Customer Reviews

Gypsy Blood (Carnival Cycle)

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Many people live interesting lives, but no one lives a life quite like Carnival does. He tells fortunes out of a storefront and has a permanent ghost residing inside his chest near his heart. Carnival knows his late poppa killed his mother and when he refused to tell him where he buried her, he murdered his dad and placed him in his chest. The only problem with their arrangement is poppa never shuts up even as he refuses to free himself by telling his son where his mom is.

One day he meets the vampire Maya and falls in love with her. He promises to take care of her, which includes insuring she has her blood sustenance every night. The only problem with their arraignment is that Carnival does not like killing people even those who deserve death. He makes a deal with a demon who tells him how to change Maya so she no longer is a vamp. What he fails to grasp is someone is manipulating him and his friends and family to fulfill a master plan. If Carnival wants to live he must learn the full truth, but so far has no inkling that an adversary is playing puppeteer with him.

GYPSY BLOOD is an interesting original supernatural thriller as the protagonist works the paranormal to his advantage and desires, (and to the audience's delight). The life he placed inside him is a touch of irony while he accepts the undead as his soulmate. His father buried in his chest is a strange symbiotic relationship that will have the Freudians in a feeding frenzy while readers will laugh at their "discussions". The first Carnival tale is an entertaining unique story that leaves fans anxiously waiting for the next entry in what looks like will be a fun saga.

Harriet Klausner

Let me start by saying that I usually hate fantasy novels and prefer "suspense thrillers" to ghost stories. I just happened to pick this book up while in a weird mood.

From the opening scene I was hooked. Any man that deems it acceptable to battle a succubus by tap dancing on her teeth is an interesting character. Carnival develops in to a well-rounded character as the book unfolds. He develops in to a three-dimensional character with a troubled past, issues, dreams, and a plethora of issues to work through. Vernon gives us a character with a depth and mythology that could be mined for tons of great reading.

Vernon also gives us something else great. His writing is so vivid that it feels like you are living inside the pages. His descriptions are point on. Through out the book I could easily imagine the environments even with my eyes open. From dark alleys to blood filled bathtubs Vernon captured each locale's dark spirit.

I would sum this one up as a darkly comedic, hard boiled, supernatural thrill ride with one of the most interesting characters to come along in years. Once you finish this book you will be eagerly waiting for the next installment of the "Carnival Cycle."

If you haven't read Steve Vernon, man are you in for a treat. Previous insane works by this author include, Nothing To Lose, Plague Monkey Spam, Long Horn, Big Shaggy-and soon to be released Leftovers. You'll want to get a hold of those as well after Gyspy Blood works its magic on you.

The one thing you will marvel at after reading anything by Steve Vernon, is his psychotic way of describing things: this guy reminds me of how I felt when I first discovered Clive Barker, and I'll be honest in saying that I think no other Horror author writes anything like him. If you want originality, you've come to the right place.

Gypsy curses, the wild ghost of a dead Gypsy father living in the main character's chest, a Vampire mistress, murder, conjuring the dead from the grave, deceit, and a mesmerizing plot written only the way Steve Vernon can tell a story, will make this one of the best reads you experience for 2008.

This is one not only for Horror fans, but fans of Dark Fantasy and other worlds where just about anything can happen. And Vernon has a way of making you feel like you're sitting in front of a campfire with cold winds howling all around you, his voice in his words telling a story that not only chills you to the bone, but makes you laugh and wonder as far into the night as the darkness will take you.

Don't pass this one up. You'll be seeing a lot more of this author in months to come. Be able to say you experienced his writing with Gypsy Blood, his first novel.

Horrodude.

In Gypsy Blood, to quote Shakespeare, "The Plays The Thing".

Like Hamlet awaiting his Uncle's response, Steve Vernon is anxiously anticipating the reaction to his autobiographically flavored first novel....but the analogy goes deeper than that. Gypsy Blood is a tale of provocation and reflection that could be easily imagined as a play. Most of his scenes are usually confined to two or three characters, the settings are also similarly limited, and the dialog consists of the type of witty banter and comical asides that would translate well on stage. Vernon's imagery is not only potent in Gypsy Blood, it's vivid. The reader can't but help visualize the pages as if they were performed by some avant-garde performance group in a theatre by the sea.

When readers picks up Gypsy Blood, they never forget for once that they've got a Steve Vernon novel in their hands. Steve's output for the most part could be characterized as "over the top" dark fiction and Gypsy Blood certainly fits comfortably alongside his other work. Gypsy Blood treats us to vampires, zombies, demons, a succubus, specters, ghosts, and other monsters that are, ugh, unique. In Gypsy Blood tattoo artists become mad instruments of terror, dead men have intercourse with rocks and octopus's, family members eat each other, and an entire city's soul is physically embodied. I should also mention that a rather large animal makes quite a memorable appearance in one characters back side. Gypsy Blood reeks of screaming, bloody, and disgusting death scene's that become more grotesque as the novel progresses.

Another theme that Gypsy Blood shares with Steve's earlier work is his insistence that there are always choices in life, that there are at least two paths a character can take. (This would seem to be at odds with the lead character's profession, which like Steve's in real life is a fortune teller, but Steve explains this contradiction early and exploits this paradox often in the course of the story). Steve usually presents these life choice options through an internal dialog that often manifests itself as conversations between the main character and...something else. For instance in the past he has used bears, coyote's, dead Indians, and giant spiders. In Gypsy Blood he uses the lead character's dead father's soul which he has imprisoned in his own chest. There are some great quips from this dead old man as well as some funny jokes and some really horrible puns. He does have some pretty good pearls of wisdom to offer though, such as when he was addressing one of his son's fibs: "Lies hide best behind the light of truth."

Gypsy Blood is the work of a mature writer, so much so that in this novel, believe it or not, Steve actually had me comparing some of his scenes to Tom Piccirilli's writing. I was struck on how similar their atmospheric style was on occasion. When you read a Pic novel you have to slow down because there are layers to the context, i.e., motives aren't always apparent, there are always secrets to be discovered, and sanity can't always be easily determined. In Gypsy Blood, everybody has a secret, even the trees. A hole in a sweater can show you things, a dead bartender is really your mother, and your dear old abomination of a father may be abetting your enemies. Another theme that Pic and Steve share in their fiction is a simple but a powerful one: you cannot run away from your past. Or who you are and what you might be.

I enjoyed Gypsy Blood tremendously and would recommend this to any horror reader; it is one hell of a great read! Put simply, Gypsy Blood is a contemporary horror novel with scares, imaginative beasties, tons of carnage, and lots of dead people fornicating, What more could anyone ask for?

My advice to you is to run out and purchase Gypsy Blood before its limited run has sold out.

TTzuma