#BlogTour ‘The Splendid City’ by Karen Heuler

About the book…

A genre-blending story of modern witchcraft, a police state and WTF characters, for fans of Alice Hoffman and Madeline Miller.

In the state of Liberty, water is rationed at alarming prices, free speech is hardly without a cost, and Texas has just declared itself its own country. In this society, paranoia is well-suited because eyes and ears are all around, and they are judging. Always judging. This terrifying (and yet somehow vaguely familiar) terrain is explored via Eleanor – a young woman eagerly learning about the gifts of her magic through the support of her coven.

But being a white witch is not as easy as they portray it in the books, and she’s already been placed under ‘house arrest’ with a letch named Stan, a co-worker who wronged her in the past and now exists in the form of a cat. A talking cat who loves craft beers, picket lines, and duping and ‘shooting’ people.

Eleanor has no time for Stan and his shenanigans, because she finds herself helping another coven locate a missing witch which she thinks is mysteriously linked to the shortage of water in Liberty.

Huge thanks to the wonderful people at Angry Robot books for sending me this gifted review copy of Karen Heuler’s ‘The Splendid City’ which is available from all good bookshops in Audiobook , paperback and e-book formats!

Who could fail to fall for a book which has, as its 2 protagonists, a talking cat called Stan(wears a bowtie and a fannypack,has anger issues) and a witch called Eleanor?

In the city of Liberty,water is rationed,following a drought, although nougat is fully available and free, to distract you from the lack of water. People march in parades with signs saying things like ‘We’re right!’ But no one is really sure what it is they are protesting about.

A van with a cartoon chicken on the side stops and randomly kidnaps, and sometimes returns, people off the street.

It is a freedom afforded that no one is really sure they ever wanted or asked for- as the old song goes, ‘freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose’.

In this arena enters Eleanor, sent on the trail of a missing witch, one who can dowse for and find water. Her punishment for turning Stan into a cat is to be permanently partnered with him . Stan’s is to stay with Eleanor to pay for the thing which annoyed her enough to turn him into a cat in the first place.

So if Stan can find the treasure which he believes is at the end of the cryptic note put in his paw by a kidnapped man, and Eleanor can find the missing witch, maybe maybe they could be happy.

It’s a very different novel,something that I fell into and fell in love with. The oddness is entirely natural and not contrived, it feels as though Liberty has always been there. I very much hope to read more of Karen’s work in the future!

About the author…

Karen Heuler’s stories have appeared in over 100 literary and speculative magazines and anthologies, from Conjunctions to Tin House to Weird Tales, as well as a number of Best Of anthologies.

She has received an O. Henry award, been a finalist for the Iowa short fiction award, the Bellwether award, the Shirley Jackson award for short fiction, and others.

She has published four novels and a novella, and her fourth story collection, The Clockworm and Other Strange Stories, was published by Tartarus Press in 2018. She also teaches fiction writing at NYU’s School of Professional Studies.

Links-https://www.karenheuler.com/

Twitter @KarenHeuler @angryrobotbooks