Blurb of the book Through the Baltic Looking-Glass By Lara Biyuts
Edwardian era mystery. Steampunk. Historical. Paranormal adventures. Set in Europe in 1912, the novel “Through the Baltic Looking-Glass” is written in the form of travel notes by Oscar Maria Graf, observant globetrotter, younger contemporary of Oscar Wilde. A Stenbock-like figure, by his origin and his dabbling in literature, Oscar Graf is much hotter, more active and pragmatic than Eric Stenbock (1860-1895) whom he was friend with, when he lived in London. The book was previously self-published in a series of ebooks. PART 1 “In the Island. Adventures”: The series of his adventures on a fictional island on the Mediterranean Sea seem to come to an end, when he receives a message from his homeland in the fictional Baltic country of Nyomanland. In the message, his cousin asks him to come home, because the cousin’s mother disappeared and something’s wrong at the household. Later, on his way, Oscar meets one mysterious foreigner of the name of Kornelis Aboleo Lord Ravensable von Holstein who travels along with his cousin Adrian Magnhus Lord Wolfhampton von Holstein. The foreigners stay in Brumburg, the main city of Nyomanland. PART 2 “On the Continent. Quest I” PART 3 “On the Continent. Quest II” PART 4 “Ghosts, Notes, and Other Evidence”
PART 5 “Liberties with the Dark” PART 6 “Theatre des Noctambules” PART 7 “Gay with Streamers” PART 8 “Darkness to Illuminate” PART 9 “From the Owl’s Wing to the Bat’s”.
“Tough Read At Times, but Ultimately Rewarding. Wow....to start with, that's the only real observation I can make. This was one of the more unexpectedly complex and engaging novels I've read” (John J. Staughtonon August 5, 2015 Format: Kindle Edition)
“A Story With International Flair. Set aside the unusual turns of phrase, the excessive wordiness, the overuse of adjectives and the awkward, literal translation and at its core, there is an interesting story with an international flair reminiscent of the movie, Casablanca. The reader is transported to 1912, where characters comfortably inhabit the panelled walls of the smoking room at the Monocle Club over a leisurely discussion of autocars. Through the Baltic Looking Glass is a complex, rich story that takes its readers on an exotic journey; a journey that is mired, to some degree, by excessive verbiage which impedes the structural development of the plot, making it more difficult for the reader to fully invest in the story.� (Marta Tandorion July 26, 2015 Format: Kindle Edition) “Much of what Lara writes is less concerned with reportage or maintaining a clear story line than it is providing the reader with a vastly impressive kaleidoscopic explosion of words. The following is out of context, but the strange beauty of her writing comes through: `He looked round: a forest, but the place was not familiar to him. His feet sank in the dewy grass; neither byroad nor pathway around. A marshy dell. A streamlet murmured at a distance. The pines around the dell seemed gigantic in the fog, and Clem felt in the fog about the place and the
way which he had come. Judging by some signs, it was nearby the Wolf Creek Ravine, though Clem preferred to be mistaken, because the Wolf Creek Ravine was the ill-reputed place, where KasimirTheodor nearly died, a year ago. When chasing a fox, Kasimir-Theodor found himself between two meandering lines of a dell, steep and slippery, which had more than one place, where it was so easy to slide down over the soft clay, like an ice-hill -- but it was not so easy to climb out of the Ravine. Crumbling away, the clay made all attempts vain. The green glades of the Dell were in fact spots of quagmire, and Kasimir-Theodor risked sinking there. Thinking over the situation, Clem saw he had to spend the night in the forest, even if he was relatively safe, since he risked losing his way in the thicket.' Follow her words and new vistas open places we cannot imagine without her. Though the story takes patience to read, the language is ebullient enough to keep the reader involved in this strange tale. The author is as colorful as her stories. They may be an acquired taste, but a rare and unique one at that.� (Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on July 25, 2015 Format: Kindle Edition) “Through the Baltic Looking-Glass by Lara Biyuts is a vampire/steampunk novel. It is written
in nine parts, has an epilogue and 602 pages. You are taken on quite a journey with this surprising plot. Biyuts has quite the imagination.” (LA Howellon August 4, 2015 Format: Kindle Edition) “Very Long - Worth the Money and the Time. This book is SOOO long because it has all 9 parts!! It is an awesome historical type read but for me it was simply too much all at once. Lara Biyuts is a great story teller and I think I would have loved this book if I had read it with waits in between as it was originally released.” (Marisa Slusarcykon August 15, 2015 Format: Kindle Edition)
Available at : https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/505270 http://www.lulu.com/shop/lara-biyuts/through-thebaltic-looking-glass/ebook/product-22198113.html http://amzn.com/B00F1TPRPI
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/through-the-balticlooking-glass-lara-biyuts/1116263988?ean=2940046497595