Customer Reviews

The Muse

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Muse is a delightful tale from start to finish. Warren's crisp and clean prose lends itself to transporting the reader into a world of struggling fiction writers. As a fiction writer myself, I found Warren's characters instantly genuine and the depiction of their lives, families, hopes and dreams easy to empathize with.

What starts out as a story of three friends struggling with writers block soon turns into a tale of everyday magic with celestial beings, an evil spirit and the heroes in real danger for their lives and those of their loved ones.

But beyond the fast paced chapters, great dialogue and fantastically magical climax is the soulful inner journey of the main character that so many stories seem to lack these days.

Warren does a bang up job of keeping these themes consistent and tight throughout the book, yet subtle enough as not to hammer it over the reader's head. The result is a heart warming ending that ties everything together in a hope filled conclusion that will have the reader reminiscing about it for days.

A truly impressive debut novel.

"Stan Marino needs a muse. He's written himself into a corner...again. A shot of inspiration is all he needs to finish his story ...where is he going to find it? What Stan doesn't know: Inspiration has found him. And it's about to take over his life. Ripped from reality, he must lead a band of lost souls in a life-or-death battle with a merciless enemy. Stan has found his muse, but will he survive it?"

I did this a little differently--the above is the actual back cover blurb. I normally don't use that as an intro to a review because, to be honest, I rarely read back cover blurbs. I've found all too often that the book turns out to be nothing like the back cover description. NOT THE CASE HERE!

I also found myself wanting to copy the endorsements for this novel, because I actually agree with them. Descriptions like, "A light-hearted, family-friendly page-turner..." (T.W. Ambrose, editor of Digital Dragon magazine), and "Unique and imaginative, a humorous yet mysterious twist..." (Jill Williamson, author of By Darkness Hid).

I found The Muse by Fred Warren funny and heart-warming, with great characterization. I truly enjoyed reading it. I picked it up on a day that I was feeling pretty dumpy, and by the time I had finished it (and I stayed up late to finish it!) I was smiling :).

"The Muse," Fred Warren's new book from Splashdown Books, is a breath of fresh air. It is a riff on "The Devil and Daniel Webster" without the idiocy of Characters knowingly signing on the dotted line with sulfurous ink then trying to escape their stupidity by putting one over on old Scratch. Rather than dupes, the people involved are victims innocently attempting to get through life.

Stan Marino, the protagonist, is a writer of heroic fantasy who belongs to a small group of third-tier authors, the sort who write entertainingly but unnoticed by the big houses and agents. The collection of scriveners, who call themselves "The Seventh Circle of Hell," are a support-group of writers working in disparate genres of speculative fiction. One day, a mousy woman walks into the book-cum-coffee shop in which they hang out. She shatters the writer's block Stan has struggled with on his work-in-progress with one small suggestion. Soon he and the other writers of the "Circle," Jilly and Davos, find that every keystroke is suddenly golden.

Charity, Stan's beloved wife with a secret of her own, realizes there are dark forces in motion the menace her husband, small daughter, and every creative person in the area. A bill is being written out that will worse than bankrupt the people she loves.

In the final conflict, creativity becomes a two-edged sword that cuts for and against the wielder and a four year-old is the most powerful human involved.

Warren's novel deals with the creative process and the mythic without doing serious violence to anyone's belief-system. One warning, this work made even the old snake-eater's eyes well up. If Splashdown Books can continue this quality in its publications, it could evolve into one of the better new houses.

This is definitely a book to muse about.

Many writers have come to a point where they hit a brick wall and words refuse to peel themselves from the skull cavity. They cling there like rotten children. WRITER"S BLOCK!The artist will eventually find a spatula and remove the little buggers. It can get messy. Cheesecake may help, but the battle to release creativity with inspiration is not always so sweet.

You may be asking what any of this has to do with The Muse and the CrazyHair on its cover. Don't knock the hair...kindred spirit and all. That is Stan and he has written himself into a corner. Poor guy has probably gained 10 pounds from cheesecake consumption, gouged the inside of his cranium with a metal spatula and I think he had his wife drop an anvil on his head. It is all to no avail. He's stuck!

Stan goes to his small writer's group and tries to find help from his friends Jilly and Davos, but they are struggling with their own writerly woes. What they need is something to stoke the embers of imagination. A muse. What they get is a mousy gal named Leila. She overhears the group's discussion and gives a few pointers. They get to talking and find out Leila is a freelance editor. Stan, Jilly and Davos invite her to the group.

From there, strange things begin to happen.

The Muse is a laugh-out-loud good time. No really. Fred Warren has a wonderful style of funny. Anyone that can work a naked Smurf or Pinky and the Brain quotes into their story and make it work has my vote of confidence.

While The Muse is funny, it is also beautiful. I will give examples of both in my selected quotes in a bit. What stands out to me is Fred's hidden beautiful. You will be reading along, laughing and then, BAM! It is a straight-up Batman moment. Fred writes something so beautiful and profound that you have to flip the cover and make sure you are reading the same book. It reminds me so much of the Christian's journey, or at least this Christian's journey.

Excellent Quotes:

Funny- "I lost my respect for gnomes when they started hawking airline tickets on TV."

Beautiful- "Autumn was waltzing with winter, and it wouldn't be long before the lord of ice and snow cast off his partner and danced in the spotlight alone."

Fred Warren presents his readers with very valid questions. What are you willing to give up for your wants? What if that inspiration you so desire could actually kill you? Better yet, what if it could kill the things you love? This is especially true for writers on the journey to publication. We must remember that if something is too good to be true, there will generally be a high price to pay for falling for its temptation. Is God in your journey?

I think the most appropriate word to describe Mr. Warren's book is "fun", because from beginning to end that's what it is. The Muse is a tightly-written, easy-to-read jaunt reminiscent of the best episodes of TV's "The Twilight Zone" or "Amazing Stories". The book doesn't waste a lot of words, but marches straight through the plot, one which I found both logical and sincere.

I don't know that I've ever read a book where the idea of inspiration and one's "muse" was such an important part. I found the originality refreshing. Great first effort, Mr. Warren! Look forward to more.

A light hearted, family friendly page-turner... The Muse does for writers what superman did for men wearing tights.

I've heard it said that there's no more difficult story to write, then that of a writer writing a story. But someone forgot to tell Fred, because he took up the challenge masterfully. The Muse gives us the story of three writers: Stan, a writer of fantasy; Davos, a writer of classic science fiction; and Jilly, who writes vampire romance novels (move over Stefanie Meyers!). The three writers form a small writer's group that meets every week at the local coffee shop to discuss their writing. Each writer is down on their luck, misery loving company, and thinking about giving up writing. But one day, as they sit enjoying their half-Café double mocha lattés, a new member joins their group and luck begins to change.

Okay, to be honest, I don't remember what kind of coffee they drank, but you get the point. And where, you ask, is the fantasy, love story, and Christian elements I spoke of earlier? Well, I have to leave something for you when you actually read the book.

I give The Muse two thumbs up, with a gold star for family friendliness, a gold star for originality, a gold star for plot, and a silver star for characters. Plus, a first place ribbon for Fred Warren's first novel, and a shiny red apple for Splashdown books for taking a chance on a new writer.

- T.W. Ambrose-
Digital Dragon Magazine

Length:: 2:19 Mins

Want to get a feel for this book? Here's the original video trailer as filmed in New Zealand.

The Muse, by Fred Warren, takes the reader into the world of muses, thus the title. Stan is a writer who's having trouble figuring out where to go with his story. His writer's group, consisting of Davos and Jilly, are also struggling. Then along comes Leila, and suddenly they're able to not only get their stories back on track, but find buyers and break into the big time. But how? And more importantly, why?

That's the engine for this story as the seemingly innocent events grow to dangerous proportions. Our trio, along with Stan's wife, Charity, and his daughter, Hannah, are thrown into the world of a Muse intent on destroying them along with many others.

There is a Christian element to the story, but that is due to the characters being Christian, not an attempt to preach. Most anyone would be comfortable reading this, no matter what religion or non-religion they are. But you'll not find an attempt to deliver an overt message or belittle anyone else in these pages.

The strength of the story lies in Mr. Warren's well developed characters. He has a great cast, and they are well written. Their interaction provides much of the story's spark. The only character I felt who could have used more nuance was the antagonist. She starts out interesting enough, but by the end, she evolves into the typical, arrogant villain. But the rest of the cast had depth and interesting interaction, and was what kept the story vibrant.

I read this rather quickly. On my limited schedule, reading a book takes a month or more, but I found myself sitting in the chair, late into the night, with a cup of tea or coffee, reading yet another chapter. I finished it within four days of starting. Would I call it a page turner? Plot wise, not really, but the writing and characters were so well done, I had to find out what would happen to them, and that kept me reading.

Which is good, because for me, it was a slow burn on discovering that there was a danger to confront. Mr. Warren takes his time building to the point where we fully realize the danger Stan and his friends are in. I found myself wanting to "get there" much sooner than we actually did. That coming from a guy who likes fast-paced narrative. Your mileage may vary.

Related to that, I had watched the book's trailer. I knew at some point, our heroes would end up trapped in an alternate reality and have to fight their way out. If I hadn't been looking for it, I may not have felt this way, but the entry into this alternate reality doesn't happen until the last third of the book. I not only grew impatient waiting for them to get there, but wasn't ready to leave when they did. Mr. Warren introduces several characters once in the new world who I would have loved to learn more about. If I had my say, I would have preferred more time in the alternate world and less in the real.

The plot is a mixture of both original concepts and predictable moments. It isn't complicated, and I did feel more could have been done with it. Yet, the world of the Muse held interest, and I can tell Mr. Warren had invested the time in their back story. While the plot had a couple of holes, I had fun reading it. He paints the world, both real and alternate, so you feel you're there. The plot adequately displays his strength: the characters. If you don't need cliff-hanger action on every page, and prefer characters who you find interesting, my bet is you'll enjoy this novel as well as I did.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up "The Muse" - fantasy? Mystery? A buddy adventure? Turns out it's all three.
Fred Warren has created an entertaining tale that explores a familiar topic: Be careful what you wish for. His main character Stan especially appealled to me as a man with a family who is trying desperately to find his muse for his writing. As with most things, though, his muse turns out to be something far more amazing than he could have himself imagined.
"The Muse" starts out at a leisurely pace that sets up Stan's normal life - his wife and daughter, his two writer colleagues, his daily struggles with creativity. But a chance meeting with a helpful woman sends the plot on a series of twists and turns so fantastic, you'll find yourself flipping the pages faster and faster.
The dialogue is snappy, the action is taut, and the family emotion is strong and real. I would highly recommend "The Muse," and hope Fred Warren continues to give us more of the fantastic!

Stan Marino and his friends Jilly and Davos make up the Seventh Circle of Hell
Writers' Society, a threesome critique group that meets at the Pensive Aardvark bookshop. Stan is working on his fantasy epic, Taron's Crusade, Jilly writes vampire romances, and Davos writes science fiction and all things spacey. While discussing Stan's latest bout of writer's block at a meeting, Leila Starling interrupts with the perfect solution. Stan is so thrilled to have solved his writing crisis that he invites Leila into the group.

Instantly all three writers become more productive. And all three start experiencing black outs. One minute they are typing away, the next? They wake up to find that hours have passed and they've accomplished tons of work on their stories. Weird. But cool, right?

Until Stan's wife, Charity, meets Leila Starling and the two women seem to hate each other. Charity warns Stan to stay away from Leila, but won't say why. Leila sets up a meeting for Davos and Jilly, and both sign major contracts. Stan doesn't see why Leila is so bad, and he wasn't to make his big break, too. But if he gives Leila too much control, will he ever get it back?

What would you do to fulfill your artistic dreams? Fred Warren offers a humorous, yet mysterious, twist on the journey to success that warns: if the deal is too good to be true, it likely is. The Muse is unique and imaginative. I got caught up in the story of love and Divine inspiration, which totally took me by surprise. I loved the idea that you shouldn't rush creativity, that it takes time to build art that entertains and gets people to think. A well-written delight, The Muse will inspire the readers to enjoy their own artistic gifts and the time it takes to create them.