kicked the door open with his foot, and when Jazzmyn saw the darkness of her bedroom looming before them, she shivered. She wondered how he knew where her bedroom was, and then she became afraid; afraid of the man she was going to give herself to. Her mind struggled to recall the questions that had plagued her throughout the day, but when his lips came down hard on hers, all her concerns were erased...

~~~

Now there's not a lot of suspense for the reader. Everybody working in the restaurant are warning Jazz that they think there is something weird about Julian. Kyle and her bartender, Scott, have both offered to drive her home alternating nights, because of the murders which continue to increase. That doesn't stop Jazz, though, from agreeing to meet Julian outside of the Bistro and when Jazz shows signs of continuing to see him, Scott, at least, tones down his watch in permitting Julian to take her home as well.  

Not so Kyle... and finally, one night, he starts a fight with Julian in the kitchen and Jazz is forced to fire him...

Jazz and Julian now spend even more time together until... Until Jazz, rightly, realizes that she's somewhat afraid and she starts her own investigation of Julian, his background, and his home... Reader alert:There is one violent scene not easily read in this novel...

The Satyr's Curse is one of, and maybe the best of Alexandrea Weis' novels. And it certainly is the best one to read during this Halloween Season... But, warning, the curse has not been lifted by the end of the book...so...beware... he'll be...hunting...

GABixlerReviews

Alexandrea Weis is an advanced practice registered nurse who was born and raised in New Orleans. Her first novel, To My Senses, introduced readers to the world of Nicci Beauvoir and garnered numerous awards and rave reviews. Her popular second Nicci Beauvoir novel, Recovery, won the Gold Medal for Best Romantic Suspense from the 2011 Readers' Favorite Book Awards, and was named Best Romantic Suspense novel by the Spring 2011 NABE Pinnacle Book Awards. Her fourth novel, Broken Wings, won Best Contemporary Romance at the NABE Pinnacle Book Awards in 2012, and the Silver Medal at the 2012 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards for Contemporary Romance. Diary of a One-Night Stand, was released in August 2012 and was named a Paranormal Romance Guild's Best Reviewed of 2012. Acadian Waltz was a finalist in the 2013 Readers' Favorite Book Awards for Best Contemporary Romance and Best Southern Fiction. 

A permitted wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, Weis rescues orphaned and injured wildlife. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans.

website: http://alexandreaweis.com