Review by Kat Reynolds Ilford, UK
Joe Blevins’ The Familiar is a very excellent dark novel. It has suspense, terror and outright horror. The story is extremely scary and very nerve wracking to read.
The cover is awesome.
The pictures in the book are awesome and each tells the story very well. Even if you just look at the pictures first, each one of them tells you the story and what is happening. What great idea that was even if you don’t understand the story: you will with the pictures.
Such a brilliant and superb story and would defiantly recommend to friends and other horror fans. If you would like to buy this novel please do buy at amazon uk or any good retail bookstore .
I am pleased to say that the new Kindle formats are spreading to other countries! I have been busy adding pictures to the different formats to let readers have a sample of the book’s interior. SEARCH INSIDE comes next as it take about a month to implement this. The thing is that the Kindle is more affordable as many enjoy having a book offered for less than ten dollars. The Kindle is offered in the US for Seven dollars and some change. It is similar priced in the UK. Frankly I sell more Kindle books than the printed ones. It does not hurt my feelings either way: as long as someone enjoys it! The formatting is reasonable and the fonts are reasonable sized. As an older person sometimes 12 point fonts wears me thin after a while of reading. My hope is that what ever book you read that you will read to someone. My grands read to me before I was five so I could read long before I started school. Over the last 10 years I have worked at several school districts in various reading programs. I found that students made better grades as their reading and confidence in the classroom improved.
A ship sails into uncharted waters
November 20, 1639. Willia still objected to Warren’s
control. She complained like she does to me. I am used to
this because we are friends. He grew tired of her so he raised
his left hand up high. She was raised off the floor until her
head nearly touched the high ceiling of the room. Fire and
lightning flew from his fingertips. Willia quickly died and
she was thrown into the fireplace where she burned with a
terrible fire! An awful smell filled the room. Panic filled my
thoughts. Stephen ran over to Warren because he objected
to his actions. Warren raised his left hand and Stephen was
raised up high and fire flew out of his fingers. Stephen’s body
flew across the room and he too burned in the fireplace! The
fireplace crackled and sparked like dry cedar is burning. I was
scared so I lay prone on the floor humbling myself. I cried
and shuddered with grief. My life would soon be over as far as
anything truly known to me! The longest time passed. Warren
tapped me on the shoulder as I raised my head to look at him.
He smiled as he moved his left index finger back and forth as
he shook his head “No!” Now, I get the message!
Willia sees a bad future for us here!
So there was no more contempt from me! He just wants to deal with me
and no one else at this time. He has my full attention.
“I won’t be trifled with! Do you understand?”
I bowed with humility and said “Yes. You are my new partner to act in their place.”
Warren said, “Very good. But now I am your new master…
not your lowly partner! Know the distinct difference.”
He raises his left hand and fire circles his hand as sparks come from his fingertips. Warren smiles to the point of making a grimace on his face.
“Now, do we fully understand each other?!”
I swallowed hard and nodded my head up and down. “Yes.
I will do as you command.”
My body shook uncontrollably from fear. He holds all the
control. Again I am their puppet on the strings. They pull the strings and I am their fool. Nothing has changed.
Magic has only made me its slave!
For a short time I was in charge of my own life. I wanted
more power and more money thinking that this would bring
me some happiness. This was my fault for my own spirit to
be so bold and proud. Now I see the error of my ways and
nothing can change this to be right again. Now Willia and
Stephen’s ghosts stand in front of the fireplace waiting to
do his bidding. They remind me of an empty turtle shell
by the way they now appear. They look hollow and empty.
Both plead with me to help them be returned to their mortal
bodies. Warren grows tired because they tax his patience, so
he sends them away until he has need of them. He turns to
walk away from me because he is not worried about me. He
can find me when he has need of me.
I went to my room to cry and find some solace to this strange
new situation. Inside my room there are tears for my friends
because we now have no comfort from each other. Our séance
has opened the door to something terrible and now it has a
strong hold on us! They are dead and I am all alone to ponder
my fate and future. I get deeper into trouble like it is a hidden
peat bog. The more I try to fight it, the deeper it gets. There is no
way to escape this strange warlock but to heed his words or soon
perish. Warren’s magic has the power of many fiery demons and
my magic is like a candle that can be easily snuffed out.
PROLOGUE The Familiar
Often fate deals us a tough hand and desperation puts a
person in a place where they never thought they’d be. This
is the story of the hardships and adventures of one such man
who lived in the New World at the beginning of the 17th
century. His wife left him after his failed attempts to be a
tobacco and corn planter. He loses everything but his land.
He trades his land in New Haarlem for two horses and moves
to the Salem settlement for a better life.
He finds himself in Salem during 1637, in the middle
of a witch hunt started by a basic jealously between two
women over the attention of a rich young man. He drinks
to excess and gambles away what little he has. The man soon
begins sleeping in a cemetery. Like many people, he suffers
the consequences of all his bad choices.
The cemetery proprietor offers him a job digging graves. A
woman named Willia buries her brother Stephen. The grave
digger falls over from hunger so Willia takes him in. Little
does he know she is a practicing witch with sinister plans for
him! He is to take goods from the dead he buries for her to
use in spells and enchantments. A small group of odd witches,
conjurers, and mediums drug the man and make him their
slave. When he is found drunk in possession of stolen jewelry
from a grave, he is sentenced to be hung. The witches give
him a strange potion that mimics death and the authorities
bury him thinking he is already dead. The lunar eclipse passes
and he emerges from the grave in the form of a large cat that
changes into the form of a man during the full moon. His
powers allow him to be charming and gamble to control
others with a “second-sight” ability he lacked before. He can
change to many forms of beast when his life is threatened. He
can see what scares someone and uses that against them.
The tables have turned. Now the man calls himself Winston Wallace as an alias.
He has the power he has sought in the past. The question is how to best use this new power?
New Amsterdam is a place where a person can make a new life and change their fate.
Lunar eclipse
The Séance
November 15, 1639. A few weeks of rain kept us in tight
quarters where we were in each other’s way. Willia has the
idea to invite some others like us to join us until the Vernal
Equinox in the springtime. The sun sets so the candles are lit
to burn bright and the big book of enchantments is brought
out with great pomp and ceremony. We wear our nicest clothes
to dress like we are about to visit royalty. Willia turned the
Book of Spells to the pages where the spell calls out for people
who died in a tragic way. She calls out what she needs to know
and cuts herself. By itself, the book opens and turns to the
page she needs. She called the spell “Providi Interim.” Willia
touched the right corner with her cut finger. Many animals
are sacrificed and some most terrible words are spoken that
made me most fearful for the first time in memory. Willia
continued on with her spells and chants. We held hands to
complete the circle as the rest of the spell was now finished.
We are to drink the blood of the sacrificed animals like it was
a fine wine. Some wine was then poured into the goblet to
make it more palatable. Willia poured some of the blood from
a large silver goblet to make a full circle of blood on the floor
we sat. Willia closed the enchanted book and hid it away in
her cedar closet. Lightning crashed down as much rain fell.
The house we stayed in shuddered and creaked as the storm
tried its hardest to destroy us all. Part of the roof then blew
off . Rain poured in one corner of the room. We continued
on and a sudden stillness came. All the doors and windows
came open at once. Strange visitors of all sorts entered our
presence through these open doors and windows. One was a
walking skeleton that whistled as it walked in with a rough
cane to steady itself! It was missing the left arm altogether.
This whole thing was battered and broken and barely held
together! It rattled as it walked and its eyes looked to be
glassy like a dazed mad person. This made our hair stand on
end as it neared us. I stepped back to give a wide berth to
this creature. This is evil and nothing good will come from
this person! Willia could not call it back from where it came
because it made lightning strike close to the house. It pointed
its right hand and its walking stick at the different compass
directions. Then it waved the walking stick about as if it was
stirring the air like a windmill.
Odd spirits followed close to it since it looked to be the
leader of the group. These spirits stood in a circle walking
around him. These joined hands to unite their powers as one
entity. They praise him in strange words to try to glorify him
as their leader. I felt sick but there was no way to leave the
room or avoid their near presence. I tried to move away but
the skeleton barred my path with that long walking stick. Its
eyes glowed green and then red like coals in a fire. It shook
its head “no!” then opened its jaw to speak and it became
unhinged to hang solely on the right side. It cocked its skull
to one side as it pushed the jaw back in place until it locked.
Th en it gestured with its right arm and waved the walking
cane up high in a circular motion. What have we done to
open the door to this one?
The skeleton said some chant words and glowed white,
then yellow, orange to red as a thick fog comes all around
it. The fog clears up directly as the skeleton emerges to walk
across the room as it fleshes out with new muscle and sinew.
It was now easier to look upon the boney figure since it has
now taken an outward form of a complete man! The left arm
is now quickly restored whole in the process. He put on some
of Stephen’s clothes that were laid out to make him look more
acceptable and more distinguished. Stephen usually minded
when I raided his wardrobe. I almost laughed because I was
so scared and foolish. Tonight Stephen was silent for a change!
Stress left me wanting to change my thoughts to something
more jovial to escape what has just been witnessed on this
terrible night. I need a strong drink really bad!
The restored man now spoke in a bold voice for the majority
of the visiting guests. He told us he is a great warlock and that
he is the leader of this group of oddities! We have no say in
this. It all seemed to be true like a bad dream I could not wake
from. One particular spirit looked like an ancient Pequot
warrior. Five “trolls” in red cloaks covered their faces so we
could not fully look upon them because they are so wicked.
These fretted about being quite impatient in our presence. We
felt humbled by all these new creatures who made the witches
at Salem look to be quite normal folks!
We have just opened the door to some entities that made
us pale in comparison! Our magic will look like cheap parlor
tricks compared to any of these. We trembled in great fear to
see such a weakness in our own powers. Willia told Stephen
and I to stand up to them to protect her. We tried and they
pushed us back down to the floor to kick and poke us. We lay
on the floor and trembled to the point of being in a state of
absence from our own bodies. They circled around us to mock
us. They walked around and chattered nonstop to provoke
us for the longest time. We stayed put for fear of our quick
demise. These strangers gathered up some of the sacrificed
animals and ate their hearts and livers. They all laughed at
us for being in a defenseless state. Some are bold enough to
urinate on us! Laughter filled the room while we trembled.
They all made themselves at home in our house to eat and
drink to consume what they wanted.
The rest of them pushed us out into the raging storm. We
were in peril to drown in the steady downpour. Then some of
these left to go out into the barn. They took liberties to the
point that they killed a few of our best horses just for sport!
We heard the horses make terrible cries as they perished. We
trembled fearing that we were next to face death. Some others
devoured the horses raw like they were slain cattle. The rain
revived us back into our senses so we risked getting out of the
tempest to go back inside. It was far different from just an hour
ago! Inside the house was now quite dry and warm with a stout
fi re and candles burning bright. The warlock has changed all
the rooms around to suit his personal taste. His magic must be
strong to do all these things and control so many supernatural
beings. These odd “people” then acted more like some polite
visitors once they quenched their urgent hunger and thirst.
They now treated us like “guests” in our own house.
The fleshed-out skeleton finally told us his name.
“I am Sir Christopher Warren, a member of the Roanoke
expedition!”
Willia, Stephen and I looked at each other trying to make full
sense of it all. I have heard that these people had all been lost to
tragedy. He said that he is a true warlock in league with Lucifer!
What have we really accomplished when we opened the way for
this fierce creature to enter?! His terrible story told of the loss of
the original settlement of English prisoners and land owners.
“Precious and haughty land owners, who mostly treated
the paltry prisoners like a simple rabble of galley slaves…”
His words were almost laughable as he rambled on to gain
our vain sympathy! We acted like we were interested and
listened intently as the strangers did. Fear does strange things to
a person. Willia, Stephen and I stood to bow in respect to him.
The other oddities also bowed in respect to him, except for a
single cloaked creature which waved its arms as it threatened us
all with a strange rant. We finally saw its face as it pulled back
its hood. It was a short creature of some kind with a grotesque
face that was most difficult to look upon! This threat to the
warlock challenged his full authority over us all. Warren called
him a “troll” to make him settle down. The once skeletal figure
pointed his new left arm as fire erupted from his fingertips! The
red-cloaked troll burned up on the spot. It fell over in some
great pain. The room smelled most terrible.
“Does anyone else have a problem with my leadership?!”
The warlock waved his arms. All the windows and doors
quickly came open as the troll was whisked away by the
wind. We stood fast as the wind pushed it outside along
with its awful stench. It finished being totally consumed by
fi re despite the heavy rain falling upon him! We are all quite
humbled so he has our undivided attention. All of them
bowed again as we laid prone on the floor in fear. He told
us all to bow. We do then we stand and join hands to make
the spell to make him immortal complete as he spoke more
strange words. There is no stopping him except to suffer
loss to all involved with nothing gained. We stood fast and
listened. Nothing else made sense.
Now we too take notice of his main cause to be here: “Aboard
your ship, the Willia is the Book of Spells. I need this item so
these demons can all begin to renew themselves to look like
normal people. These demons will be youthful in appearance,
so they can wander among men to do their terrible deeds!”
This scared us terribly so we are more than anxious to keep
the Book of Spells out of their hands. Willia, Stephen and I
gave the appearance that we will fully comply with him. It
was tempting to catch him off guard and try something to
stop him. The idea quickly left me as I remembered the foolish
visitor who threatened him earlier. The room still reeked from
this event. This sickened us more because we feared our fate
at the hands of this warlock. A prisoner often has no hope but
for a swift death. His rant was just as terrible.
“The settlers were weakened by hunger and internal strife.
Then nature took its turn with disease and attacks from some
native people who were poisoned by some tainted ale traded
to them. They took revenge by killing many people who they
felt had terribly betrayed them. Several tribes of fierce natives
took the rest of the Roanoke settlers in payment as slaves to
replace those of their tribe that died and were blinded by the
barrel of poisoned ale.”
The other odd visitors laughed at Warren’s statements. We
did not say a thing fearing his terrible retribution. Warren
threw down an oil lamp and a lit candlestick. In doing so
the circle of blood burned around us all. The others stopped
laughing as this is now a serious deal. Stephen is startled so
he quickly moves away from the circle. Warren motioned him
to stand still and rejoin hands to continue the séance since
it is almost midnight. Willia continued to read more of the
spell from the Providi Interum page from the Book of Spells
as Warren sat down and joined hands with us. Our left hands
were placed one on top of the others. The other strange visitors
stood in a bigger circle around us, holding hands. We can’t
touch them because they have no real mortal bodies. Touching
death would make our own bodies suffer some loss.
Lightning continues as the others around us begin to spin
around faster and faster. They join together into one form as
they turn into a dark whirlwind. They enter into Warren’s
head which has become like an open funnel at the crown.
They all rapidly entered into his head as it quickly closed back
up like it should be. Warren’s eyes grew dark as coal then
turned red like the sunset. He held our hands so tight that
he broke some bones in them! We went down to our knees in
pain but we could not get free of Warren’s grip. He said some
odd words and our bodies are instantly restored.
The storm passed and the clouds subsided until the stars
came out. All the doors and windows shut by some magical
gestures. We trembled. Willia finally spoke to have Warren
let us go. He smiled big and laughed in a terrible way that
sounded like a crowd of people talking all at once. He said
some words of enchantment as they withdrew their vice-like
hold on us. This is troublesome as it has been a long time since
someone tried to humble us to be still and respectful. We have
become so haughty that no one stopped us from our desires.
Now this creature forces us to do its bidding as it wills. To
fight his control would be futile at this time.
We promised to find out what happened to the Book of
Spells that was aboard the Willia. Warren then told us that
their Book of Spells was found when a sailor discovered their
long ship washed far inland by the wake of a hurricane that
came to the early Roanoke settlement. It was traded through
many hands at quite a high price for almost two decades. The
Roanoke’s story is that they soon banded together to move to
a safer place as the storm blew in. It was to no avail because
the storm made a wake so large that it pushed their boat
twelve miles inland! This was so far that it was stranded as
the water receded. Mosquitoes, leeches, and illness overcame
them all and they soon died from exposure to the elements.
They had read out many spells to be spared. They were all
revived in some odd way and spared from the hurricane for
three full days. Then they quickly died. So now their debt to
the demons has to be paid! The Devil promised them life, for
the use of their souls. They reluctantly agreed but it was not
stated how long their new life would be! We all have found
ourselves in the Devil’s debt as his promises are shallow at best.
Satan gave enough time to follow through on his contract.
Just a few stressful days and that was all. Warren unrolls some
parchment for us to sign. It is in a language that none of us can
speak, yet we will be forced to sign or be destroyed! Now we
signed away our soul in our own blood! I now regret signing
a contract for my own new life. My own contract with the
Devil may be just as fickle. I signed to maintain a strong body
when my own failed. My common sense also failed to foresee
all the trouble I have now.
The last hurricane stirred things up again. Since then the
lunar eclipse forced these spirits to become restless. All of their
allies feel able to be free again. Spells bind their travel here to
unite some terrible powers over us. They are to rein us in to do
all their bidding since they have no physical bodies. Now these
lost souls hold us under their full control with much remorse on
my part. I always act long before I think it all the way through.
There are better ways to deal with things but my chosen road is
always the bumpy one that goes abruptly over the cliff side.
A larger coven of witches comes to Salem for the first full lunar eclipse of the winter solstice in over three hundred seventy four years. They drug the man to make him their slave. When he is found drunk in possession stolen jewelry from a grave, he is sentenced to be hung. The witches give him a strange potion that mimics death. The authorities bury him thinking he is already dead. The rare lunar eclipse during the winter solstice passes. He emerges from the grave a changed: now he is in the form of a large cat that changes into the form of a man during the full moon. His powers allow him to be charming and gamble to control others with a “second-sight” ability he lacked before. He can change to many forms of beast when his life is threatened. He can see what scares someone the most to use that against them. He takes the name Winston Rupert Wallace. Winston uses his new powers to build great wealth to become an entrepreneur who controls a big part of New Amsterdam.
I felt they’re all in league to get at me to consume my mortal body. My heart started back at a frantic rate. My mind raced. Breath fully entered back into my lungs. There was a feeling inside of a great stirring, like a moth after being in a cocoon. A strange, amber light filled the ground around us. I could fully see in what should be some total darkness around me!
A thick mist followed. I emerged abruptly from the grave. I felt different in some way. I sought to drink from a pool of water to quench my terrible thirst. All around me looked to be red colored like my sight was strange! The waxing moon lit the night as the eclipse receded. It was almost like seeing the daylight passing through an amber bottle. All around my head the crescent moon glowed in the reflection of the pool. I saw a face that no longer looked or felt like a normal man! My form was that of some kind of strange animal! I have become a large cat of some sort! I saw my arms and legs extended in a most fearful way. I pushed the dirt away from me to shake off the clods that still clung to me. I made a terrible sound that was not my own voice. The air was rich after being buried in a small space. Many strange smells occurred to me here. The sound here was deafening. More animals continued to crowd the cemetery to attack me. I made more loud sounds that mimicked a vicious wild animal. This new form scared away all the terrible animals waiting to get at me! On seeing me, they hurried away leaving a cloud of dust close to the ground.
http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookSearchResults.aspx?Search=The%20Familiar
Winston sees his reflection in a pool of water. He is terrified in what he sees.
-
- Dancing rainbows
Cold winter and summer mist
Rainbows dance on trees with leaves
As I lie down softly
The gentle breeze fills my soul.
I am free to go
As the wind blows.
From: The Familiar
Dancing rainbows
familiartales 