Beyond the Reflection’s Edge 1: Intro

Bryan Davis’s book Beyond the Reflection’s Edge is the first installment in his "Echoes from the Edge" series.

What's it about?

1. It's about 390 pages.

2. It's about Nathan Shepherd, a young karate violinist whose parents are brutally murdered by minions of a guy named Mictar (hobby: killing people by burning the eyeballs out of their heads with his bare hand). Mictar's ticked off because he thinks he's a pharmaceutical, but no one's buying. It's probably the eyeball-burning side effect.

3. It's about interfinity, which involves parallel earths and confused readers. There's a Blue Earth, where everyone's depressed, a Yellow Earth, where everyone's cowardly, and a Red Earth, where everyone's embarrassed (and I'm ashamed to say why). No, really, they're separate Earths that haven't synchronized their watches. Why they're color-coded like that is an open question. I suspect that there's another Earth that's purple, thus matching the whole setup to Oz. (This is further supported by a tornado scene in the book.)

4. It's about music, light, and mirrors. Specifically, there are Quattro mirrors, "quattro" being Italian for four--and if you're a lousy speller with no ear for consonant length, as one character is, it's also Spanish for four. In any case, if you combine music, light, and not-so-happy thoughts, a Quattro mirror can bounce you into an Earth of another color.

Sound confusing? Actually, it's not that bad most of the time, though on a few rare occasions it's worse. The problem is that there are three sets of practically everybody, and sometimes that makes for an evil triplet. Worse, nobody's actually color-coded, so it's hard to follow orders such as "Trust Gordon Red, not Gordon Blue. Trust Simon Red. Unsure of Simon Blue." (p. 245) Some indelible paint would come in handy. (Actually, I have another strategy for simplifying matters that I'll mention in a later post.)

Anyway--tomorrow, as usual, I'll cover the good points of the story. (There are several. Really.) Then I'll have some really unusual items for the final post, even invoking my late grandmother's theological wisdom.

In the meantime, check out the other members of the CSFF tour:
Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Courtney
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