Book & Art Custodians'

CUSTODIANS' BOOK & ART MAY/JUNE 2018

ISSUE 2

Book Reviews Articles Interview Eirini Demirtzaki

A MAGAZINE ABOUT BOOKS AND ART

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EDITORS TEAM Margarita Katsipi, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Zoey Tsoura, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Nektaria Poultsidi, PUBLIC RELATIONS Hara Delli, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Aggelina Papathanasiou, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Panagiota Goutzourela, CREATIVE DIRECTOR CONTRIBUTORS Maria Makrovasili Anastasia Neraidoni

info@thematofylakes.gr

We are a group of people who love words in whatever form they print: articles, news, literature, poetry and we inform you of activities old and new.

Contents 4

Interview with Eirini Demirtzaki

18

Book review: What I don’t know yet by Eirini Dermitzaki

24

De Profundis by Stelios Chalkitis

26

Book review: Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

30

Poetry THE DOOR OF MAGICΚ by Anastasia Neraidoni

32

A Saint For The Summer by Marjory McGinn

35

Georgia Fambris Art

42

Book review: A Knight of the Word by Terry Brooks

44

Book review: Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks\

46

Book review: Latte Decaffeinate by Stavros Zafeirakis

48

Book review: Of Sugar and Salt by Vanessa Adamopoulou

Eirini Demirtzaki

Eirini Demirtzaki was born in Sitia, Greece, in 1982. She studied industrial design and theater in Greece, and film studies in London. She writes in several sites and literary magazines. She's also written pieces for the radio, comic magazines, theatrical plays, as well as short film scripts. For her short stories, she has won three awards. She is the cofounder of the Vertebra theatrical company. Her plays "Ornithophobia" and "Angeleta and Etelvina" have been put on by theaters in London.

Her play "Dark Matter", co-written with Maira Stergiou, received a grant from the United Kingdom's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. She has won several awards in writing competitions. She currently lives and works in London.

Publications: (All books written in Greek - "The shoes on the dusty shelf" has been also published in English) A banknote's journey, Saita Publications - collection of short stories by various authors, e-book (2013) The shoes on the dusty shelf, Saita Publications - co-written with Virginia Chrisoulaki, Greek e-book (2013), English e-book (2014) The Unknown: 1st Fantasy Short Stories Writing Competition, Anatypo Publications - collection of short stories by various authors (2016) Illustrations in The Seed of the Sun, e-book by Virginia Chrisoulaki, Saita Publications (2013) What I don't know yet, Anima Publications (2016)

Interview

Interview: Hara Delli

Let us introduce author Eirini Demirtzaki, someone who lives and breathes for the many different forms of art.

Studies on industrial design, theater studies and film studies, creative writing, radio, comic books, theatrical projects, short-film scripts, cofounding a theatrical company. Who can ever doubt that you were born for the arts, and that you fight for them on a daily basis?

Eir.D.: Only myself. I was my own worst enemy. Many times, we are setting obstacles to ourselves that only we can overcome. However, I would say that I was born to write. The other art forms through which I express myself are my personal way of getting to the one that really represents me: writing.

How did you decide to move from Crete to London? Isn't Greece a favorable environment for creativity and inspiration? Why did you choose the UK in particular?

Eir.D.: I moved from Crete to Kozani, then from Kozani to Athens, and from there to London. The UK wasn't a conscious choice. Back in 2009, I felt like I was suffocating in Greece, and the UK was simply the easiest solution since I already could speak the language at a basic level. At the time I believed that Greece wasn't a favorable environment for literature - nor for the rest of the arts, to be honest. It's too small a market for everyone to share. It took me eight years to reach the same conclusion but in a different country.

However talented you may be, however hard you may work, you may still not achieve anything. And how long can someone fight against such monsters? You are aware, of course, that there is a divide between the rich and the poor, and this chasm in society constantly widens. This truth is reflected on the arts as well.

Working class people have access to small theaters, they play music in small shops, they write short stories in

blogs. The elite has its books published by big publishing houses, has access to the media, performs in the big theaters, etc. I may not have used the best example, but unfortunately there is limited space to elaborate here. However, due to growing up perhaps, my views have changed, and I'm not bothered by the cliques and the status quo so much anymore.

The circumstances might never become favorable, but fighting is what's most important. That is the only way we can live our lives: fighting as hard as we can. I won't let anyone stand in the way of my dreams, even if that means moving forward at a terrifyingly slow pace because I'm not moving in the "proper circles".

What matters to me is that my stories are read and my readers are touched by them, even if I never manage to produce a best-seller...

Tell us a bit about Vertebra. What does a theatrical company do? If we assume that writing starts off as a lonely process, how is the experience of working with Maira Stergiou? Are you like allies?

Eir.D.: In London, apart from putting up plays, a theatrical company can also be involved in educative processes. It organizes festivals and seminars, cooperates with other companies, and of course tries to acquire funds, grants, etc. It takes hard work and constant effort for it to establish itself and become successful. Working with Maira has broadened my horizons, especially in the way I work with other people. In Greece, respect between co-workers is sometimes absent. I've happened to come across a director that threw his car keys at an actress because she made a joke during a rehearsal. When I arrived in the UK and started working with actors there, I realized I'd carried a lot of Greek bad habits with me. Maira introduced me to a different way of working: adapting to your partner's needs, not offending or dismissing them, making constructive criticism that aims to their improvement instead.

On my part, I tried to show her a few things about organizing and producing a play. Therefore we can't call it an alliance exactly - more of a partnership where one takes up the role of the student, the other takes up the role of the teacher, and those roles interchange all the time.

What is your opinion on creative writing? What are the different parts that constitute the whole of a writer, and in what percentage should those be?

Eir.D.: I feel that "creating writing" is a bit misunderstood. The way I was taught creative writing in the UK, the term refers to the encompassment of play writing, script writing, poetry, short stories and novels. Oftentimes, when they talk about creative writing seminars in Greece, I feel they confuse it with free writing or writing from experience, and that they mistake writing exercises for creative writing.

Of course those are parts of creative writing, but that's not all that it's about.

That said, I fully support creative writing seminars. I've participated in some and organized a few. Even with a bad teacher, anything we write makes us better.

I'd say it's fifty percent talent and fifty percent hard work. When I say talent, I mean the emotional intelligence to transform thoughts into words. Hard work means discipline, resilience, persistence, continuous education.

Similar to "an apple a day", I'd say "a page a day" is a necessary routine

for a writer. Otherwise you are a weak writer. Of course, we can't control external factors that might affect a writer, like circumstances, austerity, etc.

‌What do a dog, a homeless woman, a student during the exams, a woman that suffers from bulimia, a journalist, a boy with disheveled hair, and a girl that talks non-stop have in common? I... do not know that yet! "What I don't know yet", a collection of twenty short stories. Did you agree with the velvety cover? How can a hard subject like your book's be combined with softness?

Eir.D.: I found it very hard to agree with the cover. It was too... velvety, as you say. The publishing house had a different view. In the end, I decided to trust the direction of Anima's marketing department. In the book, violence and love for life

coexist, after all. Moreover, a cover with an innocent little girl in white is also symbolic to me. Symbolic of the purity of human existence before it becomes acquainted with violence. What the little girl on the cover "doesn't know yet".

What kind of messages is your book trying to convey? Did you find it easy to jump between narrative styles and change roles?

Eir.D.: I'm not sure I am trying to convey messages through my stories. It's more about sharing my personal views and worries, and pose questions. In this particular case, why violence and not love? What suppressed emotions of ours spew rage the way volcanoes

spew lava? I enjoy changing roles and narrative styles. Probably because I am a person that gets bored easily. This is reflected in my way of life, after all. I've been working since I was 19 years old, and in those 17 years since then I've tried thirty different jobs, not counting the art projects. I'm wading through life and work a bit like an actress: today I'll get dressed as a graphic designer and work in advertisement, yesterday I was dressed as a delivery girl, the day before as a camera operator. I will continue taking up roles until I am able to financially support myself and make a living solely by writing, and then I'll be free to discard the mask of the "actress" and

fully reveal the face of the author.

Is it easier to spark off thoughts and emotions through sarcasm and humor? How does such a blinding truth fit in such short stories? I believe it is a book that one comprehends after they finish reading it. How naturally did its writing come to you?

Eir.D.: I am a sarcastic person and that reflects in my writing. When something hurts me, I joke in order to avoid it. In recent years I've been trying to work this out, to allow myself to feel the tough parts of life, without using jokes to deflect.

I am honored by your words. If the book stayed in your mind after you finished it, that means that its goal has been achieved. Its writing came out naturally because that is the way I write. Usually a story is born in my head, I write it down, and afterwards I take my time to edit it.

Our truth may very well fit inside short stories. Like life. Each day is short. I avoid excessive wordiness in my writing, anyway. I don't like descriptions. I keep only the essential for the reader.

I will continue taking up roles until I am able to financially support myself and make a living solely by writing, and then I'll be free to discard the mask of the "actress" and fully reveal the face of the author.

What have you learned about the arts all these years? Or, better yet, what don't you know yet?

Which famous artist have you met? How shocking is realism?

Eir.D.: I am reluctant to meet other artists because I usually get disappointed: they prove far less interesting than their work. I would have liked to have met Lily Zografou before she passed, and Irvine Yalom. From the people I have met, I will always remember Marcello

Magni, co-founder of the Complicite Theater, for his brilliant way of teaching acting, and Gavin Glover who teaches microfilmmaking, because I could see simplicity in his eyes, and an infinite love for what he does. There are too many people out there that have followed the wrong profession for them, in the arts and every other field.

It is rare to find someone who truly loves what they're doing and honors it by working hard on it.

Realism, as well as imagination, are concealed within our reality. It's all about the way we face life. When I was writing "What I still don't know"

I approached life in a different way than I do now. I considered life hard, I considered people lost or cruel, and therefore realism wells up in my stories in a startling way. If the reader takes a closer look at my work though, they'll notice my endless love for life and my fears for the human existence.

My heroes go through hard times, but they survive, they struggle to liberate themselves from what restrains them and most times they succeed. Not all of them. But isn't that how life is?

Some people move forward, others backwards, some run ahead, others move in circles, and others fall apart.

How much does violence, in its broader sense, concern us? How easy is it to recognize it when it creeps up on us? What happens when exhaustion, crisis, age, insecurity for the future, lead us to cover up or forgive such violent behavior? How many reactions are concealed by tolerance or ignorance?

Eir.D.: Violence is every action that rejects us. From the smallest thing... A child clipping her doll's hair and telling her mom that she wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up, and the mom yelling at her that this is

stupid and that she has to become something "important", like a doctor or a lawyer... To raw violence, in any form this can take: sexual, emotional, etc. If we could X-ray our bodies and see how much violence we've consciously or unconsciously received over the years, we'd be terrified. You know, it's really hard to truly love ourselves. Most of the time we don't actually know ourselves, and when we lack this connection it is very difficult to put boundaries or express ourselves. All these suppressed emotions easily transform into violence.

Do you usually see the positive side of things? Or is evil lurking behind every moment of our lives?

Were you scared of cruelty? Did symbolism help you?

Eir.D.: I used to be a person that not only saw the glass half-empty, but couldn't see a glass at all! Why? Who knows? The way I grew up, my genes?

Through soul-searching I realized I am a deeply optimistic person after all! My natural curiosity, wanting to constantly discover and learn new things, keeps me mentally healthy.

Eirini Demirtzaki

After you tell us how one can contact you and what ideally are your plans for the imminent future, could you share a wish with us?

Eir.D: For the time being, I can be found in London, and also spending nights on my Facebook page and my web page. Ideally, I would like a small house by the sea, with a desk, a chair, and a laptop. I hope my new novel will be out in 2018. My wish is that all of us are free to do what we love.

We sincerely thank Miss Eirini Demirtzaki for her willingness to answer our questions, her natural kindness, her time, but also everything she offered us through her short stories. We, the Custodians of Arts, wish her a very successful and creative future, and to never lose the courage to speak about hard truths.

Book review: Hara Delli

What I don't know yet Twenty shouts against violence, twenty calls for love and tenderness.

Eirini Dermitzaki

He will not "change". HE WILL NOT CHANGE. However many flowers he brings. However many apologies he utters. And it won't be easy to simply "get up and leave". You won't have the strength for it. And those who mock you about what a "victim" you are, obviously have never walked in your shoes.

Clearly they don't know what it means to have every last trace of confidence and self-respect being chipped away from you bit by bit. “It is strange that we, who are capable of so much suffering, should inflict so much suffering...“ Virginia Woolf It isn't something that happens overnight. It takes years. And it happens very smoothly. All of a sudden you won't have your own opinion - even if you do it won't matter, because surely you'll just "say something dumb" again. You won't receive any support when times get rough because "all these other women manage just fine, it's just you that complains all the time and are prone to hysterical reactions". You won't be able to exert control over your life, nor will you have many choices. You will soon become one of those women that I call a "passenger": you'll be sitting next to him, he will be driving in an extremely dangerous manner, but you won't react. Ever. Even if your carefree children are in the backseat - you won't react. You will cover up behaviors that

you'll often justify as a result of tiredness, age, insecurity about the future, or some kind of crisis. And this is how everything begins. From the little things, the innocent things, that show the true face of the person you love. He may believe he adores you. But it is an adoration that only causes you harm. He may never go to extremes. He may never lift a finger on you, but you will feel the verbal abuse in all its forms. Every day you will be getting smaller and smaller, until one day you'll lose yourself completely.

Anna Maria Papadopoulou ÂŤdamaged people are dangerous because they know they can survive...Âť Who said that a collection of twenty short stories can't fill you with emotion?

While reading "What I still don't know" by Eirini Dermitzaki, I got mad - I felt tenderness but also rage, because in many of the stories' events I recognized common mistakes I've unwittingly made or others have done to me! Because everyday, all around us, we see violence and love for life coexisting. Because no matter if we've forgotten it, humans are born pure, and come across violence at a later time. Verbal, physical, psychological - any kind of violence.

The author unfolded her own worries through the way she perceives the world, posing the same question to the readers as to herself: why violence and not love? Why do we suppress our emotions, why do we fight them and benumb them, something that leads to their violent eventual breakout? Humorous and sarcastic, she manages to fit a hard truth inside a few pages.

The mosquitoes are gathering around the lamp, as if they're holding an annual malaria meeting on my balcony. They are drawn to the light, same way humans are. To shiny things, to bright faces... No one looks at a grump for long. They glance at them and say, "What a sour face! Did they bottle-feed him lemon juice as a child?". That's what they're probably thinking when they see my face. I'm growing a beard, in case it masks my resentment.

It is a book that you continue to think about after you finish it, as if you're only starting to comprehend it only after you've completed the first read. Filled with shocking realism, it provides a harsh depiction of life, with cruelty which we sometimes aren't even aware of. It doesn't stop there though...

It brims with love and concern about the human survival, revealing hidden hopes that lead to personal freedom away from any "death", away from anything that rejects us, however sweet a face it chooses to wear. Covering up and forgiveness aren't always appropriate... Habit, insecurities, and tiring routine, don't always have to win. All of us have been perpetrators or victims of violence, consciously or unconsciously, because we systematically experience evil lurking everywhere and it is far more recognizable than good, after it occurs of course...

Eirini Demirtzaki, through raw yet symbolic words, perhaps without setting it as her goal, urges us to experience every aspect of a ...wildly amazing life with optimism and love, and without fear. Our modern reality will always be the ideal inspiration since violence neither discriminates nor waits for you to invite it into your home, your neighborhood, your world... It seeps in, in a sweet and soundless way.

In a city that kills every desire. In a city that trains you not to dream, only to stink...

The author shares with us her fears about the alienation of people.

Soon you will be home. Your flatmates will be asleep. You'll do exactly as you did yesterday. A quick shower, brushing your teeth. You'll carefully climb the creaking stairs, you'll switch on the bedside lamp, you'll lie down on the cold duvet with your feet aching from all those hours standing up. You'll fall asleep.

You'll dream of something you won't understand. Next day you'll wake up.

You'll get dressed, you'll make coffee, smoke a cigarette. You'll put it out. It'll keep burning. You'll pick it up and squeeze it around the ashtray in a circle till it stops smoking. Then you'll go to work. Days will pass, the years will pass as well.

You'll always move inside a circle. A circle you failed to break. You were scared, or who knows? Maybe if you broke it, all that would be left for you would be a boring straight line...

Violence begets violence - alas, how much strength is required in order to escape and break its cycle! Isn't it time, however, for us to make some room for positive feelings to grow and flourish?

Summary: Violence comes and finds you when you least expect it. During vacation, or at school, or while you're walking down the street. It arrives uninvited while you're in your room, playing with your toys. It is waiting for you on your living room's couch when you come home from work.

You hide it under your clothes or inside your blurry eyes.

Sometimes it smiles at you, or flirts with you in a cafĂŠ. It shows you signs you studiously ignore. Violence has no age, no sex or nationality. It doesn't discriminate, it isn't discreet. Violence can be described while at the same time being indescribable.

Stories of people who live among us. Of the woman next door, the man who's waiting in the car next to you for the light to turn green. Of the child that's coming back from school with a bounce in its step. Sometimes moving, other times funny, stories straight out of the dull routine of everyday life or the most nightmarish fairy tale. Sweetness and bitterness mixed in a recipe that constitutes the heroes' entire life, or just one fleeting moment.

Twenty short stories about violence... or perhaps the desperate quest for tenderness?

It’s a heart reading story. A very intense, powerful and profound writing. The author reveals all the secrets of human nature in an exquisite way and also all the aspects of society. A brilliantly written novel that connects directly with the soul as well as the mind, it perfectly shows and pins down fundamental issues of life, which are equally important to fulfill judicial tasks. You read ti in a breath.

Edith Zeller, First Instance Administative Judge, President of the AEAJ

Carve the Mark is the new book by Veronica Roth, author of the successful Divergent trilogy. It is the first part of a duology that will be completed in April 2018 with the publication of The Fates Divide.

This time Roth doesn't take us to a dystopian future but to a different galaxy (or solar system, if we want to be scientifically accurate, which Roth probably didn't). This system, with its nine inhabited planets, is surrounded by the current, a type of energy that gifts each person with a magical power. Carve the Mark takes place on the planet Thuvhe, amidst the conflict between the peaceful Thuvhesits who live in the frozen North, and the barbaric nation of the Shotet who live in the warmer South.

Akos, one of the two main characters, whose gift is to cancel out other people's gifts, is a Thuvhesit.

His life is turned upside down the day that the leaders of the planets, for some unfathomable reason, expose the fates of certain people to the public. (Everyone has a 'currentgift', fewer have fates: a specific destiny usually connected to larger scale events).

Due to their fates, Akos and his brother are taken prisoner by the Shotet.

The second main character is Cyra, sister to the violent and sadistic Ryzek, leader of the Shotet. Cyra's currentgift is to inflict pain on others by touch. Its side effect is the unbearable pain with which she herself has to live with on a permanent basis, a physical and mental torment which becomes even worse by the fact that her brother is using her as torturer and executioner, and she allows it because she's terrified of him.

Akos and Cyra will meet when the first starts to serve the latter. Their coexistence, initially full of suspicion and hostility, is the axis around which the story revolves. The friendship and understanding that gradually develop between the two of them as they get over the prejudices of their respective people, is the catalyst of the events in Carve the Mark. Akos and Cyra will try to end the conflict between Thuvhesits and Shotet, and bring peace to their planet. To do that though, they have to defeat the powerful Ryzek first.

Carve the Mark is a story that relies heavily on its characters and their development. I liked both of the main ones: Akos, who is more sensitive

and kind-hearted, and Cyra, who is tougher and more cynical. They learn from each other, evolve and grow, one of them hardening, the other softening, and it was beautiful to watch this process blossom into something new: a bridge between two nations. The general plot with the fates was fairly predictable, and Ryzek as an antagonist was unstable and irritating rather than a master of machinations, however I didn't mind because I was compensated by Akos and Cyra, like a movie whose weaknesses you acknowledge but they don't bother you because of the main leads' flawless performances.

Oh, and how could I not love the fact that the Shotet are scavengers who travel in space chasing the current and visiting other planets? I love space traveling, and the scavenging tour of the Shotet was undoubtedly the most amazing part of the story for me. I definitely recommend this book.

P.S. In case you have read reviews that blame this book as being racist, don't let them deter you from reading it. Having read those first, I read the book vigilantly and personally found these accusations to be unfounded.

These reviewers take the fact that the

peaceful, 'good' Thuvhesits are white while the barbaric, 'bad' Shotet that want to conquer them are darker-skinned, and make connections either with the Islam, or with Africa, or Mexico. Keep in mind however that these reviewers are mostly US citizens, who view the world through the lens of their own culture and everyday life, as does any of us.

Roth was unlucky enough to have her book published during a politically tense time in the US. Personally, having grown up in a country that during its thousands years of history has suffered from conquerors of every skin color, I didn't mind the skin color of the people in this book, especially since Roth never attempted to draw parallels between her fiction and reality.

Anastasia Neraidoni Oh, but the road is closed darling and what are you gonna do?

There is no Hecate at the crossroads no wizard to help you through.

Oh but the door is closed darling and what are you gonna do?

Words have lost their magick in this world and no Dorothy is here to lend you her shoes.

Oh, but the world is full darling, with peasants and morons and no fairies to put whispers on you.

Oh, but the clouds are gathering darling and Asgard doesn't seem to break through.

Oh, but look around your loved ones honey!

Hug is the most powerful potion so don't keep them waiting.

Hug them and kiss them, that's what you're gonna do!

WHAT'S HIDDEN ON A GREEK HILLSIDE CAN CHANGE YOUR DESTINY...

Journalist Bronte McKnight is summoned to a hillside village in the wild and beau-tiful Mani region of Greece by her estran-ged expat father Angus to help him with a medical A heart-warmin g novel problem. But she soon disco-vers that by the author o f Angus, whom she has barely seen in Things Can Only 10 years, has lured her there with an Get even trickier challenge in mind ...

Feta. solving a mystery from the Second World War, when a family member disappeared in Greece during the disastrous Battle of Kalamata, known as ‘Greece’s Dunkirk’.

With the country gripped by economic crisis, and the clock ticking against them, their near-impossible quest takes them from Kalamata to a remote mountain village, where its few remaining inhabitants are bound by old traditions and secrecy. As the tensions of their own fractured relationship rise, the pair are helped in their search by a cast of intriguing Greek characters, especially charismatic doctor Leonidas Papachristou. He has a pivotal role, not least in challenging Bronte’s assumption that she hasn’t the time or the courage to fall in love in Greece.

The secrets unearthed by Angus and Bronte will be painful and astonishing. This is a compelling tale of heroism, faith and love ... with a heartwarming conclusion you'll never forget.

Georgia Fambris Georgia Fambris was born in 1973 in Genova, Italy. Since 1993 she lives and works in Athens, Greece. During the years 1993-1998 she studied painting and graduated from byzantine iconography academy. 1998-2013 she works as an iconographer in Greece, U.S.A and Cyprus. At the same time she paints and partecipates to different exhibition in Italy and Greece.

Solo exhibitions 2015- "Georgia Fambris- Analogon" Ena Art Gallery, Athens, Greece.

2013- "Georgia Fambris, Paintiing" Palazzo Ducale di Genova, spazio 36 Group exhibitions 2017- Finalist of the Eneganart prize 2017- Art Athina, Athens , Greece 2016- Art Thessaloniki 2016- SWAB art fair, Barcellona, Spain 2016- Art Athina, Athens, Greece 2016- Art Madrid , international art fair, Madrid, Spain 2015- 2016"Elles", Frissiras Museum, Athens, Greece 2014- exhibition of the finalists of the international painting award "Premio Janua" S.Agostine museum, Genova, Italy 2012- "Io donna" S.Agostine museum, Genova, Italy 2011- "Nel segno della donna" Museum of contemporary art Villa Croce and Museum of contemporary art of the Commenda di pre', Genova, Italy.

2010- "Pre-visioni" Museum of contemporary art of the Commenda di pre', Genova, Italy.

2010- "11 βλέμματα στην καθημερινότητα’’ cultural centre of Athens "Melina Mercuri, Athens, Greece.

2009- "the human figure in art" cultural centre of Athens "Technopolis" She has illustrated the books of the greek writer Dimitris Sotakis "The corn man” (2007), “The miracle of breathing” (2009) and "The Cannibal who ate a Romanian" (2017). Kedros Publications.

Some of her paintings are in the Frissiras museum collection and in private collections in Italy and Greece.

Book review: Zoey Tsoura I continue my journey in the fictional world of beloved author Terry Brooks, with the second part of the trilogy The Word and the Void, which is the chronological beginning of the Shannara saga.

A Knight of the Word takes place five years after the events of Running with the Demon, and this time we leave the little town of Hopewell, Illinois, behind and travel to the rainy city of Seattle, during the last days of October.

John Ross, broken by his spectacular defeats in his fight against the Void, has given up his mission, renounced his title, and is now trying to lead a normal life in Seattle, working at a homeless shelter and sharing an apartment with the woman he loves.

Nest Freemark is now nineteen years old. Without her grandparents and her friends, her childhood is over, and now she must decide what course she'll take in her life. Should she sell the house and leave without ever looking back, abandoning her role as the protector of Sinnissippi Park in order to dedicate herself to her college studies? Or should she accept her identity and her magic and keep helping Pick maintain the magic balance in the Park?

Both heroes are at a pivotal point in their lives. What John Ross doesn't know is that the Void intends to corrupt him and lure him to its side, sending one of its most devious demons to see this mission through.

On the other hand, the Word recruits Nest and sends her to Seattle to convince John Ross to return to its side before it's too late. This time, Nest is assisted by a tatterdemalion named Ariel: an ethereal, fairy-like little girl born from the memories of dead children.

This book gave me exactly what I asked for when I finished the previous one: John Ross's growth as a character. It delves deeper into his pain and

disappointment, into the internal battle against his guilt over his shortcomings, into the difficult time he's always had to accept his Knighthood. He appears so human now, so real, that it was impossible for me not to finally like him. I was anxiously following the Word and the Void's game of chess as they moved their pawns on the board in a race against time over which side John Ross would finally choose, like another Anakin Skywalker. Once again, Nest finds herself in the middle of this conflict, while at the same time growing up herself and making her own choices about her life.

The book maintains the same pace as Running with the Demon: slowly at first, letting us become familiar with the place and characters, and then the action begins and everything comes together per-fectly. This time the demon is even more cunning and more powerful than the last one. In this book, I also en-joyed having homelessness as a main theme, a problem whose many facets are explored through the characters, as well as the parallel between those who have lost their shelter in the phy-sical sense, and those who have lost their shelter in their heart, like John Ross has.

Book review: Zoey Tsoura

Angel Fire East is the book that concludes the trilogy of The Word and the Void by author Terry Brooks. Being the last book, it leaves us with a bittersweet taste.

Here, we return to the small town of Hopewell which we became familiar with in the first book. It's impossible not to feel nostalgic, as if the reader also returns to a beloved place of their childhood.

Nest Freemark, the indisputable protagonist of this last book, is now twenty-nine years old. Having had a failed marriage and a now-over successful career as a professional runner, she feels a void inside her, a lack of purpose and a melancholy that intensifies the closer it gets to Christmas. She leads a very peaceful and very lonely life, assisting in the magical protection of Sinnissippi Park... until the demons and John Ross once again barge into her life to turn it upside down.

John Ross has been tasked with a very special mission: finding and capturing a gypsy morph, an extremely rare and short-lived creature born of wild magic. If he manages to unlock its magic, it will be a definitive blow to the Void's evil plans. If he successfully completes his mission, the ethereal Lady has promised him she will release him from his oath of service to the Word... something that John has fervently desired for the past twenty-five years. A last mission in exchange for his freedom, for a normal life. But a last mission harder than any other.

The first book of the trilogy was about the meaning and power of family, and the shadows cast upon it by the secrets of the past. The second book, about the desire and importance of belonging. The third strikes an even more sensitive chord: its theme is children, and the future. Motherhood, fatherhood, responsibility, love, sacrifice. The gypsy morph, this wild magic that constantly changes forms, finally settles into that of a little boy.

Bennett Scott, the little girl that Nest saved in the first pages of Running with the Demon, returns to Hopewell

with her own little girl now, carryingher hard, tragic battle against her drug addiction with her. Their presence has a deep impact in Nest's life. This book is about what it means to be a parent, whether you've given birth to a child or not. I confess I couldn't avoid shedding a few tears, especially towards the end.

In my opinion, Angel Fire East is the trilogy's best: more intense emotionally, more firmly grasping the reader's interest till the very end. The tone of this trilogy was one of the most downto-earth and serious tones in what I've read of the fantasy genre so far. These books are definitely suitable for readers who prefer stories in which the fantasy elements are subtle rather than dominant. However, they might be a bit boring for readers who like more action and less reflection. Without a question, the deeply human and wonderfully written characters are the trilogy's strong point.

Personally, despite the fact that Terry Brooks's writing style seems to me a bit subdued when it comes to evoking fear and thrill, I will proceed to read the next books in the Shannara saga.

Book review: Maria Makrovasili It was dawn when I arrived at page 236 that marked the end of the book and the end of my anxiety. Within the next minutes of half an hour it was impossible to move my eyes. I sat on my bed and looked at the empty wall beside me. The only question daggling dangerously in my head was "What the hell did I just read now?"

illuminated thoughts and intentions of the characters through a keyhole.

Α title unsupported by its content, Latte Decaffeinate, and a blurb that refers to a romantic novel are the perfect trap to lure the reader and I feel extremely content about it, since I expected to read a story on its pages, but another one emerged.

I started the book as an antidote to the Loving surprises, I also loved this anxiety and the workload of the exam book. Feeling the thoughts of period. I was carrying it with me in the Orpheas and Ismini as a reader I library, I was reading it between my found myself part of the game classes, in bed before I fall asleep. played on its pages ̇ I felt like a Latte Decaffeinate was the companion puppet that the writer with mastery to my morning espresso with lots of manipulates to achieve the desired caffeine before I start my day. Despite result raising a rigorous anguish the appealing story that catches your until the last page. attention in all respects, the language Orpheas, an upset mind in his atand the style of the author, withdrew tempt to find his own self-salvation any vulgarity even from the violent in psychotherapy, becomes a victim erotic scenes that now seemed to be of love with his therapist, when the praised, sometimes reminding me of equilibrium is forever lost... And the American Psycho. Character then the absurdity of human nature mapping turns the reader into that tiny unfolds by posing the reasonable fly that we often wish to become, so question "Until what level can we go that we can see with our own eyes the for love?" And, finally, is love the facts without anyone realizing it. In driving force for human actions or this case, we take a taste of the most human nature itself?

Book review:Panagiota Goutzourela

Andreas's story. Made of sugar and salt.

A review of his life, a chest full of memories. As Grandma Veni used to say, in all her wisdom: ÂŤSugar and salt, my child, each person's life.

Whose has more, whose has less, what does it matter? Life is sugar and salt!Âť.

Andreas is telling his story and conveys his memories to us. In a simple way, devoid of accusations, without trying to put the blame on anyone. A confession of the soul.

Andreas, an old man now, delivers a confession straight from the heart...

Andreas is a child growing up in a village in the province of Ipeiros, Greece. He lives with his parents in a house isolated from the rest of the village, a house his father built.

He fiercely loves Helen, his mother.

He is scared of Nicholas, his father.

Moreover, he sees him as a competitor for Helen's attention and affection.

The story slowly unfolds. Against the backdrop of the 1940s, Andreas speaks to us about his life.

The Greco-Italian War (1940-1941) leads his father to the front line and leaves Andreas and his mother staying at his grandmother's manor house in the village. The little boy's life improves. Another family is also staying at the manor house. Andreas experiences the first feelings of love: little Argiro claims a part of his heart, a part equally large as the one his mother occupies. And when the Italian capitano moves in at the manor house as well, the life of its residents further changes for the better.

However fearful they are, their bellies are full. Life finds a new course and, to little Andreas, the occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers doesn't seem so ominous anymore.

When the Italians withdraw and the Nazi Germans arrive at the village, life in the manor house changes yet again. The residents are chased away - the manor house now becomes the Nazi headquarters. With the father a Resistance member, fear and hunger prevail in Koula's house, the neighbor that has opened her home

and offered hospitality to so many people.

Finally, the Germans depart from the village. Once again, life changes for Andreas. His father returns, and the family moves back to their isolated house outside the village, but for Andreas, this is only temporary. Relatives take him to Athens in order for him to go to school.

Andreas is heartbroken over his separation from Helen, his mother. His love for her is endless.

In Athens, the thirteen-year-old boy finishes school and becomes a man.

He becomes familiar with paying for sexual intercourse. He dreams about college and his future. And he writes letters to Helen, which he never mails.

One day, coming home, he is notified that Helen has passed away. He returns to Ipeiros for her funeral, his pain unbearable. Father and son are both crushed...

Andreas decides to pursue a college education in Italy. Greece feels suffocatingly small; without Helen, he sees no reason to remain in the

country. His path ultimately leads him to Germany, and he lives and works there for a long time.

Years fly by and he returns to Athens a renowned scientist. When he receives word that his father doesn't have much time left, he travels to the village to see him. The memories overwhelm him; so does compassion.

Until his elderly father confesses his deepest secret...

Life is made of sugar and salt. Sometimes it leaves you with a sweet taste, and other times it scalds, burns, and hurts you.

Andreas's life was so.

This novel is not historically accurate.

The Nazi occupation of Greece, as well as the conquerors themselves, are presented in a smoother, less frightening way than what we've been taught through school books or what we've read in historical studies. The horror of those years is reflected solely in the mention of a few events.

However, we should keep in mind that this is a story experienced and delivered through the eyes of a little boy.

What wins you over in this book are the graphic images not only of events, but feelings as well. The story is filled with emotion, given in a marvelous way. Vanessa Adamopoulou paints on the canvas of a child's soul, sometimes with vivid colors, other times with dark ones.

The rich and meaningful descriptions of Andreas's feelings leave no one unmoved.

The first-person narrative places the reader in the center of the story and inside Andreas's heart.

Upon closing the book, you are left with the sensation of having tasted sugar and salt. You wipe the slow tears and, clutching the book in your arms, you wish Andreas stays there with you, along with his memories.

They are what Andreas will carry with him when he leaves this life, they are what he offers us.

I leave you with his grandma's words as a farewell: ÂŤSugar and salt. Both belong to people. The good and the bad.Âť