The Fablecastle Chronicles
About
Maggie McCullough is a star reporter for the Daily Mirror. In her monthly column, Setting the Record Straight, she revealed the truth behind the fables you may remember from your childhood. Those interviews brought her to the attention of someone in another dimension—someone claiming to be Lucifer. Join Maggie and Andrew Wolfgang, her boyfriend and quasi bodyguard, as they travel to Earth and hopscotch across this strange dimension, in pursuit of a story that explains the truth behind Lucifer’s origins, the mutation he unleashed on Earth’s inhabitants, what really happened to the ark following the great flood, and why pyramids dot the planet. Can Maggie write her earth-shattering article and escape Earth before all hell breaks loose?
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Praise for this book
Maggie McCullough has entered our world from the fairy world to interview Lucifer himself. But it's more than simply setting the record straight. Lucifer has a message that will change the world forever.
Maggie will have to learn the truth of angels, demons, and the long-lost Lemurians to write her most important story yet.
I was not expecting this series to go into ancient aliens, but that is where the story goes. It is a departure, certainly, from the more lighthearted and erotic short stories of her fairy tale retelling and delves into the intertwining back story of her world.
There is a lot more going on in this world than you might initially think.
Spillman's crisp prose is on display. There are some humorous moments, and Lucifer's characterization was both unexpected and a delight to read. This story was definitely not what I expected.
Following on three short novellas where Maggie McCullough revealed the truth behind The Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella, Snow White, Peter Pan, Hansel & Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Trina Spillman invites us into the magical world of her star reporter’s first novel-length adventure . . . which contains more than a few surprises.
The Fablecastle Chronicles takes Maggie and her boyfriend from the fairy tale realm to Earth, where she has been assigned to interview a very different sort of fictional/mythical character. Well-dressed, arrogant, and demanding, her assignment is none other than Lucifer himself – who claims to be an alien, with connections to the Lemurians of Atlantis, and possessed of all the secrets behind the snake, the ark, Jesus, the pyramids, and more. It is a crazy story, but a whole lot of fun, with an imaginative sci-fi take on mythology and history.
While there is some romance to the novel, the soft erotica of the shorter novellas is absent – which is fine, because there is more than enough mystery and drama to carry the novel. This was such a fun, fascinating read, with a whole host of characters surrounding Maggie to round out the story. Of course, there is an element of uncertainty to it all, what with Lucifer being the Prince of Lies, and with Maggie’s enchanted pen being able to detect such lies.
I love stories that subvert mythology and put a new spin on history, inserting some creativity (and even a little reason) into fables and myths that are so often taken (or dismissed) on faith. The Fablecastle Chronicles was not quite the book I expected after those first few short adventures, but it is a wonderful next evolution of the concept.