Title: CARPÉ GLITTER
Author: CAT RAMBO
Genre: FICTION, MYSTERIES & THRILLERS, SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Length: 62 PAGES
Publisher: MEERKAT PRESS LLC
Received From: NETGALLEY
Release Date: OCTOBER 2019
ISBN: 9781946154538
Rating: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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DESCRIPTION:
A novelette from Cat Rambo, author of The Tabat Quartet.
What do you do when someone else’s past forces itself on your own life?
Sorting through the piles left behind by a grandmother who was both a stage magician and a hoarder, Persephone Aim finds a magical artifact from World War II that has shaped her family history.
Faced with her mother’s desperate attempt to take the artifact for herself, Persephone must decide whether to hold onto the past–or use it to reshape her future.
MY REVIEW:
I was unsure what to expect from this novella. I had seen the author’s name before, but I had not yet read any of her work. Reading CARPE GLITTER I was impressed with Cat Rambo’s writing.
The story starts off in one direction and there is some foreshadowing of a surprise to come, but I could in no way have predicted the twists and turns this story.
For a novella of only 62 pages, Cat Rambo has skillfully created fully developed and complex characters. The fact that she has been able to do this for multiple characters is extremely impressive.
I loved the way author brought Persephone to life and I identified with her and her desire to live life on her own terms.
I do not want to ruin this book by giving away any of the plot. But I do want to impress upon people who are thinking about buying this book to go ahead and grab a copy for themselves. Potential readers will not be disappointed.
Family dynamics and dysfunction, a WWII mystery, a grandmother who was a famous magician (and a secret hoarder,) a granddaughter who has spent her life loving both her grandmother and her mother who each hated the other, a strange inheritance, government agents, and much more. This book has everything you could ask for as a reader.
I rate CARPE GLITTER as 5 out of 5 Stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
*** Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book. ***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I’m based in the Seattle area, but I do travel around.
Here is a list of scheduled appearances in 2020:
Emerald City ComicCon, Seattle, 2020
Norwescon, Seattle, 2020
Locus Awards Weekend, Seattle, 2020
Westercon, Seattle, 2020
Cascade Writers, Bremerton, WA, 2020
WorldCon, New Zealand, 2020
KGB reading, NYC November, 2020
Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore, 2020
I’m primarily a writer of fantasy and science fiction, although I do some editing work (the most recent example is guest-editing the Women Destroy Fantasy issue of Fantasy Magazine.) I came through the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2005, where I studied with Octavia Butler, Andy Duncan, L. Timmel DuChamp, Connie Willis, Gordon Van Gelder, and Michael Swanwick. I’ve also got an MA in Writing from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, where I studied with John Barth and Stephen Dixon.
I’ve been nominated for a Nebula for my short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain” and a World Fantasy Award for my work with Fantasy Magazine. My work has appeared as a finalist for the Million Writers Award and the Compton Crook Award for First Novel as well as on the Locus Recommended Reading List.
I’m a two-term President of SFWA (The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) and have previously served as its Vice President, giving me five years on the board. I still volunteer with the organization. I’ve written two nonfiction books, Creating an Online Presence, which is aimed primarily at fellow writers looking to build their web presence, and Moving From Idea to Finished Draft as well as co-edited Ad Astra: The SFWA 50th Anniversary Cookbook with Fran Wilde.
I’ve got over 200 original fiction publications under my belt so far, with stories appearing in places such as Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, and Tor.com, and another hundred or so reprints in a variety of languages. If you’d like to read some of my work, you can find links to a lot of it on my fiction page or by looking on Amazon and Smashwords. I’ve published five solo collections, including Altered America, Near + Far and Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight, as well as a joint collection with Jeff VanderMeer, The Surgeon’s Tale and Other Stories. My most recent novel is Carpe Glitter, published by Meerkat Press, and the most recent story collection is double-sided fantasy collection, Neither Here Nor There from Hydra House.
If you’re interested in my science fiction writing, I’d recommend: Grandmother, the story of an aging space pirate queen; The Mermaids Singing Each to Each, a near-future sf retelling of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea; my take on Heinlein’s juvenalia, Long Enough and Just So Long; and Amid the Words of War, in which an alien POW turns prostitute out of desperation and loneliness.
Among the fantasy stories I’d recommend of my own, I’d include: my take on steampunk, Clockwork Fairies; The Dead Girl’s Wedding March, in which an unexpectedly eloquent rat courts a zombie; tearjerker Magnificent Pigs, where you learn how pigs do come to fly; and I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said, set in the fantasy world of Tabat, where many of my stories take place. Enjoyed Tabat? I’ve got two novels, Beasts of Tabat and Hearts of Tabat set there as well, with the third book appearing in 2019.
If you support my Patreon campaign, you become part of a community with writing tips, market news, writing snippets, 1-2 original stories each month, and more.
I also teach a popular series of online classes aimed at writers. Join my mailing list on this page if you’re interested in getting news of the latest one.
RANDOM FACTS:
I am politically left and ardently feminist. I believe in kindness, honest communication, and taking joy in life. My name is not a pen-name; “Cat” is short for Catherine and “Rambo” is my husband’s surname. I have been playing videogames and RPGs since Pong and D&D’s precursor, Chainmail and was one of the people who helped create Armageddon MUD. I am a certified master gardener and enjoy cooking. In a former life, I was a network security specialist. I dye my hair in a multitude of colors, and I am aging as ungracefully as I can.
To learn more about CAT RAMBO visit the following links:
To learn more about this author, visit the following links:
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER:
SFWA is a professional organization for authors of science fiction, fantasy and related genres.
Esteemed past and present members include Robert Silverberg, Anne McCaffrey, Isaac Asimov, Connie Willis, Ray Bradbury, Gene Wolfe and Andre Norton.
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