Sisters of the Shadows The Cagliostro Curse Shadows of the Opera Book 2 edition by Rick Lai Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
Download As PDF : Sisters of the Shadows The Cagliostro Curse Shadows of the Opera Book 2 edition by Rick Lai Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks 
In the 1890s, Josephine Balsamo, a.k.a. Countess Cagliostro, is poised to take over the powerful crominal conspiracy known as the Black Coats. One person stands in her way Irina Putine, a female detective, who happens to be the half-sister of Arsène Lupin, the notorious gentleman-thief! Sisters of the Shadows recounts the brutal vendetta between these two women, a merciless decades-long war which involve the greatest gunslingers of the American West, the most dangerous assassins of Europe, the terrifying Fantômas, an immortal sorceress, and the ruler of all vampires, Count Dracula!
Sisters of the Shadows The Cagliostro Curse Shadows of the Opera Book 2 edition by Rick Lai Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
I have long been a fan of Rick Lai's writing, both his speculative essays about characters from adventure fiction and his own published fiction. Like myself, Rick is a fan of Philip Jose Farmer's writings about the Wold Newton Family, a vast family tree of literary and pulp heroes and villains, and I have been fortunate enough to be able to hang out with Rick for the past three years at FarmerCon, the annual celebration of the late great science fiction grandmaster's career. Rick is an expert at uncovering previously unrevealed connections between characters both well-known and obscure. He is also a master chronologist, as his books covering the timelines of the Shadow and Doc Savage's careers demonstrate. Rick's knowledge of pop culture and ability to blend different works together in fascinating ways is second to none, and it shows most of all in his fiction writing. SISTERS OF THE SHADOWS is meant to take place in the same continuity as his SHADOWS OF THE OPERA trilogy of books, and features the feud between Josephine Balsamo (foe of Maurice Leblanc's gentleman thief Arsene Lupin) and Irina Putine (aka Irene Tupin, the character ably played by Mary Maude in the highly entertaining Spanish horror film LA RESIDENCIA, here portrayed as Arsene's half-sister.) Rick blends characters from detective and crime fiction (French orn otherwise), spaghetti westerns, Japanese and Chinese action films, and many other sources into an enthralling collection of connected stories spanning a decade's worth of events. Although many references may not be immediately recognizable to the reader, Rick includes a "Cast of Characters" list that includes each character's creator. A little Googling should match the character and the creator with the work or works the former appears in. I love crossovers like this, being a fan of similar works such as Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and Kim Newman's ANNO DRACULA cycle, as well as the aforementioned Wold Newton writings by Farmer, which Rick alludes to several times here. With all of these works, spotting the references, and identifying ones you missed, is almost much fun as reading the tales themselves. Another of Rick's strengths as a writer is that he is excellent at writing well-developed, strong female characters, both heroic and villainous. This reviewer particularly enjoyed the unique "friendly enemy" relationship between Irina's friend and partner Blythe Furnace and Josephine's comrade Marga Sandorf. I highly recommend this excellent book by a friend of mine who also happens to be a first-rate author and literary scholar.Product details
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Sisters of the Shadows The Cagliostro Curse Shadows of the Opera Book 2 edition by Rick Lai Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks Reviews
Sisters of the Shadows The Cagliostro Curse is another great collection of interconnected short stories by Rick Lai. These are "Wold Newton" stories that spins out of his Shadows of the Opera series. This "side sequel" focuses on the conflict between Josephine Balsamo, the Countess Cagliostro, who is a member of the Black Coats (criminal empire written in France in the 1800s in a series of novels and republished by Black Coat Press), and Irene Tupin/Chupin/Irina Putine who is the sister of Arsene Lupin and based on a character from a horror movie and who becomes Josephine's enemy and a detective. "Wold Newton" is a reference to a concept put forth by Philip Jose Farmer, that tries to link together various fictitious characters into a consistent universe (am WAY oversimplifying it). Some don't care for the concept, and all the characters and hints can be confusing to many not familiar with the original stories that come form (which includes me to a degree) and this can be off putting to some (instead of leading them to read the originals, which is what usually happens in my case).
As noted, this volume is part of a "side sequel" to the "Shadows of the Opera" series. One more volume is planned in this side series.
The basic setup of the series was actually started in the last two stories of the Shadows of the Opera Retribution in Blood. But you get information in the stories here that help set it up. As young girls, both had been sent to a harsh boarding school. Josephine had, in the first Shadow of the Opera volume, sworn to her mother to take vengeance on Lupin and his family. Thus Josephine tormented Irene, and set things up for her to be killed. However, she survived. Josephine soon joined the Black Coats along with several other fellow students from this school, who continued to torment each other.
This is not a novel, but a collection of 12 short stories, which proceed in chronological order. While they are more or less standalone, they should be read in order, as they progress the story of Irene and Josephine and their associates. Many of the stories, however, start in the past to give background on various characters who are important in that story. 7 stories are reprints, but revised. 6 of those are from the first six Tales of the Shadowmen volumes.
Also included is an afterwards that explains the origin of the various characters, and a list of characters and their creators. This helps greatly in understanding many of the characters and their origins.
At present the first book in the Shadows of the Opera series is published by Wild Cat Books, but don't know if it will be reprinted by Black Coat Press. This book and the main sequel to Shadows of the Opera are from Black Coat Press. At least one more book is planned in this side sequel line. I look forward to it.
I have long been a fan of Rick Lai's writing, both his speculative essays about characters from adventure fiction and his own published fiction. Like myself, Rick is a fan of Philip Jose Farmer's writings about the Wold Newton Family, a vast family tree of literary and pulp heroes and villains, and I have been fortunate enough to be able to hang out with Rick for the past three years at FarmerCon, the annual celebration of the late great science fiction grandmaster's career. Rick is an expert at uncovering previously unrevealed connections between characters both well-known and obscure. He is also a master chronologist, as his books covering the timelines of the Shadow and Doc Savage's careers demonstrate. Rick's knowledge of pop culture and ability to blend different works together in fascinating ways is second to none, and it shows most of all in his fiction writing. SISTERS OF THE SHADOWS is meant to take place in the same continuity as his SHADOWS OF THE OPERA trilogy of books, and features the feud between Josephine Balsamo (foe of Maurice Leblanc's gentleman thief Arsene Lupin) and Irina Putine (aka Irene Tupin, the character ably played by Mary Maude in the highly entertaining Spanish horror film LA RESIDENCIA, here portrayed as Arsene's half-sister.) Rick blends characters from detective and crime fiction (French orn otherwise), spaghetti westerns, Japanese and Chinese action films, and many other sources into an enthralling collection of connected stories spanning a decade's worth of events. Although many references may not be immediately recognizable to the reader, Rick includes a "Cast of Characters" list that includes each character's creator. A little Googling should match the character and the creator with the work or works the former appears in. I love crossovers like this, being a fan of similar works such as Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and Kim Newman's ANNO DRACULA cycle, as well as the aforementioned Wold Newton writings by Farmer, which Rick alludes to several times here. With all of these works, spotting the references, and identifying ones you missed, is almost much fun as reading the tales themselves. Another of Rick's strengths as a writer is that he is excellent at writing well-developed, strong female characters, both heroic and villainous. This reviewer particularly enjoyed the unique "friendly enemy" relationship between Irina's friend and partner Blythe Furnace and Josephine's comrade Marga Sandorf. I highly recommend this excellent book by a friend of mine who also happens to be a first-rate author and literary scholar.
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