Smoke City Book Tour

Smoke City
Keith Rosson
Published by: Meerkat Press
Publication date: January 23rd 2018
Genres: Adult, Magical Realism

Marvin Deitz has some serious problems. His mob-connected landlord is strong-arming him out of his storefront. His therapist has concerns about his stability. He’s compelled to volunteer at the local Children’s Hospital even though it breaks his heart every week.
Oh, and he’s also the guilt-ridden reincarnation of Geoffroy Thérage, the French executioner who lit Joan of Arc’s pyre in 1431. He’s just seen a woman on a Los Angeles talk show claiming to be Joan, and absolution seems closer than it’s ever been . . . but how will he find her?
When Marvin heads to Los Angeles to locate the woman who may or may not be Joan, he’s picked up hitchhiking by Mike Vale, a self-destructive alcoholic painter traveling to his ex-wife’s funeral. As they move through a California landscape populated with “smokes” (ghostly apparitions that’ve inexplicably begun appearing throughout the southwestern US), each seeks absolution in his own way.

MY THOUGHTS:  Sometimes you just read a book that's hard to explain but which also really clicks with you.  Smoke City is that book.  So basically Marvin, one of the three MCs, believes that he is personally responsible for executing Joan of Arc many many years ago and that because of doing so, he is cursed to be reborn over and over again.  He also believes that his time is up in a few weeks.  Suddenly Marvin sees an individual who claims to be Joan of Arc reincarnated, and he is on a mission to find her and apologize.  Marvin end up teaming up with Mike, a down-on-his luck alcoholic and once famous artist whose ex-wife just died.  California is being overpopulated with ghostly apparitions called "smokes" so the third member of our crew is a wanna-be paranormal investigation named Casper - yes, you can snicker - Casper the ghost hunter!

So all three are on a road trip to Los Angeles for their own reason and honestly, it's been a long time since I've met such a likable group of unlikable characters.  These people are flawed - REALLY REALLY flawed, but man, are they fun to read about.   Smoke City is a very character driven book and I really became invested in what happened to Marvin, Mike and Casper.

This book may not be for everyone.  In fact, every time I look at the cover I think "That book must be really out there."  And it is, but man is it a fun trip to an unknown destination.

RATING: 4 PAWS

CHALLENGE:  Swords and Stars - read a book with magical realism.

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Author Bio:
Keith Rosson is the author of the novels The Mercy of the Tide (2017, Meerkat Press) and Smoke City (2018, Meerkat Press). His short fiction has appeared in Cream City Review, PANK, Redivider, December, and more. An advocate of both public libraries and non-ironic adulation of the cassette tape, he can be found at keithrosson.com.

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