Freakish Friday

5 Flames

Good Evening My Fellow Book Dragons,

To those of you who have joined this week, welcome to my Cave where gems are found and Dragon Food is abundant! To all of you, I hope you have been kept safe from the horrible weather. Please keep our Indiana Book Dragons in your thoughts.

This weeks Gem came to me in the form of a Cameo. A beautiful woman’s visage carved delicately on the surface. As I turned it in my claws I realized the visage changed. From the beautiful woman to a disheveled man to a different beautiful woman. The faces kept changing and then the Cameo broke and this tale poured forth.

This is first time Dragon Feeder Bradford Tatum’s fantastic tale “Hot Berry Punch”. The story of Emma Mae Shinnecock and how she became a Beguiler. What is a Beguiler, you ask? Ahhh that is a rather fetching creature that you do not want to meet if you value your life.

Emma Mae is a prairie child, the daughter of an educated mother and a sailor father who travel West in the early 1800s. Emma is smart, beautiful and a child of her surroundings, making her slightly feral. I don’t do spoilers so let me get on to what I loved about this book.

Had this been published in the 1800s, it would have been considered bawdy. It is an honest book and historically accurate. I love the characters. These are not cartoonish people. Mr. Tatum’s world is filled with people who populated small prairie towns. Who had the grit, determination and the ability to dream big enough to head West in all its unmitigated Hope that a better world lay ahead. Should the dream not come true, they stayed or moved on – there was always a fresh start down the road. There were other things down those roads as well. Things Mr. Greeley didn’t tell his young men about.

Emma takes us with her on her journey as a Beguiler. I was never disappointed and couldn’t put this book down until the final pages revealed their treasure.

If you love fantasy, the paranormal and a touch of the amazing, this tale is for you. I’ll remember this one for quite awhile to come. I hope this is not the last we hear from Mr. Tatum.

Until next time , I remain your humble Book Dragon,

Drakon T. Longwitten

Many thanks to Mr. Tatum for the review copy. As always my opinions are my own.