"The Red Room" makes me think of Jane Eyre, flung inside to contemplate her wicked behavior... But nothing bad happens to me there; in fact tomcatintheredroom (Tom of Cardiff, we might also call him, it seems) has written a long, marvelous review of Thaliad that reminded me of things about the adventure that I had forgotten and also suggested ideas that I had thought about only in the strange, immersed-yet-outpouring way one thinks when making a poem.
Please go read the whole sparkly thing! I'm tempted to review the review because it was full of illuminating passages about sources, novel vs. epic, Gabriel and the fall from innocence, the tension between future setting and traditional form, the reason why it can get away with a name like Thaliad (despite nervily invoking classical epic adventures), the Hicks-Jenkins art, the poetic form, readability, inventiveness and exuberance, and more. I'm grateful to him for striking out in so many different directions, and for understanding so well what I sought to do so.
If you have a comment, please leave it there. Comments off.
Lots of Thaliad images, excerpts, and comments are now up at Scribd. (The first chapter of A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage is still there as well.) Please take a look and enjoy! Find more about the book (as well as how to get a copy) on my Thaliad page or at Elizabeth Adams' Phoenicia Publishing.
