As you can see this copy has a "not for resale" band across the front of that rather eyecatching cover. This is a review copy and the book comes out properly in July. It will be available through Amazon, but if you order direct from Lethe Press the publishers don't have to pay any commission to Jeff Bezos and will make more money to publish more books.
The story follows two drag queens in New York, Sebastian, aka the Hydra, and Adrian, aka Hera Wynn. Sebastian is the new queen of the underground circuits Thanks to a mindblowing performance. His partner and occasional lover Adrian is determined to find his secrets. How did he perform that effect at the last show? Was it some spectacular make-up or mechanical effect, or is it something more basic and terrifying?
The underground scene in New York is portayed in such grimy detail you almost feel you want to take a shower. The settings are almost a character of their own. The sexual politics will certainly wind up a certain demographic, but they're not the type who would openly admit to reading a book set in New York's queer scene anyway. Anyone with an open mind will have no issues.
This book deserves to be read in as few sittings as possible. Set aside a few hours, stick some Tool, or A Perfect Circle or Puscifer on your music system and let Stone's hallucinogenic and occasionally brutal prose drag you through the seedy world of the underground clubs and the resident freaks and weirdos. He'll take you on a wild ride and you may not come out the other side quite the same as you entered.
I'm not sure it all made complete sense. There were times when I genuinely wasn't sure if what was happening was real in terms of the narrative or the result whatever illicit substance the character involved had just ingested. But it's so well written, I don't really care.
Stone wears his influences on his sleeves. His writing is occasionally reminscent of Kathe Koja - who also gets namechecked in the book. Every one of Maynard James Keenan's bands is referenced multiple times and, at least once, his song lyrics are paraphrased into the prose. Other writers who are namechecked and whose influence is notable include Lorca and Shirley Jackson. There are characters named for Oscar Wilde and Byron. He manages to keep his own distinct voice despite the high visibility of his influences, and his voice is pretty damned good. One thing is for certain, he's got good taste.
It's not a perfect novel. I do have a couple of minor quibbles with it. The word raped/raping is used as a metaphor several times in the book, occasionally within a few pages from the last appearance. It feels like an overused phrase and started to pull me out of the narrative when it appeared.
My other quibble is that there are a couple of times where, instead of finding his own imagery, something he excels at in the rest of the book, he chooses to compare what's happening to scenes from a specific film or tv show - "Creepy dance reminiscent of the 2018 reimaging of Suspiria" and "looking like people from the "Eye of the Beholder"episode of the Twilight Zone" were the worst examples of this.
This sort of thing can be acceptable if used in dialogue as it's giving character to the speaker and telling us his likes and dislikes, but feels awkward to me when used in an omniscient third person narration. Apart from anything else, I've not actually seen "Eye of the Beholder" so I don't know what is being described.
These are very minor faults though in an otherwise very good read. I will certainly be tracking down the rest of the books listed in Stone's back catalogue.
This is a new writer to keep an eye out for. He could be massive one day.
To find out more about J Daniel Stone, yon can visit his website www.solitaryspiral.com
An easy 8/10 I think.
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