A Book of Tongues (The Hexslinger Series)

A Book of Tongues (The Hexslinger Series)

Written by: Gemma Files
Published by: ChiZine Publications
Page count: 278
ISBN-10: 0981297862
ISBN-13: 978-0981297866
Where to buy:
ChiZine Publications, Amazon, and other fine book retailers

Publishers Comments:
Two years after the Civil War, Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow has gone undercover with one of the weird West’s most dangerous outlaw gangs-the troop led by Reverend Asher Rook, ex-Confederate chaplain turned hexslinger and his notorious lieutenant (and lover) Chess Pargeter. Morrow’s task: get close enough to map the extent of Rook’s power, then bring that knowledge back to help Professor Joachim Asbury unlock the secrets of magic itself. Because magicians, despite their awesome powers, have never been more than a footnote in history: cursed by their own gift to flower in pain and misery, then feed vampirically on each other-never able to join forces, feared and hated by all. But Rook, driven by desperation, has a mind to shatter the natural law that prevents hexes from cooperation, and change the face of the world-a plan sealed by unholy marriage-oath with the Mayan-Aztec goddess Ixchel, mother of all hanged men, who has chosen Rook to raise her bloodthirsty pantheon from its collective grave through sacrifice, destruction, and apotheosis. Caught between a passle of dead gods and monsters, hexes galore, Rook’s witchery, and the ruthless calculations of his own masters, Morrow’s only real hope of survival lies with the man without whom Rook cannot succeed: Chess Pargeter himself. But Morrow and Chess will have to literally ride through Hell before the truth of Chess’s fate comes clear-the doom written for him, and the entire world, in A Book of Tongues.

About the Author:
Born April 4, 1968, in London, England, Gemma Files is the child of two actors (Elva Mai Hoover and Gary Files), and has lived most of her life in Toronto, Canada. Previously best-known as a film critic, teacher and screenwriter, she first broke onto the horror scene when her short story “The Emperor’s Old Bones” won the International Horror Guild’s 1999 award for Best Short Fiction. Her current bibliography includes two collections of short work (Kissing Carrion and The Worm in Every Heart, both Prime Books) and two chapbooks of poetry (Bent Under Night, from Sinnersphere Productions, and Dust Radio, from Kelp Queen Press). Her novella “Words Written Backwards” was published by Burning Effigy Press. Her first novel, A Book of Tongues: Volume One in the Hexslinger Series (CZP), is now available; she is currently hard at work on a sequel, “A Rope of Thorns”. She is married to fellow author Stephen J. Barringer, with whom she co-wrote the story “each thing i show you is a piece of my death” for Clockwork Phoenix 2 (Norilana Books). They have one son.

Hello Ghouls and Boils,

This evening we bring you a terrorific tale by Gemma Files. It’s the first book in “The Hexslinger Series” and it is titiled “A Book of Tongues”. It seemed very intriguing when Gemma let us know about the upcoming release back in March of this year. After reading our Guest Minion’s thoughts… this has been added to my list of “read for fun books”. I can’t wait to check it out. But for now, I will let Trevor share his views with you. Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

Brokeback Magician: A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files

When the editor sent me the advance PDF of “A Book of Tongues” by Gemma Files, I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. What seemed at first a old fashioned Western with a touch of fantasy turned into a pan-sexual adventure with Clive Barker overtones. To say it was a surprise is a bit of an understatement.

The book is the first in a series called the Hexslinger Files, and is set right after the Civil War. Agent Ed Morrow is a Pinkerton Agency detective who is undercover with a gang of criminals led by a hexslinger named Asher Rook. Hexslinger is the name for magicians in this world, and the way they use it usually isn’t pretty. Asher is a former preacher who uses Bible verses to conjure his powers. He’s an almost nice guy, tempered by his lover and partner in crime, Chess Pargeter. He’s small to Asher’s large,and generally short tempered. Add to that an amazing skill with a gun, and he’s walking death.

Asher and Chess are in San Francisco to find another Hexslinger named Snowbird who can possibly help Asher not be found by something he calls the Lady, who talks to him in his dreams. Since Hexers can feed off of each others powers in this world, it’s a dicey proposition at best. Add to the fact that Morrow is outed almost instantly as a Pinkerton to Rook,and things begin to spin out of control.

What follows next is a hell of an adventure, told in a interesting fashion. Files skips back and forth in time when telling Asher and Chess’s story, from their meeting in a Reb unit, to their romance, to Asher’s encounters in dreams with dead Mexican gods, one of whom is the Lady who keeps talking to him in his head. Add in the codependency of their relationship (hint: has to do with Hexers feeding off of each other) and you’ve got a match made in Hell, which is where the two go to at one point. Well, one of the Hells anyway. Along the way there are betrayals, blood, Aztec death gods, and enough gay sex to make John Waters happy.

Yes, I said gay sex. If you have a homophobic bone in your body, don’t pick up this book. It does not mince words, and goes to Laurell K. Hamilton levels of steaminess in its sex scenes. If there’s any fault I have with the book at all, it would be its reliance on the tired trope that all of us are at least partly bisexual, with characters who are straight being seduced into gay sex. I never bought into it in straight erotica, and don’t buy it here either.

Final Thoughts:
Book of Tongues is a very interesting read. After reading it, I looked it up on Amazon to see where they’d put it. They paired it with steampunk books like Boneshaker and such. I don’t think it’s steampunk , but rather a fantasy with a historical bent. Fans of Emma Bull’s Territory or some of Joe Lansdale’s stuff should enjoy this. It’s a hell of a book ,and it’s very pointedly aimed at a gay market, but I think it transcends that narrow marketing with fine writing and good dialogue. Pick it up for a rocking good afternoon read. I give this book a 3 out of 5.

Trevor Curtis, Guest Minion (Reviewer)