OBIR: Occasional Biased and Ignorant Reviews reflecting this reader’s opinion.
REFUGEES AND OTHER STORIES – August 2022.
Publisher: Kashallan Press, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Note: All stories are written by Celu Amberstone
Refugees
Premise:
Some believe aliens have been abducting humans from earth for thousands of years. If true, whatever became of them?
Review:
The only inhabitants of the Earth Mother planet are descended from humans abducted from the original Earth by space-going lizards fully in tune with natural wisdom. By dint of the Lizard’s shared knowledge, the expats are alive to supernatural energy, enabling them to travel spiritually among the stars and commune with myriad like-skilled races. The only fly in the ointment is that more and more children are born so damaged by mutation that they must be put down. Is the extra-Earth branch of humanity breeding itself out of existence?
A crisis comes when the lizards rescue a batch of modern humans from Vancouver, British Columbia, just before the Earth destroys itself in a manmade catastrophe. They are needed to broaden the gene pool, but they resent and hate their new home and new hosts. They don’t want to fit in. This is a natural consequence of the refugees not being vetted properly, due to the speed of the impending disaster.
All previous evacuees had been healers and scholars of natural lore, the “Earth Mother” concept the core of their beliefs and customs, and had, as a consequence, been persecuted by the followers of new gods and creeds inimical to nature. The aliens normally chose to rescue a few representative samples of natural believers before their particular “tribe” is hounded to destruction. Alas, the newcomers share the lack of understanding common to all enemies of the natural order. How do you assimilate such wrong-hearted monsters? Especially when they practice unthinkable sins like paranoia?
It quickly becomes apparent that both sides assume they alone are right and the “others” are deluded fools. All manner of rationalization and appeals to “the truth” are utilized to reinforce and justify irresponsible altitudes on both sides. It can be argued the story is a metaphor for the unreasoning divisiveness of modern social trends. At the same time it is a refreshingly heart-felt glimpse of an ancient belief system, one portrayed as something so normal as to be embraced and taken for granted, and yet not immune to human failings. Which begs the question; is the human race doomed to failure no matter what we believe?
Celu explores the horrors which can arise from the best of intentions, but leaves the door open as to our ultimate fate. The point may be that our duality is a forever-war of sorts, but not necessarily cause for despair. A curiously hopeful story despite its accurate portrayal of our complexity.
An Act of Power
Premise:
Can spiritual power stop loggers? Depends.
Review:
Candace is very upset. Grandma Dorothy, a revered elder, has been killed by a speeding logging truck. Worse, her powerful medicine bundle is nowhere to be found. What if it falls into the wrong hands?
This isn’t a simple tale of heroic First Nations vs. evil logging interests, or heroic loggers vs. backward natives who don’t know what’s good for them. It’s not a matter of the simplistic propaganda which often passes for public relations these days no matter what the cause. The reader doesn’t “meet” so much as a single logger. With the exception of an outside lawyer who is totally clueless, all the characters are members of a First Nation’s tribe bent on using the means available to them to halt the loggers intruding on their land. Faith in law and government arbitration being in short supply, spiritual power is the weapon of choice.
The story takes for granted the beliefs associated with this power, offering insight into the mindset of First Nations, a vision presented without doubts or hesitation. But it is much more than that. Again, we witness the human failing of rationalization warping intent, trotting out the old argument that the end justifies the means, and leading the ambitious to sincerely believe that they alone are acting for the greater good. Something inevitable about it.
Candace’s growing situational awareness plunges her into despair. She feels so conflicted she is on the verge of abandoning the struggle, yet she, too, begins to wonder if the solution lies within her rather than anybody else. Unfortunately, this attracts the attention of the competition. There are no easy solutions.
The resolution of the story is impossible in the real world, if your take on the real world is literal and contains zero belief in the supernatural beyond the natural. But if you accept the reality of the unreal, then the ending is quite powerful and quite satisfying.
Granted, I am totally non-spiritual, but I accepted the premise for the duration of the story and am impressed at how effortlessly and convincingly Celu laid out the matter-of-fact reality of a belief system I don’t share. The mark of an excellent writer.
Guardians of the Bright Isles
Premise:
When is inheriting a mansion a bad thing? When the neighbours don’t think you belong.
Review:
The title is a giveaway the story is based on Celtic tradition. Mara, having inherited a rundown mansion on the coast of Eire, has come all the way from Boston to settle the estate. Her fiancé, Adam, is eager to assist. The question is, what to do about Inis Gheal, the Bright Isle she also owns? It’s just a short boat ride across the rough waters. One wee, slight problem, the crofters who live there are not as welcoming as they were when she used to visit as a child. Apparently, years of absence do not make hearts grow fonder.
On one level, this could be a “Wuthering Heights” sort of tale, entirely devoted to frustrated longing and real estate. Further, it would make a suitable backdrop for a murder mystery. In fact, the Celtic supernatural is the principle driver behind plot and motivation. Nothing less than a highly personal contest of wills between mortal humans and supernatural beings, and a few individuals who are both. The action is relatively simple, the pacing slow, yet the story bubbles with tension as Mara attempts to make sense of the madness around her. Is it she who is mad? Or her environment as fraught with peril as her paranoia suggests? For that matter, is she paranoid, or merely observant? Everyone she turns to for advice only pushes her tumbling thoughts deeper into an abyss of confusion and uncertainty.
She’s facing quite the conundrum. If she’s imagining what is going on, obviously she’s losing her mind. But if she’s merely paying attention, then reality isn’t what she thought it was. Either way, her world is turned upside down. Kind of hard to remain calm and optimistic in these circumstances.
I have felt similarly helpless at certain points in my life. I think everybody has. Thus Celu is able to draw upon our innermost doubts and fragile memories to render Mara’s struggle credible. As a writing technique, it strikes me as a vampiric form of method acting, utilizing our deepest uncertainties to fuel our empathy for Mara. Rather clever, that.
A quietly impactful story. The more I think about it, the more I like it.
Magic of Crimson
Premise:
Can you love a stealer of souls?
Review:
Shashil lives alone on an island for 3 months to complete her transformation into womanhood. Coming across a wounded seal who turns out to be a man was a complication no one had trained her to expect. Even more surprising, the monsters who return to finish him off.
A coming-of-age story more risky than most. Though, come to think of it, the real world currently offers far worse. Be that as it may, a truce between locals, both imbued with spiritual powers and often thought to be enemies, in order to combat an intrusive presence of a supernatural nature truly alien to them both, makes for an intriguing story. Quite a challenge, especially when emotions clutter up the kind of automatic responses a magical warrior, or any warrior, has been trained to do.
The story is told from Sashil’s viewpoint. The basis of her power is familiar to us all but here emphasised to remind us of the respect automatically accorded to women before the advent of the sky gods like Zeus switched the “magic” from women to men. From Earth Mother to empty vessel is quite a demotion. I believe the intent of the story is to act as an antidote to the past three thousand years or so. In a sense, one of those “life was better when” stories, but referring, not to our childhood, but to the childhood of civilization itself. Or, to put it another way, a declaration it’s not too late to have a more balanced spiritual perspective on gender significance. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. At any rate Sashil is no shrinking violet given to vapours, she’s very much a blast from the past and rather admirable.
Mother’s New Sweetie, or, the Daring Adventures of a Scandalous Crone
Premise:
An aging mother being sent to live in a convent inadvertently meets a troll.
Review:
A light-hearted tale spoofing family life in medieval times. More options available than you might think. Puts new meaning into the old saw that you can choose your friends but not your relatives. Genuinely amusing. The supernatural can be fun.
A Dragon’s Price
Premise:
A slave whore is unused to meeting dragons. It’s generally virgins they’re interested in, but not this time.
Review:
At first I thought this would be another humorous story, but it very quickly raised many dark issues. It is indeed a question of price to be paid, but by whom and how much? On the one hand, the danger of violent violence (as Ed Wood Jr. would undoubtedly write), but on the other, unparalleled opportunity and potential salvation from life’s woes. If you can bargain with the Devil, is it not just as feasible to bargain with a dragon? What price selfishness? Much to ponder.
CONCLUSION:
If there is a theme running through this collection, it is unexpected takes on relations between mortals and supernaturals, relations which Celu explores in new and profound ways. She has the knack of inserting subtle complexity into interactions where the reader might normally expect good vs. evil simplicity. The result is refreshingly original.
Above all Celu takes elements from her combined Celtic/First Nations heritage and crafts them into solidly credible revelations of those belief systems at a level which comes as a delightful surprise to those previously ignorant of the full implications of what is often dismissed as mere myths by the literal minded. She brings so-called folklore vividly to life, writing fiction which empowers its subject matter. Remarkable.
Check it out at: < Refugees and Other Stories >
