An Authors Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest Karen Michalson, on air from August 29th
Masterful Psychological Thriller Explores Murder, Art, Mythology, Romance, Spirituality & Rebellion
Karen Michalson talks about:
- Why readers love a literary thriller that draws from magical realism, 1990s rock ‘n’ roll, myth, and romantic suspense
- Why her book centers around a spiritual war that’s been fought for thousands of years
- How the research she did to create her musician characters led her to study music, form a band, and tour around the USA
- Why the book is set in the early 1990s – before the Internet, cell phones, or 24/7 streaming
- Whether practicing criminal defense law later influenced her decision to release the book, which explores themes surrounding the law
- Why she chose to leave a hard-won tenure-track position teaching British literature to write fiction
The Maenad’s God explores a variety of thorny topics:
- Alienation. Why some people are cynical and ‘done with society’
- The nature of divinity; creativity as a way into some kind of higher reality; imagination as a sacred space
- How creativity is an art of rebellion – and a healing force
- The degree to which reality and fantasy inform each other
- Whether creating a private world is a subversive act against a toxic culture
“Michalson’s prose, as narrated by the loquacious Pete, is by turns wisecracking and obsessive. . .. Even so, Pete’s quest takes him in unexpected occult directions, opening up an intricate world of ecstasy and paranoia. … the novel’s angst and atmosphere-both authentically ’90s-make for a strangely alluring reading experience. An engaging, snaking, and spirit-tinged murder tale about obsession and control.” —Kirkus Reviews“
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TheMaenad’s God receives 5 stars and the ‘Highly Recommended’ award of excellence.” —The Historical Fiction Company Chosen by Independent Book Review as one of the best books of 2022, Karen Michalson’s fourth novel, The Maenad’s God, is the story of a war that’s been fought for thousands of years, the war between the ancient arts of music, poetry, and love; and the equally ancient forces of artistic envy, oppressive law, and authoritarian religion. Boston 1992. Alienated FBI agent Pete Morrow discovers a murder and becomes obsessed with Jade McClellan, a mysterious mafia-backed rock musician. Tough-guy Morrow has never been in love before—but Jade is almost magical, creating a private imaginary world from his songs and stories that rapidly become the only thing Morrow values in his otherwise empty life. Unfortunately, Morrow is investigating the mafia family that is investing in Jade’s musical career. Being open about their relationship could get both of them killed.
Michalson, who has taught nineteenth-century British literature, performed across the USA with her rock band, Point of Ares, and runs a criminal defense practice, is uniquely suited to write this book. “If you like hard boiled gritty realism with an edge of surrealism – you will like this book,” promises the author. “If you like rock band fiction, stories about the mafia and the music business, or ever engaged in any kind of creative pursuit, you will like this book. If you like romantic suspense, particularly if it involves complex multi-dimensional characters whose conflicts with society extend beyond their relationship, you will like this book.” “The Maenad’s God is never the same book twice: flowing from intrigue to mysticism, romance to mythology, Karen Michalson weaves an epic and constantly surprising narrative.” —IndieReader “The Maenad’s God deserves attention. . . . it also deserves the highest rating, for it seems to me a work of substance and original thinking.” —Reedsy “ . . . gripping, satisfying, and impossible to put down even after you’ve finished it.” —Readers’ Favorite
Karen Michalson has assumed many identities – criminal defense attorney, scholar and teacher of nineteenth-century British literature, and progressive rock band performer. All her experiences find a home in her writings as an award-winning, critically acclaimed author. She has written four novels, including The Maenad’s God, which was selected by Independent Book Review as one of the best novels 2022 and by IndieReader as one of the Best Reviewed Books of March 2023. It also received a 5-Star Highly Recommended Award of Excellence from The Historical Fiction Company and a Literary Titan Gold Book Award (2022). Her earlier novels form the Enemy Glory Trilogy: Enemy Glory, Hecate’s Glory, and The King’s Glory. Enemy Glory, the first book of the trilogy, was one of the books that received the most votes for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. It was chosen for Locus’s Recommended Reading List of Best First Novels. Michalson’s first book, a non-fiction work, Victorian Fantasy Literature’s Literary Battles with Church and Empire, examines the non-literary and non-aesthetic reasons underlying the bias in favor of realism in forming the traditional literary canon of nineteenth-century British fiction. Her books have been favorably reviewed by Clarion Foreword, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Independent Book Review, Literary Titan, Blue Ink Review, and numerous others. Michalson practiced criminal law for a decade. She left the law profession a little over four years ago to return to her full-time novel-writiPh.D.full-timeBefore. Prior to what she calls her “detour into law,” she wrote novels, formed a progressive rock band, Point of Ares (she plays bass guitar), and ran a small record label-distributor (Arula Records). Point of Ares released four CDs, two of which are concept albums based on her Enemy Glory books. The band received airplay in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Brazil, and Italy and what she calls “embarrassingly kind reviews.” Before rocking out on music and fiction writing, she began her literary career as an assistant professor of English at the University of Connecticut. She holds a PhD in English (British literature) from the University of Massachusetts and a JD from Western New England University School of Law.
She lives in New England.
Karens New Show
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Kim’s bliss is to bring forth images that move someone on the deepest level, as much as a poem can. One of her greatest joys has been hearing from those who have had a visceral, uplifting or cathartic experience just by gazing at one of her photographs. She marries her photographs to her poetry and sometimes one of her photographs will inspire one of her poems.
Prologue to The Taste of Freedom, A Poetic Prosaic Photographic Journey © by Kim Karrington Cartwright Having had many mystical experiences since I was a child I was able to experience in this one life, seeming lifetimes of experiences, which all related in one way or another to learning to save and value me as much as I saved and valued others. I have encountered and been exposed to a plethora of human emotions, trauma, heartache, injury, and loss. So that is why I brought forth the books, to help people live in this world and face the challenges from a standpoint of Practical Spirituality which is based in authenticity, compassion, integrity, intuition, catharsis, release and understanding. It is a realistic, feasible, and doable process to address day to day issues from a soul-filled and spiritual standpoint while still living the human experience with all its majesty, sensations, and challenges. It is bridging and balancing the seen and the unseen, the local (microcosm) and non-local (macrocosm), time and space and timeless and space-less, the mundane and the divine and making peace with the paradox of existence and ostensible duality. This Book Trilogy is all about helping people find and live in a state of freedom, contentment, and value and treating the individual with respect and dignity throughout the journey, honoring his or her emotions and processes in a kind, deep, expansive, insightful and supportive way. Sometimes people make other people feel bad, telling them that if they were only more “grateful for” and “positive about” what they were going through, it wouldn’t be happening. Or they should “Just Forgive, Forget” even while in the midst and fury of the trauma as they are “holding on to being mistreated” and “responsible for keeping it going”. This sometimes initiates resistance in the person being told this as the words can be used or implied in a way that makes them feel more separated versus whole and utterly unsupported. They start hiding and burying their feelings and emotions to seem more “spiritual” and fit in. Conflict ensues as they are not being true to themselves and mini volcanoes start to erupt within which eventually pour out as energy into their lives. That energy brings in events, people, and circumstances on the outside, in their daily life, that then forces them to address the emotions, feelings, and issues that they were trying to deny and suppress to be accepted by others. In reality, the process of forgiving helps free the injured person more than the individual who needs forgiving. The “victim” no longer has to emotionally carry the full weight of the deeds or crimes because of the unprocessed grief and unresolved injustice of the experience. Forgiveness is a process of letting go to be free, and it blesses both sides when that energy is released. The blessing of gratitude, acknowledging all that there is to be thankful for, is something wonderful and life-affirming but it needs to come more from within than without. You cannot pressure someone to be “more grateful.” I have found that if people are approached more from a standpoint of bringing them back to LOVE, self-worth, self-love, and their inherent value as connected to a divine source, a beneficent universe, there is less resistance and more flow and healing. Their energy can shift because their minds are not creating a defense mechanism making them feel like they are “less” and “unworthy” because they were feeling sad or angry about a circumstance that was taking place in their life that was often happening through no apparent fault of their own. Their feelings were valid. Through processing their emotions in a safe and meaningful way, people are able to understand where and why the feelings are coming up and honor the process and release them. In this way, they can open their hearts and minds to dwelling more on positive thoughts and affirmations. And gratitude for the abundant gifts that are all around them, in them, and through them becomes a natural process and blossoms and blooms more easily and visibly each day. I have found that in honoring my value, my heart, I am able to better evaluate and understand the core of another.
John likes the picture so much and His Holiness likes it as well he thought he would like to take it a little further and help humanity around the world.
Having invested the last 20 years into the business of picking up junk and garbage and a service called recycling, you could say that I’ve confirmed almost everything we call ‘junk and garbage’ can be recycled.
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