Saturday, May 3, 2014

A Warm Place to Call Home (a demon's story) / Michael Siemsen


Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Contemporary/ Supernatural/ Adult Satire/ Relationships

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Michael Siemsen lives in Northern California with his wife, three kids, dog Brody, cat Atom, four fish, one demon, and two chupacabrii.
Seriously though he is “the second son of a Vietnam veteran turned policeman. Initially focusing on performing arts, Michael attended the prestigious Alexander Hamilton Academy in Los Angeles. After serving in the U.S. Army as a tracked vehicle operator, he returned to civilian life and began writing short stories and screenplays, and directing short films and music videos.”

Mr. Siemsen's other published work include the Matt Turner Series and a sequel to A Warm Place to Call Home titled The Many Lives of Samuel Beauchamp (a demon's story). To learn more about him check out his website or you can stalk him on Facebook. :D

Description:

“Frederick is a demon. Born in Maryland in the early 1980's, he hasn't a clue where he came from or why, but feels an irresistible desire to occupy a human body. Once inside, he finds the previous occupants' consciousness and memories forever erased, an inevitable side effect that gives Frederick pause when switching bodies, but not so much as to truly halt his ongoing enjoyment of human lives. In various bodies, he travels the world for decades--aimless--sampling cultures and experiencing life from the points of view of males, females, young, old, rich, poor.

Now, Frederick has an urge to return to his roots in America, explore the mystery of his origin, find someone to love, and settle down for a while. In his hometown, his mission bears fruit much faster than he expected, as person after person presents themselves, and following his impulses, he is lead directly to love, tragedy, answers, and the humanity he never knew he wanted.”

Appraisal:

Fredrick is a body hopping demon and he has decided it is time for him to find a nice body to call home where he can develop a relationship and start a family. What better place to start looking than the memories of where he began? 

I was immediately drawn to Fredrick's voice from the very beginning of this story. He was cavalier and had a sarcastic wit about him, but was likeable for a demon. He had some decent qualities, but saw no sense in cultivating them because he was a demon after all. Or at least Fredrick assumed he was a demon, but was actually unsure about what he was exactly.

Obviously we were being told this story through Fredrick's eyes. The characters were cleverly developed and realistic. The plot is well paced as we learned Fredrick was not truly evil, he's impulsive and egocentric but rather benign. He chose Joseph Cling because he was a handsome man and Melanie liked him and Fredrick decided he wanted Melanie. However, he was too anxious to be with Melanie to properly watch and get to know Joseph first.  Escapades ensue as Fred/Joe stumbles through trying to be Joseph in his day job. Feeling at home in Joseph's body he made a conscientious effort to be everything Melanie wanted him to be.

To complicate matters, Joseph's identical twin brother, James, thinks he knows what has happened with Joseph and tries to convince Fredrick to leave Joseph's body. Fredrick is convinced that James doesn't have a clue and is making wild claims. Nonetheless trouble really hits the fan when jealousy rears its ugly head and Fred/Joe loses all sense of reality in a jealous rage over one of Melanie's past relationships. Mr. Siemsen weaves a complicated tale of the concept between good, evil, and purity as they become shades of gray and far too human and frustrating when self-doubt creeps in. When is altruism self-serving and when is it a selfless act? Philosophical questions are explored in a unique and thoughtful way.

FYI:

This book contains explicit language and adult sexual content.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no significant editing errors.


Rating: ***** Five stars

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