#J.A. Areces

[lukassprehn]

Interview for a Wizard liveblog - Episode 5 - “Chapter 4″

A move-the-plot-ahead chapter.

Episode 5 - “Chapter 4″

General plot summary + misc. notes

We are still at the coffee house and Jesse is still bound to his chair, which is bound to the ground. Jesse demands to be let go, saying that he has to go back to Alivan’s to check the orders for the wizard. Ch-U-Ch frees Jesse from the magical binding spell, then asks Jesse where he knows Nicholas Fidgewidge from. Jesse tells the agent that Nicholas has been one of Alivan’s best customers for a long time, sending them items and buying things from them up until the last couple of weeks. Ch-U-Ch gets up and pays for the food. He then asks Jesse who else regularly shops from Alivan’s. Jesse is overwhelmed with the thought that his life is actually in danger at the moment, but Ch-U-Ch calms his nerves. Then Jesse replies, “Yolanda something and Mily something,” but to make sure he has to go back into the store. Jesse makes his way back to Alivan’s, but then notices Ch-U-Ch has not moved from the coffee shop. Rolling his eyes, he returns and invites him into the store (something he’s required to do due to the Emunio Concutio magic alarm on the store)

Back at the store the orders start coming in. Suddenly one appears from Yolanda Roundbottom, one of Jesse’s regular customers. Jesse writes down the address for Ch-U-Ch, which is a PO box in Boston, Massachusetts, near Cambridge, MA and Harvard University. Ch-U-Ch knows the location well already and says that he needs to go immediately, but Jesse asks him what he should do - go home or go out of town, due to the danger he might be in. Ch-U-Ch tells him it’s best to just go about his daily routines as usual so as not to alarm Mr. Claw. Suddenly Ch-U-Ch gets a phone call from his wife. He answers it, taking off his pointy hat and completely changing his tone. He lies to her about being a pharmaceutical sales representative, about some meetings having gone well, and acts rushed with her, finally hanging up. He gives Jesse a guilty look and tells him he haven’t told his wife he is an undercover cop since she’s not very fond of “all this magic stuff.” Before Ch-U-Ch leaves the store, he gives his cell phone number to Jesse and reassures him that he will be fine. He then leaves the store, tapping the porch outside with his staff and vanishing.

Mid-morning in Boston. It’s freezing and the wizard Ch-U-Ch is not well protected from the nip in the air. He pulls his hat down over his face and buttons the top button of his coat to keep warmer. He’s standing on the sidewalk directly across from Yolanda Roundbottom’s house, observing it carefully. It’s a typical tight and cute Bostonian house, two-storey with large windows and steps that leads up to a small porch. On the front door is a sign that reads “Witches are welcome”. There’s a floor mat that reads “No one can see the wizard”, which makes the wizard practically cringe. A lightning round in the shape of a witch on a broom is on the top of the roof, squeaking as the wind makes it turn to the west. Five large pumpkins decorate the steps and the porch. Cambridge is busy, with students making their way to coffee shops, riding bikes or jogging. Ch-U-Ch rings the doorbell and a singing voice calls from inside announcing that she’ll be right there. She keeps Ch-U-Ch waiting for long minutes, though, constantly excusing herself for her lateness as she can be heard making last arrangements inside. Finally the door opens and Yolanda Roundbottom sees the wizard. At first she acts surprised but then smiles, happily, as she sees he’s a wizard. She says “No one can see the wizard, not nobody, not no how,” then giggles as she pulls him inside and leads him through a foyer to a small cluttered living room. Ch-U-Ch doesn’t know how to act and just goes along.

Yolanda walks around Ch-U-Ch admiring his wizard’s outfit as Ch-U-Ch asks her if she is Yolanda Roundbottom. She says that she is, then asks him how she can be of service. Then, however, she points out that he’s a little early, which confuses Ch-U-Ch. Noticing her lack of manners, she invites him to sit down and drink coffee. Ch-U-Ch asks her if she’s got Cuban coffee, but unfortunately she has no machine to make anything like it. They drink and talk, and it suddenly becomes clear that Yolanda has five other friends - witches - who will be coming over, and that Ch-U-Ch is supposed to be speaking to them. Apparently Yolanda sent an email to someone to set up a special “talk” for her and her friends, and she has mistaken Ch-U-Ch for this wizard. He tells her that he checked her “registry” in the Identification of Wizards and Witches records, and noticed that she’s only recently registered herself as a witch and doesn’t have a Wizardry heritage or Wizardry family name. He asks her why this is. She tells him that she got a new computer and did a search for witches, and found a website that let people register as witches and wizards. For fun she did it and asked her girlfriends to do the same thing.

Family portraits hang on the walls of the living room, tacky drapes are on the sides of the windows, trinkets and lit lamps cover different nightstands, and there’s a stone fireplace. Ch-U-Ch notices a broom from Alivan’s near the fireplace and asks Yolanda whether she buys from the store, which she says she does. Ch-U-Ch states that he was just there before he came to Yolanda’s house, and Yolanda asks him whether he met Jesse. She calls him “the owner”, however, which alerts Ch-U-Ch to the fact that she might be involved with Mr. Claw - otherwise, how would she know he’s the owner? Ch-U-Ch tells her that Jesse is not the owner of Alivan’s.

Yolanda pulls Ch-U-Ch up and drags her into an adjoining room to show him her “collection”. It turns out to be a huge gathering of items - all sorts of junk items related to fictional witches. Every witch ever seen in a movie is represented in an action figure, picture frame or paraphernalia, including all types of brooms, hats, dresses, shoes and socks. There’s an old medicine cabinet that stands in one part with bottles in every size and shape labelled in small writing, and next to it there is a huge cauldron, dark and dirty. It’s quite amazing and renders Ch-U-Ch speechless and open-mouthed. According to Yolanda, most of the items come from Alivan’s, and Jesse has been very helpful with her orders, giving her a great deal on a new wand. She points the wand at Ch-U-Ch, who raises his staff to block a spell - which never comes.

Ch-U-Ch tells her - again - that Jesse isn’t the owner. She acts surprised, thinking that Ch-U-Ch means that the store has gotten a new owner, however he once again insists that Jesse isn’t and has never been the owner, with that honor instead going to “Mr. Claw.” However Yolanda claims that Mr. Claw told her that he’s the employee in an email, and that he does all the purchasing for Jesse. In fact, Yolanda sold Claw a case of a plant Mr. Claw called “Dragon Breath.” Ch-U-Ch is immediately alerted and gets quite angry. He goes over to Yolanda and tells her she’s just sold a “a very dangerous man” a “weapons of mass destruction”, and committed a national crime. That is, the selling and trafficking of Dragon Breath is against the law. After Yolanda tells him that “Dragon Breath” is nothing but a cute magical name for a weed, which in fact grows in her friend Gina’s rose garden, Ch-U-Ch realizes that Yolanda isn’t a real witch at all. Merely a Folk. And Yolanda thought that Ch-U-Ch was a professor from Harvard University whom the local “Men’s Wizard Club” had recommended to her, and whom she had paid to come talk to her “club” about wizards. A club which was merely for fans of fictional witches. At that moment, Yolanda’s friend, Mary Weather, is heard outside. She tries to get inside, to help Yolanda get everything ready for the club meeting. Upset, Ch-U-Ch towers over Yolanda and brings his staff down on the floor, teleporting away. Yolanda immediately faints.

Mary Weather hears a thump inside the house and forces the door open. She has two other club members with her. They make it inside and find Yolanda unconscious. One of them wakes her up pouring a glass of cold water onto her face, while another calls 911. She awakes and says, moaning: “No one can see the wizard, not nobody, not no how,” and then faints again.

Character introductions

Yolanda Roundbottom. Folk middle-aged woman, short and round, with uncontrollable brown, long hair. She runs a club of fictional witch fans - a fandom group basically. She hired a professor from Harvard University, recommended by the local Men’s Wizard Club - to come to her club to talk about wizards to her and her club members/girlfriends. She mistakes the wizard Ch-U-Ch for this man. She is nutty about magic and witches, judging by her immense collection of junk relating to witches from different movies. Areces gives Yolanda a slightly scratchy, low but animated, happy voice.

Mary Weather. One of the members of Yolanda’s witch club. She usually arrives early at Yolanda’s house to help her prepare for the club meetings. With Areces’ narration, Mary sounds older than Yolanda. Her and the other two witches that we meet at Yolanda’s house near the end of the chapter are also described as being “elderly.”

Two other witch club members. One of them ended up calling 911 when they found Yolanda unconscious. The other woke her up by pouring cold water into her face, only to have her faint again. The two are described as being “elderly.”

We also hear of a “Gina” who’s friend of Yolanda’s, possibly a club member, and who has the “Dragon Breath” weed growing in her rose garden.

New things we have learned about known characters

Mr. Claw has seemingly been sending customers of Alivan’s emails claiming to be Jesse and the owner, and similarly he’s been telling them in emails addressed from himself that  he, himself, is the employee. Also, he’s bought, from Yolanda Roundbottom, some of an illegal magical herb known as “Dragon Breath”, which is considered a national crime in the States. This is because it’s essentially a weapon of mass destruction. How, we don’t know yet.

Agent Ch-U-Ch knows the area around Boston, MA and Hard University, and Cambridge, very well. Most likely from his work as a detective of “the Department.” It was stated in the first chapter that most of the customers buying from Alivan’s are in the north-eastern area, including Boston. This leads me to believe there’s a large concentration of Wizardry there.

Events (aka TL;DR)

At the coffe shop Ch-U-Ch demands to know how Jesse knows Nicholas Fidgewidge. He tells him that he’s been a steady customer of theirs up until a few weeks ago. They go back to Alivan’s to check the orders for other regular customers so that Agent Ch-U-Ch can learn more. There, they find a new order from the other one of the three most regular customers, named Yolanda Roundbottom. The address is a PO box in Boston near Harvard University. Ch-U-Ch knows it well. Before he can teleport himself there he gets a call from his wife. He lies to her over the phone since he hasn’t told her he’s an undercover cop of the wizard world. Instead, he’s told her he’s a pharmaceutical sales rep. He feels guilty about it, but it’s necessary since she’s not fond of the magical world.

Ch-U-Ch teleports over to Yolanda’s house. There, he’s greeted by Yolanda. He thinks she might be involved with Mr. Claw and his plans, but it turns out she’s merely a Folk woman who runs a club of fictional witch enthusiasts. Essentially a fandom group. In turn, Yolanda thinks Ch-U-Ch is a man she hired from the university to talk about wizards to her and her club members that very day. She also thinks Jesse is the owner of Alivan’s and Mr. Claw the employee, which alerts Agent Ch-U-Ch. He also discovers that he’s sold Mr. Claw a box of a weed called “Dragon Breath”, which as it turns out, according to Ch-U-Ch, is a dangerous weapon of mass destruction and is in fact illegal in the States. He tells her he’s committed a national crime. This is when he realizes she’s not a witch at all. Upset and knowing a dangerous man has just gotten an even more dangerous weapon, he teleports away, causing Yolanda to faint. Subsequently her friends come by and find her unconscious. They call 911.

Emotions and thoughts

This one was short and sweet. Not too hard to follow. Also nice tone and descriptions of the cold Boston area, though it wasn’t as complex this time. It’s pretty cool to see Jesse and the wizard - and detective/secret agent - Ch-U-Ch starting to work together, and Jesse starting to trust the wizard. The wizard did make him feel comfortable in the last chapter, but only at the end of that chapter did he finally realize that Ch-U-Ch wasn’t just some nutcase.

It was nice to learn who this “Yolanda Roundbottom” person was. Back in Chapter 1 we heard of her, in case anyone reading this doesn’t know, and we were told that she was one of Jesse’s three most steadfast customers.

There’s something inherently humorous about the reveal of Yolanda not being a true witch, and the reveal of her collection of witch junk and crap she’s gathered over the years. Makes you wonder, however, if her character’s going to come back somehow. Not a lot with Jesse this episode, with most of it following Ch-U-Ch and his investigating. I love this idea of having a wizard who’s a detective. But not a detective who usually works together with regular people, like Dresden does - although Dresen also works with supernatural forces and investigating monsters and such - but an actual wizard who works as a detective in the wizardry community. I hope that makes sense. I just love learning about the police procedurals of their world.

I wonder how Folk got access to a Identification of Wizards and Witches website, though. Highly odd, I don’t think that’s meant to be public in that manner hahaha.

The plot also ramps up in this episode, as we get a clue as to what Mr. Claw might be planning. He’s bought from Yolanda, an illegal magical herb which is a weapon of mass destruction. We don’t know how loony Claw is yet, but I’d be crapping my pants just about now! I don’t know if I think it was necessary for Ch-U-Ch to vanish so up in Yolanda’s face, though. Highly immoral and intimidating, especially how his body language was before he did it. Angry-looking, even angry-sounding, towering over her etc.

It’s also funny how many non-magic people buy from Alivan’s. Doesn’t any Wizardry look down upon the fact that so many genuinely flying brooms and wands, a lot of which probably have some (rare?) magical components, from magical creatures and such - in them. Doesn’t seem particularly wise. But… it’s Claw’s store, and he’s crazy.

I don’t have many things to say about this one, sorry. Not many critiques, not many things that particularly excite me. It’s just a nice little move-the-plot-ahead chapter. I am excited to see how Ch-U-Ch and Jesse reacts to the news of the Dragon Breath, though.

[lukassprehn]

I love the way Areces inflects certain words for a humorous tone or emphasis when doing the dialogue. But I have to say, he reads pretty fast in this episode. So fast sometimes some shorter words get lost mostly.

“How fast does it go? How high can it go at its top speed? What about drop speed? Does it stop on a raindrop? I heard it could stop on a rain drop. What about warranty? I would have to be able to test fly it first. You don’t expect me to buy a broom without test flying it first.”

You have to love the wizard. Just that barage of questions at once!! Poor Jesse haha. He's also do giddy and childish, full of wonder because of the broom.

Expect a full recount of the episode tonight btw.

[lukassprehn]

Interview for a Wizard liveblog - Episode 2: “Chapter 1”

Second installment in my Salem Concord liveblog series.

Episode 2 - "Chapter 1 - Sunday"

General plot summary + a few misc. notes

Another location and tone set-up episode/chapter, but more of a cozy feeling than the first. However, it does end on a foreboding note, especially just coming out of the other chapter. They seem connected. You will see why…

We are told about a small shop pressed in between two large office buildings, in the small town of Mount Dora: Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store, a small wooden house with a wrap-around porch, large windows covering all walls that face the street, two-storey with a high pitched roof and no huge, glamorous signs or neon signs attracting customers and showing the way. Just an old, hand-carved wooden sign hanging above the front door. There are wind chimes that sound in “the gentle breeze”. The house is described as a historical building dating to the late 1800s. There’s nearly never anyone coming by the store, and when they do it’s usually a historical area fan. The shop is also described as being hard to find due to it being tucked in-between the large office buildings.

We hear further about Mount Dora: The two large office buildings are occupied by cute stores and small cafes on the street level. These buildings bring a lot of movement to the area, with its occupants and customers strolling across the small stores at all hours of the day. In the evenings Mount Dora is not dead either, as the small movie theater (sitting across from Alivan’s), small restaurants and an ice cream shop keeps the commercial square busy. This, as aforementioned, is not the case for Alivan’s, however. Mount Dora is quite small, a tourist town which is named after a large lake that attracts fishing and water-sports activists throughout the year. Downtown is “small and quaint,” with the only hotel being located at the edge of the lake. Here honeymooners or weary travelers can sit on the vast porch on comfortable rocking chairs and sip on cool drinks while they watch the beautiful sunset above the lake. There are also railroad tracks running through the central park - Donnelly Park - however no trains have run on the tracks since World War 2. Visitors used to be able to take a ride on a local tourist train going around the lake and back to town, but no more. Years ago, many of Mount Dora’s old houses were converted into stores, including bed and breakfasts, ice cream shops, antique stores, specialty stores, professional offices for doctors, lawyers and real estate agents, and Alivan’s is no exception to this new trend. A big difference between those other stores and Alivan’s is, however, that not many changes had been made to the building that housed Alivan’s since the late 1800s when it was first built. Jesse, the new sole employee of Alivan’s, thinks that this is the only reason anyone stops by these days.

Jesse is originally from a bigger city about 2 hours away from Mount Dora. Not long ago, he decided that he’d try and figure out himself. He only just graduated from high school. He’s been good at anything he’s tried - sports, playing the piano, studying, is loved by all people at his school - both teachers, coaches, the student body etc. - but he doesn’t find any actual joy or interest in what he’s tried so far. He has a great love and fascination with computers, though. It gave him a head-start in computer class, and it also helped him land his new job at Alivan’s now. He saw an ad in his local newspaper in the first weekend after graduating high school advertising the spot at the store, and he decided to apply over the internet. Only 2 hours later he was already hired. The work entailed using computers and the internet a lot, as most orders came in through the store’s website. Jesse sees Alivan’s as the perfect place for him to work, and Mount Dora as the perfect location for him to be at as well. The town is busy but not too busy, and quiet but not too quiet, and it’s far enough away from the big city and his home for him to be home in his old bed if he wishes in 2 hours but still far enough away from it to be feel free.

As soon as Jesse got to Alivan’s the first time, there was a letter waiting for him from his boss, “Mr. Claw”, which had information about an apartment rented by Claw for Jesse to stay at, whose rent would be deducted from his payment. He’d never met Mr. Claw, and Jesse didn’t care much about this. He liked that he was being left alone. The only communication he ever had with his boss was over the internet, through email for example. Jesse spends most of his time at the store in front of a cash registry’s desk, which contains a cash registry, an apple laptop and a printer, and behind him on a shelf there is a stereo with dusty speakers playing his favorite music from CD or the radio. Jesse comes in every day of the week at 9 a.m. and begins taking the orders from the website, and at 10 a.m. he opens the doors to the shop. He’s paid well for his services. That’s all he’d ask for. Jesse has been at Alivan’s for six months so far.

Since the first few days of October, Jesse finds the store is more busy than ever before. Suddenly there are people dropping by to shop for the right parts for their wizards’ and witches’ costumes for Halloween. Most orders are still coming in through the website, however, from all over the States but most of all from the north-east. The three biggest places are Boston, Salem and New York City. Jesse especially enjoys some of the odd names of his customers - Nicholas Fidgewidge, Mily Breezy and Yolanda Roundbottom are just some of them.

When there’s a week till Halloween Jesse begins having a lot of visits from children, and people walking by the store, the younger ones window-shopping. The boys beg their mothers to buy them the latest “2006 Stealth” model of flying brooms, which claimed to be faster than the 2005 model of last year. The girls like trying out witches’ hats. The store carries wizards’ and witches’ clothing, flying brooms and hand-carved wooden wands which the store supposedly is famous for. The walls are adorned with male and female pointed hats, the wands are in a large display case. Wands are the big seller, followed by hats and cloaks, and lastly the brooms, which Jesse was glad of, as they were the hardest items to package and ship. Mannequins at a large display window in the front of the store sport the latest fashion of magical clothes. Jesse had to start making two UPS deliveries a day to meet the demands of the increasing orders during this time, too, and every day new products would arrive at the store. Mr Claw had given him strict instructions to not open them but instead to carry all boxes up the stairs and leaving them in front the door to Mr. Claw’s office.

In the week leading up to Halloween and the town’s annual Halloween festival, people are moving through the city to get to the bigger cities and the theme parks there that cater to people’s fascination with Halloween, and Jesse has been decorating the store with pumpkins and scarecrows and feeling the Halloween spirit overtake him. He’s asked Mr. Claw over email if he’d be permitted to hold a Halloween costume contest at Alivan’s and give away a hat or a broom as a prize, but he’s not heard back from his boss yet - which he finds odd, since Mr. Claw usually responds right away. It’s not 3:00 pm in the afternoon - still Sunday, which like every other Sunday is somewhat busy in Mount Dora - and watches parents and children and/or shoppers out on the streets strolling up and down the sidewalk while daydreaming about the costume contest, and of kids all dressed in costumes purchased at Alivan’s, when he sees something odd. Across the street from Alivan’s a strange-looking man stands, facing the store. He stands under the night-light, in front of the movie theater, wearing a tall grey pointed hat, a long dark robe, and is holding a long staff. And to Jesse it seems as if he’s staring straight through the window at him.

Character introductions

Jesse, the new and only employee at Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store, in Mount Dora.

Mr. Claw (only mentioned, not even Jesse’s met him).

A wizard wearing a long black robe, tall pointed grey hat and holding a wizard’s staff, just staring at Jese through the window across the street … Ch-U-Ch is that youuu???

Events

Not a lot. The city of Mount Dora is set up for us for future chapters, and at the end Jesse notices a wizard-looking fella looking through the store window directly at him. We also a tiny bit about Jesse’s life before he came to Mount Dora, and we hear about his wish to host a children’s costume contest at Alivan’s for Halloween.

Emotions and thoughts

In general a great location and tone set-up episode/chapter for the book. I really enjoy getting such a fleshed out feel for a small town like Mount Dora. I also definitely enjoy this one better than the prologue. It’s also longer and we’re introduced to the world surrounding Alivan’s with greater detail than we were told about the small New England town in the prologue. I gotta say, a lot of mentions of “Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store.” I’ve read up on this, and apparently the reason was that Areces had to meet the 50k word quota on NaNoWriMo, which was what he was writing this for, in order to have the book accepted as an actual full novel. Thankfully, the next boosk in the series makes up for this greatly by having way more to explore of the world of the Wizardry. And even here, in Interview, we’ve got some great establishing chapters coming. Including this one. It feels almost like establishing shots, the most beautiful kinds of them, but with narration to tell us something about the background of the thigns we’re observing.

By the way, the place - Mount Dora - really does exist, in Florida. I enjoy hearing about Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store, and about the town and its history. There is a great atmosphere that’s created by Areces’ mention of the way the different shops are utilized today, and how they were converted from old, historic houses. It sounds both like a tourist attraction but also like an actual place you can live in. “Busy, but not too busy. Quiet, but not too quiet.” Areces breathes life into the place so well it’s clear he has been there to get a feel for the place.

We are told that the story is set in 2006, by the fact that the latest flying broom model, the Stealth, is called the “2006 flying broom model, the Stealth” and the older model is referred to as the “2005 model.” It’s also a week before Halloween (October 31st) and it’s Sunday. This places it as exactly October 22, 2006 if going by actual calendars, but if it’s literally seven days to Halloween it’s actually Sunday, October 24th, 2006, which is not a real date. It’s possible Areces didn’t think much about the year, or date, and wanted to start the story at Sunday out of some sort of preference.

The pronunciation of words are somehow already miles better in this episode. There are still issues with grammar in the text, however, like adding “was” instead of “were”, and some sentences sounding like they should have been extensions of other sentences and not their own ones grammar-wise, but being read as if they are their own lines.

Also, Jesse’s character sounds kind of perfect. Maybe a little too much. Like a Gary Stu. Let’s hope he gets some flaws soon. It is a bit refreshing to see someone who is so good at everything and doesn’t find joy in any of it, though, instead preferring to spend time on the computer and on the internet - but it’s not enough to keep my interest. We’ll see how Jesse develops with each episode.

That is all for now! Look forward to seeing something tomorrow or Thursday!

[lukassprehn]

Interview for a Wizard liveblog - Episode 1: “Prologue”

As outlined on here I am doing a whole liveblog thing with this fantasy book series (The Salem Concord). Expect more shortly! Like, right here and now!

Episode 1 - "Prologue"

General plot summary + a few misc. notes

Old Dougie Mann, the bridge night-watchman in a small New England town near the sea. The bridge house's window with the control panel overlooks the two-way drawbridge, and there is a side window overlooking a river, a distant boat-yard and a cemetery that runs up a hill. The river seems to also flow under the bridge. Dougie Mann enters the small bridge house after having made his regulated inspections outside. It's very cold, as it always is during October in a small New England town near the sea.

We are told that the night workshift has long been called the graveyard shift. Several possible reasons for this are given: the bridge watchman has a clear view from the small bridge house of the graveyard, and on a clear night with the full moon bright in the evening sky he can easily make out the ancient tombstones and statues. Or for the fact that over the years many tall tales have been spawned of ghosts and spirits seen roaming the graveyard, and many bridge watchmen resigned from their posts after having claimed to see and even being visited by demons in the night. However Dougie Mann has not fallen prey to stories like these and has been employed by the city as the night watchman for 43 years.

He works the night shift 3 times a week, on different days depending on the rotation. He reaches down and fetches a bottle of cheap sherry wine from the bottom drawer of the rusty office cabinet and pours the last of the wine into his coffee mug. He sips at it, and leans back in the squeaky chair, looking out the window overlooking the two-way bridge. Then he looks out the window overlooking the river, and he notices a quick but brief blue flash of light in the graveyard, lighting the tombstones and statues. It quickly disappears. He sees another one, this time being blinded by it.

He spots two men fighting. Ch-U-Ch and Nicholas. They are wizards. Nicholas has a wand (described as a stick, from the perspective of Dougie Mann) and the other, who's taller, a staff. Both wear cloaks, with Nicholas wearing a hood and Ch-U-Ch a tall pointed hat. Nicholas is ugly, looking like a person who's gotten into fights all his life and not won a single one, according to Dougie Mann. They fire blasts of magic at one another, shouting spells in Latin. Ch-U-Ch manages to hit Nicholas with his staff like it was a meele weapon, and he drops his wand. He shoots at Nicholas with a blast, misses and Nicholas jumps to his wand and gets it. Nicholas shoots a blast at Ch-U-Ch and sends his staff flying out of his hand and Ch-U-Ch himself flying back and against the side of the small bridge house. His hat's also fallen off his head and floated behind him(????) However, now Ch-U-Ch reaches out with his hand from his cloak and whips it, causing his staff to magically fly from where it lies and hit Nicholas square the in the back, sending him tumbling forward and crashing through the side window of the bridge house.

Glass flies everywhere and one of Nicholas' arms are described as being bloody as he slashes with his arms trying to regain himself. Ch-U-Ch pins him down against the window and control panel for the bridge and says that he's going to kill him right then and there if Nicholas doesn't give him the information he wants. He asks him where "he" is. A jagged glass shard punctures Nicholas's cheek and he hisses: "Alivan's Wizards and Witches Corner Store in Mount Dora." Ch-U-Ch presses Nicholas to tell him how long this man has been there. Six months. Ch-U-Ch gets lost in thought commenting that he's running out of time, which gives Nicholas enough time to throw Ch-U-Ch back, but inadvertently he presses on the switches and buttons of the control panel causing the drawbridge to begin opening and moving. Nicholas whirls himself free and runs to get his wand. He points it at Ch-U-Ch's chest where a tiny red laser dot appears, trembling. He manages to say that Ch-U-Ch will die that night before his head is hit by one of the arms of the bridge coming down. Blood pours down the center of his head, dripping from his nose and he loses consciousness. Nicholas begins to slide as the floor underneath him gives way. 

Ch-U-Ch races to him and grips his dark cloak, urging him to hold on. Dougie Mann, who fell into his chair and against the other wall as Nicholas dell through the window, also urges for Nicholas to hold on. However, Nicholas' unconscious body slips through his cloak and falls into the cold river waters below. Ch-U-Ch, now staff in hand, let's go of the cloak which floats down onto the moving waters of the river. He then teleports away in a bright flash of light by striking the floor with his staff.

Dougie Mann throws his mug and bottle of cheap wine out the window into the river, then goes our, locking the door to the bridge house, and the next day he resigns.

Character introductions

Old Doubie Mann, bridge night-watchman in a small New England town near the sea. He resigns after an encounter with two fighting wizards.

The two wizards - Ch-U-Ch and Nicholas.

Ch-U-Ch is taller, wers a tall pointed hat and a long black cloak/robe. He uses a long staff, which he uses for casting magic spells as well as for melee attacks on Nicholas. Like a bo staff basically.

Nicholas is ugly, looking like a man who’s gotten into fights his whole life and not won a single one of them. He also wears a dark cloak. He uses a wand instead of a staff. Nicholas is beaten up pretty badly; crashing through a window and getting a bloody arm, his cheek is punctured by a jagged glass shard and he ends up being knocked unconscious, and bleeding, when the one of the arms of the two-way bridge outside the bridge-house they struggle inside of. He falls into the river and is lost, after which Ch-U-Ch teleports away. But while they fight, Ch-U-Ch manages to get Nicholas to tell him where someone he’s looking for is at: Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store, and he’s been there for six months.

Events

Dougie Mann goes into his bridge-house and gets a cheap bottle of wine. Sips a bit of it. He then sees two wizards, Ch-U-Ch and Nicholas, fighting battle to basically the death, although it’s not clear if Nicholas dies at the end or will turn up again later. You hope he isn’t dead,really. Ch-U-Ch vanishes through magic and Dougie Mann resigns, despite never, for 43 years of his employment, having succumbed to the scary stories of his work-post and surrounding area which have caused many others there to quit before him.

Emotions and thoughts

A pretty great set-up. I enjoy that Areces uses a lot of adjectives and descriptive words to get across the kind of atmosphere and climate there’ll be in a milieu such as this one. The fact that New England is very cold during the late part of the year, especially so close to the sea? I can feel it.The “boat-yard” is a nice touch, because it tells us that it’s definitely next to the sea or extremely close to it.

We don't know which is the protagonist at first. Could be Dougie Mann. The two wizards, we don't know which one of them to root for either. Ch-U-Ch is very confrontational, wishing death on Nicholas if he doesn't get the information he desires. Nicholas, meanwhile, is said to be ugly. Classic way to get people to have some form of aversion to a character, however it is only a physical appearance, and we know that appearance can be used to create sympathy too. Phantom of the Opera anyone? However, Nicholas wishes to kill Ch-U-Ch too. Who to root for? Perhaps we will find out later.

I especially like the way the magic is described. Seems like Areces has given it a tiny bit of "innovation," like when Nicholas' wand actually make a tiny red laser dot on Ch-U-Ch's chest for aiming, like a laser sight used on a gun.

There are some descriptions of blood and violence which will make one feel that the injuries the characters, specifically Nicholas, endures is real and has consequences. He literally gets knocked out by a massive metal arm from a drawbridge, which comes right down onto his head, and blood pours down. His cheek was also punctured by a jagged glass shard and his arm's bloody.

There are a few instances where the writing seems to be lacking a verb or two. Like the sentence "He let go of his grip, and the dark cloak that belonged

to Nicholas slowly floated onto the moving waters below." I would probably have inserted an instance of "down" between "floated" and "onto".

Dougie Mann throws his cheap wine bottle and coffee mug, which he drunk the wine from, out through the broken window and into the river waters. I think this can be taken two ways: either he's afraid the cheap wine made him drunk and possibly see things that aren't real, or he is afraid that if the wine's found there his superiors will think he got drunk and destroyed the place himself. He then resigns. It goes full circle. We've been told many people resigned from his very position after being scared, and the same happened to him now. There is something humorous about it too, especially with the music at the end. Throughout the struggle he was also clearly scared but still very curious, leaning toward in his chair while observing the fighting wizards. He also grabbed his mug afraid it would spill following Nicholas crashing through the window, and presses his it close to his chest, clearly afraid to let it go to waste. After the battle ends he sits breathless but sweaty.

One thing I don’t get is how Nicholas got so close to one of the arms of the bridge. The two wizards seem to end up inside of the bridge house during their struggle. Perhaps Nicholas ended up outside the house again during the fight. But part of the floor also gives away. Perhaps the break through the window, or Ch-U-Ch crashing into the side of the bridge house broke some of the wall and floor, causing Nicholas to slide a bit outside on a piece of floor before getting hit on the head by the arm mechanism of the drawbridge. It’s also possible that that he stepped outside through the side of the house - a side Ch-U-Ch made? - outside, where the part of the bridge open and close down. This confuses me a lot… Still a pretty strong start. We’ve got action, magic and some blood which is a bit gruelling and scary. The fact that this story is set through October, leading up to Halloween according to the blurb for the book, coupled with this beginning and all the dark, chilly (quite literally) impressions I think set the tone for the story.

[lukassprehn]

Interview for a Wizard liveblog - Episode 4: “Chapter 3″

Enjoy some delicious foods, genuinely scary mental images, magic and domestic issues at the cofee shop

Episode 4: Chapter 3

General plot summary + notes

Jesse spends the rest of that Monday taking internet orders, packaging and receiving boxes, and is so busy that he doesn’t even find time to go see Cindy at the Deli. Customers are coming in all through the afternoon looking  for pieces to complete their Halloween costumes. Mount Dora’s annual Halloween Festival was to be on Saturday night, and this created much excitement in the town, which meant more traffic in the store than usual. Only at 5 pm Jesse remembers the wizard. At that point the UPS man arrives for his last round of picking up and dropping off boxes. Jesse looks across the street and sees that “the wizard” is not there. Usually the UPS man doesn’t speak to Jesse besides the typical “Hi”, or “See you later” and “Have a nice day”, but this time, as Jesse attempts to lift one of the large two boxes which read “Fragile.”, stopping Jesse because he fears he might break its contents. Jesse looks closer at the box, finding it read “Fragile. Contains glass. Handle with care.” He casually backs up and allows the UPS man to carry it to the office door. Jesse picks up a few smaller boxes himself. On the way up the stairs, the UPS man suddenly tells Jesse the history of the old house that Alivan’s is located in: He says that an old, crazy man once left there, who was said to be downright mean, and who was found guilty of murdering six people, over six months and always on the same day, and that he’d done it to them while they were waiting at the bus stop outside the store. Which was why the bus stop was moved down in front of the First National Bank later on. It even took the cops three years to catch him. The house had been in his family for several generations before then.

The UPS man told him that they had all been scared to death. Jesse slowly begins to find the house creepy. As soon as the UPS man left, he locked up quite fast and went home on his motorcycle. He could not wait to get back to his apartment. Once there, after dinner he called home to his family to have a very nice, very long conversation in order to calm his nerves.

During the night Jesse barely got any sleep, tossing and turning and having nightmares of six people lying dead, scared to death, on the sidewalk in front of Alivan’s.

Tuesday morning Jesse drives on his motorcycle to the Deli to see if Cindy is there yet. She’s not at work yet, with it being quite early, and he expected this but figured he’d try his luck anyway, if only he could get a few minutes with her. He then goes back, meeting the stranger at the coffee shop for breakfast. The man has already ordered breakfast for him. Jesse sits with him. The “wizard” is wearing his robe and hat, and his staff is leaning against the table. He is sipping on hot, dark coffee. He senses that Jesse has had a bad night and asks him about it. Jesse tells him he has had nightmares.

Jesse’s breakfast arrives and there’s a lot of it: scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes, bacon, sausage, buttered toast, pancakes and a large glass of milk. The heavy-set waitress that brought the food tells Jesse that he hopes he’s hungry. And he says that he is.

The “wizard” says once more that he has to test-fly the Stealth broom before he can buy it. Jesse rolls his eyes, then asks him what his name is. The man says “Ch-U-Ch”. (DEFINITE CONFIRMATION! Ch-U-Ch is back!) Jesse doesn’t hear it right at first, thinking it’s “Chuch” or “Chooch” I believe. Ch-U-Ch corrects him. The waitress comes by and refills the wizard’s mug. Then the wizard gets comfortable in his chair and tells Jesse that he really is a wizard. This begins the process referred to by the Wizardry as “an interview”, in which the wizard usually has to show some kind of proof, through an act of magic. Jesse asks him to prove it, and so Ch-U-Ch grabs the blue stone around his neck and is able to fully recount Jesse’s horrible nightmare. Jesse comments that it seems like a trick he’s seen on TV, so Ch-U-Ch twitches the index finger on the hand he grabbed the stone with, causing the large glass of milk (now empty) to slide over to him across the table, into his hand, and as soon ashee lets go of it, he slides back. Ch-U-Ch, who’s 45 years old, is going through a mid-life crisis, and thinks that acquiring the Stealth might help him relive his youth and cope with it. He also tells Jesse that his wife is a “Folk”, meaning a non-magic person, and that he has two sons, Andrew and Brendan, 16 and 14 years old, but they haven’t shown any signs of magic. Furthermore, they don’t show any interest in magic. They don’t even want to dress up for Halloween! He says this with some hint of sadness, reminding Jesse of when his father tells him that he’s disappointed that Jesse hasn’t gone to college and doesn’t seem to be interested in his family’s tradition of attorneys. It’s as if Ch-U-Ch is both disappointed in his kids, but also want them to accept the part of him that makes him who he is. Ch-U-Ch notes that maybe his sons are just late-bloomers, or they’re just regular Folk, but his own cousin, Ana, who’s a witch and works at “the Identification and Records Department in New York City”, hasn’t found a single trace of magic in them, and so they never got a letter for magic school. His salary doesn’t cover proper magic schools, but the high school his boys go to, the same one he went to, has a secret magic department. Some of the teachers at the school teach regular sciences, reading, and math courses to the Folks, and magic in secret, usually with the classes being held every day in different janitor rooms.

Jesse then asks Ch-U-Ch whether there’s “any real villain wizards”. Ch-U-Ch suddenly gets very, very serious. He reveals to Jesse that he’s in fact a detective, or more precisely an undercover agent of the wizard world, and that he’s chasing an escaped convict, who’s a mad and demented evil wizard who’s killed before and will kill again. Jesse doubts him, so Ch-U-Ch grabs his blue amulet again and performs another magic act to reassure Jesse - a sharp, yellow light shoots through his fingers, and quickly vanishes. The waitress catches it out of the corner of her eye, thinking it is a car, but sees no one driving.

Ch-U-Ch tells Jesse that he’s been killing six people every six months, and that at the end of October someone is most likely going to die. He also tells Jesse that his leads point towards Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store. Jesse wonders what it’s got to do with him, and then Ch-U-Ch pulls out a roll of papers from his robes and shows them to Jesse. They’re copies of legal documents dating back to May, shortly after Jesse’s hiring date. There are ownership papers, corporation papers, they show a conveyance bank loan to Jesse, insurance policies with his name on them, and everything is notarized and carrying Jesse’s actual signature, showing that he is the true owner of Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store. Jesse reacts rather badly, saying “What the hell is this?” Ch-U-Ch asks again why he is the owner of the store, and Jesse, rather loudly and in public, shouts that he isn’t. The waitress is alerted and comes over and asks if everything is alright. Ch-U-Ch holds his mug out for a refill and winks to her to show everything is fine. The look on her face shows that she’s thinking “Teenagers…���

Ch-U-Ch tells Jesse that he is the owner, whether he’d like it or not, and that he’s been the owner since May, six months ago. Jesse then proclaims that all this and Ch-U-Ch is crazy, and gestures to leave. But Ch-U-Ch grabs his staff and waves it, causing Jesse to stick to the chair and the chair to stick to the floor. He pleads with Jesse again for help. He is desperate, as the criminal wizard he’s after has had all his records magically destroyed by someone from the inside working with him, and that he’s slowly eliminated anyone outside of his personal circle who can recognize him - so even he has never seen him before. Jesse says that he doesn’t know who he is talking about either, but then Ch-U-Ch reveals the truth: The escaped convict is Jesse’s “boss”, the man “Mr. Claw.” Ch-u-Ch then says that before his main lead, “Nicholas”, died, he told him that the man he’s after is at Alivan’s, but instead Ch-U-Ch found Jesse. Jesse asks whether this Nicholas’ last name is “Fidgewidge”, and Ch-U-Ch says that it is. Then, finally, Jesse realizes that all of this is real. This is of course the same Nicholas that we saw Ch-U-Ch fighting in the prologue, in the small New England house while the Folk, Dougie Mann, watched helpless.

Charater introductions

The waitress at the coffee shop next to Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store. She’s heavy-set. She also has quite a scratchy but somewhat high voice, with Areces as the narrator.

First mention of Ana, Ch-U-Ch’s cousin, who is a witch and works at the Identification and Records Department in New York City - whatever that is.

We’re also told a bit about Ch-U-Ch’s wife, who’s a Folk (non-magic person), and doesn’t really approve of magic things. She knows he’s a wizard, however.

Ch-U-Ch’s sons, Andrew (16) and Brendan (14) are supposedly Folk, or at least late bloomers in terms of their magic capacity. If any. Ana didn’t find any sign of magic in them, anyway. They also don’t show any interest in magic. They don’t even want to dress up for Halloween. All of this is disappointing and disheartening for the wizard Ch-U-Ch.

Information about already know characters

Ch-U-Ch. Well, we’ve met him before. Now we know for sure that this man outside the store is him, and that he’s a real wizard. And an undercover detective of the Wizardry. Ch-U-Ch seems to rarely remove his hat or cloak, but this time he allowed himself to let go of his staff for the meeting at the coffee shop with Jesse.

Mr Claw, in the sense that we finally understand who he is. The escaped convict and very real wizard that special agent Ch-U-Ch is after.

Events

The UPS man comes around Alivan’s, with a box containing fragile glass contents. He insists on carrying it for Jesse because of this, afraid that Jesse might break the contents. This is coincidentally the first time he’s said anything to the young man besides the actual “hi” and “see you later” and such. On the way up the stairs to Mr. Claw’s office he tells Jesse of the dark history of the house that contains Alivan’s. It was the house of a murderer, a crazy man who would kill people, just outside the store. Through literal fear. Jesse practically runs home scared. There is still a few places in the audiobook where I thought certain words could'ce come a bit faster, or slower, or emphasis could've been on another word or entire sentence, but no major grievances to spot!

The next morning Jesse meets the wizard, who turns out to be a real wizard named Ch-U-Ch, who’s after an escaped convict, and we learn of his family. We learn that the escaped convict is a wizard too, and that Jesse’s boss, Mr. Claw, is the man he’s after. Jesse finally realizes it’s all true once Ch-U-Ch tells him that his main lead, which pointed towards Alivan’s, was the man named Nicholas Fidgewidge, who’s also stated to be dead. This is 99% likely to be the same Nicholas Ch-U-Ch fought during the prologue.

Emotions, thoughts and critiques

Very good narration and reading speed in this episode. I once read that Areces' own lesser command of the English language, what with it being his second language after Spanish, drives him crazy, but that he was trying to fix it gradually while recording the episodes. It's starting to pay off already, even if it's not the best way to go about it.

Quite a spooky and dark turn of events. When the UPS man told of the murders that had happened at the store, I wasn’t too faced, but it was quite creepy. It was once we heard of Jesse’s nightmares, with dead people on freaking side walks, that I began sweating a tiny bit. Also great to see further characterization for Jesse as he hurries home, frightened, and calls home to have a very nice, very long conversation with his family after dinner, to get his mind off the scary story the UPS man told him. It was made especially frightening when the wizard, who’s revealed to be a genuine wizard and none other than Ch-U-Ch seen in the prologue, uses his magic to learn of the exact events of the dream, and recounts them perfectly. The people were scared to death, clutching their chests, six of them lying dead outside of Alivan’s. On the sidewalk. Quite disturbing. I love it!

Also pretty great to see some strain and conflict, both between Jesse and Ch-U-Ch and just in general. Jesse is very bothered by the fact that things are not as they seemed to him. He is the owner. The wizard is a real wizard, who can fly brooms and do even more. His own boss is an escaped murderer and a wizard as well, who will kill soon. He even denies it at first, until Ch-U-Ch finally convinces him by using a name that Jesse knows quite well: Nicholas Fidgewidge. He lets Jesse know in the chapter that he’s dead, but that he’s his main lead to Mr. Claw. Nicholas was the same ugly wizard that Ch-U-Ch fought during the prologue.

Also, as is typical with food scenes and food descriptions in writing for me - and also when it’s featured on TV or in the movies - the breakfast scene made me feel quite hungry. Didn’t help that the serving and number of foods were so many! It sounded absolutely delicious!

It’s great to learn about Ch-U-Ch’s family. His non-witch wife, his sons who seemingly aren’t wizards like himself, his cousin Ana who’s a witch. His sons’ school which has a secret magic class department. It’s also great to see some rather profound character growth for Jesse. He sees and hears the disappointment in Ch-U-Ch over his sons not having shown magic, and wonders if he did something wrong - there’s been a wizard or witch in at least every single one of  the generations of his family after all - and Jesse sees that it is in a way a mirror of his own father’s hopes for Jesse and his disappointment at him not living up to them. Jesse didn’t go to college. Jesse isn’t interested in becoming an attorney as is the tradition in Jesse’s family.

That is all I can think of at the moment!

[lukassprehn]

The Salem Concord podcast audiobooks liveblog!

Since it’s time for my annual autumn listen to the entirety of my good friend J.A. Areces’ fantasy podcast audiobook series, The Salem Concord, I thought I should liveblog the experience! It’s a spooky series, about secret Wizardry and their law enforcement, about dark sorcery, Halloween, magic, it’s spooky but also quite fun. It’s also about history, such as the Salem Witch Trials and there’s even something on President George Washington in the revised physical edition of the first book, which came out in 2014.

Throughout the series you follow Ch-U-Ch Mahgo, renamed Beifar Mahgo in the revised books, an agent of the Department of Magical Criminal Investigations or DMCI, in his struggle against his long-time foe Lord Alex and the Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers. He gains a close friend and ally in the young Folk man (Folk=non-magic human, think Muggle) who comes to own an actual Wizardry supply store, as well as Ch-U-Ch’s cousin and colleague Ana Mahgo and his sons, Andrew and Brendan Mahgo, and his wife, and many, many more characters. Lots of DMCI agents and agents of other Wizardry law enforcement agencies. Lots of antagonistic organizations as well.

Anyway, the books are as follows:

Interview for a Wizard

The Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers

The Sorcerer’s Secret

The Last Sorcerer

You have to get used to the author’s Spanish-American accent at first, but he gets way better at reading from Book 2 and on! The grammar is also a little weird at times, since they were not edited much at this point, but the atmosphere and descriptions, and the storyline, makes up for it! There is a lot of creativity, a lot of different locations, real and fictional. Enjoy!

P.S. You can get the revised editions of Interview for a Wizard and The Secret Society of Seven Sorcerers right here on Smashwords or on Amazon Kindle.