Today I'm going to kill a couple of birds with one stone. No, not the ravens and crows that Rebecca Treadway takes pictures of to use on book covers and other bits of artwork, but rather a pair of her works that I've had for a while. The first sat in my Kindle collecting dust for a while as I read other things, while the other I read the day I purchased it, and it has been languishing in my review backlog.
First up is the short story, Chilly Eye Callie. Calpurnia Bowens has her father's eyes, although she didn't get them through an act of genetics. She's a woman with several gifts, or curses, depending on your point-of-view. While riding the train home Chilly Eye Callie, as the locals call her, senses something is amiss with her two fellow passengers. Yes, somebody is doing somebody wrong and it's a situation that's possibly going to change someone's life forever. Callie uses her gift to take care of the problem in her own way, and just a little bit extra as well.
I loved getting a look at the more gritty side of good California living that Rebecca gives us with this story. Her characterization of Callie is really good, and that was a treat, since a majority of her other works I have read so far have been poetry, so it was great to see how she handled making a believable character. If anything the length of the story does work against it slightly. There a great deal of mystery surrounding the title character, and many of these mysteries remain unresolved as the story comes to a close. I suppose it is a good thing that there's a follow-up novella coming soon! The story not only held my interest from start to finish, but also left me wanting more (and it's good to know more is coming). Four and A Half Stars!
The second Rebecca Treadway work up for review is Walk The Dream, a poetry collection. Now if you've read some of Rebecca's other poems and poetry collections, but you haven't read this one, then you need to go out and buy it. This collection is full of poems that show the "kinder and gentler" side of Rebecca Treadway. I can think of no better example of someone showing their versatility than this collection. Again I usually do not review individual poems, but I have to say that "Medicine Man", "Arcane Words", "Chambers" and "Elsewhere" are my four favorites from this collection, and each one kind of speaks to a different part of me from the nostalgic to the romantic. (Yes, I did say romantic in regard to something Rebecca Treadway has written).
Is there anything else I really need to say about this collection to get you to check it out other than Five Stars all the way?
You can get you copy of Chilly Eye Callie here:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050DEXBE
You can get your copy of Walk The Dream here:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W3FZ56
These two are well worth lurking in to.
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| Master Vyle |
