It seems fitting that
we’ll be meeting at one of Austin’s most unusual bookshops, Malvern Books, to
discuss lovely mosaic novella centered around an idiosyncratic bookstore.
Although, Malvern has 100% less dogs than the bookstore featured in Claude Lalumière’s
The Door to Lost Pages, it has some of the magic.
But don’t take my
word for it, swing by the store to pick up a copy of this lovely little book,
and then come back on Wednesday, July 12 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss The Door toLost Pages.
"Lost Pages wasn’t the only bookshop I frequented, but the books I found on its shelves were… unique. I never saw any of these books anywhere else. Bizarre Bestiaries. Dictionaries of dead, obscure languages. Maps to lands that may never have been. Essays on religions with unfamiliar names. Obscure mythologies. Accounts of wars no history teacher had ever mentioned. Such were the wares of the bookshop that fed my teenage dreams."
More
magical realism than straight up fantasy, this book combines elements of urban
fantasy with lonely childhoods and difficult family relationships that are
rendered with gritty realism. There are also winged skeleton creatures, dark
gods, tentacles and a shifting pack of friendly dogs. It’s a homey multiverse
of myth, folktale, dreams and nightmares. Be warned, the
erotic and sexual elements that are often latent in fairy tales are more overt
here as the characters wrestle with desires and both visceral and ethereal.
In the true Austin
tradition, this is an author that knows how to keep it weird. If you enjoy The
Door to Lost Pages, Claude Lalumière will be in Austin for the ArmadilloConConvention on August 4 – 6, and back at Malvern Books to read from his latest book
Venera Dreams on August 9 at 7:00 p.m.
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