A Cruel Man Delighting in Flowers
...the mildness to which men ... had yielded was only half of the intoxication of beauty, while the other half ... was of such surpassing and terrible cruelty—the most cruel of men delights himself with a flower—that beauty ... failed quickly of its effect...
Hermann Broch, The Death of Virgil
Jeremy Davies is made of ink, but don’t dip a feather in him. It tickles. He once painted a fingernail black and no one really noticed. He was disappointed. He’s also an editor, a religious atheist, a liker of strong coffees, a Shakespeare-lover, a political anarchist and someone who rarely has a pen when he needs one. He has been a PhD candidate, a personal trainer, a life model, a bouncer, an infantry soldier and someone who rarely had a pen when he needed one. He has had words published in a variety of places, in a variety of publications, in a variety of forms, in a variety of moments: Canada, Wet Ink, SMS and twelve minutes past three in the afternoon being some of these. His first novel, 'Missing Presumed Undead', will be re-published by Satalyte Publishing in February 2014. A second is on its way.
Talisman of Troy
If someone had've suggested to me, before reading this book, that an author could come along and successfully marry Homeric poetic style and atmosphere with contemporary ancient-historical fiction, I would've been skeptical, to say the least.
But this book does just that. A simply fantastic yarn that manages to cross a boundary into inspiring literature occasionally. Although I get the point of a previous reviewer regarding a pre-knowledge of Homer, I'm not sure it is a must. I think it certainly adds to the experience, but I'm pretty sure this book would stand alone.
The Manfredi/Manfredi author/translator combination is also worth pointing out: the translations of his older works have never been as strong. If you are reading Manfredi in English, check that the translator is Christine Manfredi.
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