Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine

Valentine’s novel has the stylized quality of books by Angela Carter like “The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman,” and it displays similar pyrotechnics. Run by a woman known as Boss, the traveling Circus Tresaulti ekes out its existence against a postapocalyptic backdrop of cities rebuilding after “the bombs and the radiation.” The setting is unimaginative, but the circus performers, most of them mechanically altered to enhance their acts, come to life in a series of skillful set pieces. Chief among these performers are the aerialists Alec, who has recently (and intentionally) fallen to his death, and Bird, who has replaced him. Together they give the novel its emotional force, as Valentine keeps returning to the reasons for Alec’s death: “For anyone who sees it, a moment like that is never in the past; it is always happening. . . . When Bird falls, Alec is falling.” In contrast to the complexity of that haunting echo, the plot is more basic, involving the threat from a dastardly “government man.” Yet in a highwire act of her own, Valentine still raises the novel above the ordinary through her ability to convey the richness of the circus performers’ emotional lives, coupled with impressive writing — as in a description of Alec’s surgically attached wings, every bone-and-brass feather “jigsawed and hammered and smoothed so thin that when it strikes another feather it rings out a clear note.” -Jeff Vandermeer, New York Times

Spirit Dances by C.E. Murphy

The eagerly awaited return of Joanne Walker starts off with a bang in Murphy’s latest. Walker, who has started to embrace her shamanic powers, attends a dance performance with her boss Morrison. There’s a great deal of attendant sexual tension and, during the performance, Walker is so caught up in the magic of the performers that she transforms into a coyote. If that isn’t enough, in the middle of the performance, one of the dancers is magically attacked and killed. Walker begins the hunt for the killer, which leads her into situations she never expected–including accidentally transforming Morrison into a wolf and encountering a murderous werewolf. The adventure forces her to decide which path in life she wishes to fully embrace–cop or shaman. Readers will be thrilled to see Murphy’s return to the Walker Papers, and they won’t be disappointed. The author keeps the action fast-paced, Walker and Morrison’s repartee is fantastic (even when he’s a wolf), and the magic is exciting. If anything, it seems a little short, and readers will be left eager to see what happens next, both with Walker’s shamanic career and her ever-evolving relationship with Morrison.

Also see:

Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1)

Thunderbird Falls (The Walker Papers, Book 2)

Coyote Dreams (The Walker Papers, Book 3)

Walking Dead (The Walker Papers, Book 4)

Demon Hunts (Walker Papers, Book 5)

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine

This steampunk-flavored circus story begins with a disturbing undertone, like an out-of-tune calliope, and develops in hints and shadows. Touring a drained postwar world, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti rarely visits a city twice in anyone’s lifetime; borders are lax, and lives are short. The circus’s performers have no time for training, instead undergoing terrible trials in the ringmaster’s workshop to gain their skills. Enter the “government man,” who dreams of bringing back the order and security of the old world and wants the ringmaster to help him. She shares many of his dreams but mistrusts his offers of alliance. The drama and climax come not from the rivalry between the two but their similarities as they decide how to use their powers and who will suffer the consequences. Fans of grim fantasy will love this menacing and fascinating debut. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Moon’s world is populated by many different intelligent species (none of them human), and he has never known which one he belongs to. Orphaned at a young age, he’s wandered from tribe to tribe, hiding a dangerous secret. Like the universally hated Fell, whose only aims are slaughter and conquest, Moon can fly–which leads to predictably violent cases of mistaken identity. When he does find his own people, the Raksura, life doesn’t get any easier, since their internal politics are vicious, and they too are in imminent danger from the Fell. Cue hairsbreadth escapes and feats of derring-do, as Moon helps his new family evacuate their doomed colony and then rescues a group of kidnapped children. Wells (The Gate of Gods) merrily ignores genre conventions as she spins an exciting adventure around an alien hero who anyone can identify with. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The House of Discarded Dreams by Ekaterina Sedia

When Vimbai rents a room in a ramshackle house on the dunes of a New Jersey beach, she hopes to escape a mother who embarrasses her. Instead, she finds a roommate with a strange ability to separate objects into their component parts, a psychic-energy baby living in the telephone wires, and the ghost of her Zimbabwean grandmother inhabiting her kitchen. One day, the house floats out to sea, and Vimbai must find a way to return home. Sedia (The Secret History of Moscow) crafts a tale of magical realism that explores the connections between culture and identity as well as the nature of reality and dreams. VERDICT Humor and metaphysics blend in an elegantly written story of a woman’s quest for her true home and should appeal to fans of James P. Blaylock and Jonathan Carroll. –Library Journal