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October Daye / Inheritance - Essay Series Part Five: Long Series and How to Read Them

Hello Patrons and general audience members! Welcome to another Books That Burn essay by Robin. Thank you to Case Aiken, who receives a monthly Patron shoutout. [Full Audio Available Here] This is the fifth and final entry in a five-part essay series discussing two long-running book series by queer authors: October Daye by Seanan McGuire, and Inheritance by A.K. Faulkner. I chose these series because I love them both, they were intended from the start to be long series, neither of them are finished yet, and the authors have different structural approaches to developing each series across so many volumes. Purely coincidentally, they are both long-running contemporary fantasy series mainly set in California in or near the 2010's, with major characters named Quentin, and whose fast-healing protagonists have a tendency to quasi-adopt a gaggle of magical teenagers. After a brief moment in the 1990's, October Daye begins in earnest in 2009 and has reached 2015 as of the eighteenth boo...
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A Song For Quiet by Cassandra Khaw (Persons non Grata, #2)

Deacon James is a rambling bluesman straight from Georgia, a black man with troubles that he can't escape, and music that won't let him go. On a train to Arkham, he meets trouble — visions of nightmares, gaping mouths and grasping tendrils, and a madman who calls himself John Persons. According to the stranger, Deacon is carrying a seed in his head, a thing that will destroy the world if he lets it hatch.

The mad ravings chase Deacon to his next gig. His saxophone doesn't call up his audience from their seats, it calls up monstrosities from across dimensions. As Deacon flees, chased by horrors and cultists, he stumbles upon a runaway girl, who is trying to escape her father, and the destiny he has waiting for her. Like Deacon, she carries something deep inside her, something twisted and dangerous. Together, they seek to leave Arkham, only to find the Thousand Young lurking in the woods.

The song in Deacon’s head is growing stronger, and soon he won’t be able to ignore it any more.

TITLE: A Song For Quiet
AUTHOR: Cassandra Khaw
PUBLISHER: Tor.com
YEAR: 2017
LENGTH: 112 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Horror
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: No canon queer rep.

A SONG FOR QUIET feels good to read, the prose and syllabic cadence drips through my brain like a song I know I like but couldn't quite catch. It has a numb and distant feeling, as the MC begins filled with grief over death that happened before the scene starts, and then never quite gets a chance to catch his breath until the end. It describes how music feels to the characters, intertwined with death and darkness, implying the way it sounds to those who have beautiful ways to describe harsh melodies.

CW for racism, gore, violence, child abuse (not depicted), starvation (not depicted), parental death (backstory), major character death, death.

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A silhouette of a man walking on top of a city skyline, tentacles reach out to him and wind around his saxophone.


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