Showing posts with label james lloyd dulin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label james lloyd dulin. Show all posts
(Skull with Cigarette by Vincent Van Gough)
Let's start with the understanding that even the framing of this title is disingenuous and lacks nuance. What is good art? Or, for that matter, a bad person? Are we defined by our worst actions? Can people change?
It all has to do with the way we relate to the person being defined. From the vantage point of someone who has been harmed by another's “bad behavior,” it's easy to see how one might label their perpetrator and similar people as bad. Juxtapose that to a loved one who knows the “bad person” outside of the context of their actions. I assume their view of the bad actor will be more nuanced and leave room for that person to be more than their actions.
What happens when we consume someone's bad actions from the sidelines? Do we empathize with the victim and label their victimizer a bad person? Do we identify as a person who loves or likes the victimizer and leave room for them to be more?
I think this choice is an individual one. However, just because a choice belongs to an individual doesn't mean it won't come with social consequences. There are many factors at play when deciding how to relate to an artist who has acted badly in a public way:
- personal trauma,
- political stances,
- parasocial relationships.
If you decide to publicly consume and support art produced by a “bad person,” many of the same factors that came into play when people defined their view of the artist will also factor into how they view you. This is not a value statement of whether or not that should be the case. It is instead an observational statement.
Everyone has trauma, and we use our experiences to evaluate whether the people in our lives are safe. Those who have experienced trauma related to the harm an artist inflicted on their victim(s) often feel obligated to use people's public opinions of bad actors as a factor in judging whether someone is a safe person in their lives.
For example, if you post your Hogwarts house in your social media bio, a trans person or trans ally may take that public support of Harry Potter and by extension, JK Rowling, as a statement of support for her transphobic views and behaviors. Do they know you, your views, and your personhood based on a silly comment about something you related to as a child? No, they don't have a full picture of you as a person. However, they might not have the luxury to give you the benefit of the doubt when there is rampant violence and hostility aimed at trans people. They may feel they have to read the signs of how you present publicly to determine whether you would be a safe person.
Likewise, if you continue to review Neil Giaman’s works in light of the many accusations of sexual assault, survivors of sexual assault might reconsider their relationships with you.
Just because you can compartmentalize a person’s art from their actions doesn’t mean everyone can. Or wants to.
As our online presence grows, the rate at which we form parasocial relationships with public figures has deepened. Celebrities share their diets, their romantic lives, and embarrassing stories of who they were as a child, and we believe we know them. We grow attached because their art has meant so much to us, and we feel an emotional resonance with them as an artist.
Due to our increasingly parasocial relationships with public figures, many of us struggle when we learn about their bad behavior. Their actions don't comport with the people we built up in our heads. So when someone speaks negatively about them, we respond as if someone is attacking a friend or family member rather than criticizing a stranger. This may lead to us giving an abuser more credit while we discredit their victims.
(Image credit Joss Whedon Twitter)
So what does this all mean? Does this mean I am telling everyone to stop reading Neil Gaiman, listening to Michael Jackson, and watching Joss Whedon movies?
Not necessarily. I believe that the consumption of art is a nuanced decision. We should consume art created by people we disagree with. I also think we should take into account whether the bad actor is financially benefiting from our consumption and if supporting them might help them continue their bad behavior.
In the case of J.K. Rowling, she benefits financially with every new Harry Potter project, and uses her money to support anti-trans groups and legislation. In fact, she has publicly announced her intensions to use her profits from the new HBO series to create an anti-trans advocacy organization. As opposed to Michael Jackson, who is no longer alive and can no longer financially benefit or cause harm.
Additionally, we have to consider private vs. public consumption. In what venue are we consuming art, and will there be people that can be negatively affected by our consumption in those spaces? In general, we need to think about our public consumption as an action and consider the consequences of it.
There is a difference between rewatching Annie Hall in the privacy of your home and doing a deep-dive YouTube review on the “brilliance” of Woody Allen’s script. We throw up signs every day of who we are, whether it is the cover of the book we have on the train or the post we make about how much we enjoyed a controversial video game. Just as we are free to choose the art we consume, others are able to make judgments about what that might mean about who we are.
Fair or not, it's true.
It can hurt when someone we felt a kinship with is accused of doing something terrible and the art we loved is subjected to mass critique. However, in most cases, we do not know the accused. So I personally try to think about the choices I make in relation to their art, how I display my choices to the world, the messages I am sending, and negotiate if I am comfortable with the consequences of my choices.
Some like to reframe all of these discussions as cancel culture. However, I would argue people have been making decisions about what art to consume and how to consume it since the beginning of art. The factors at play are different. The public nature of our consumption is different. But there have always been reasons why people make choices about art and peer pressure surrounding those choices.
I would argue the framing of things as cancel culture has more to do with who is being critiqued rather than the act of critiquing. Oscar Wilde was jailed for his sexuality, and I have no doubt that became a factor in how or if people read his works. Neil Gaiman has been accused of horrific sexual abuse and violence. However, he is a rich, straight, white man, and we have only recently begun to hold those with the most power accountable in public ways. The act of turning public critique on artists with more power in society is newer.
At the end of the day, I don't think anyone should dictate how others consume art. However, I do think that our choices, especially those we make in public, have consequences.
I read a quote, and I wish I could credit it but have been unable to find it again, that helped me think about my personal approach to art I have loved created by artists who have done great harm. "Don’t put your nostalgia for a piece of art over the reality of other people’s futures."
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: James is a nerd with a head full of stories and limited time to put them on the page. He grew up in Grand Rapids, MI, spending an excessive amount of time at a local community theater where he developed his affinity for storytelling. This affinity grew into a deep admiration for language and spoken word poetry while studying mathematics and education at the University of Michigan. He firmly believes that art—even silly books about magic, or maybe especially silly books about magic—has the ability to tell stories that sink beneath the surface.
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Pre-order Only A Grave Will Do over HERE
Today we have super thrilled to be part of the cover reveal for the last book of the Malitu trilogy by James Lloyd Dulin,
Feast your eyes on the gorgeous cover for ONLY A GRAVE WILL DO by artist Martin Mottet, the book released on June 24th 2025 and you can checkout the blurb below:
OFFICIAL BLURB: On the march towards war, blood is both a promise and a gamble.
Newly dubbed the Hero of Anilace, Kaylo is thrust into leading a rebellion against insurmountable odds. His people are dying, if not in labor camps, in occupied cities as everything that makes them Ennean is stripped away. In two generations, the Great Spirits will be legends and Ennea will be yet another conquered territory. People look to Kaylo and the myth growing around him to stem the rising tide.
Sixteen years later, a trivial rebellion, a reclusive nation, and a vast empire march towards a battle to decide the fate of Ennea and her people. The actions of the small folk go unseen. Those who want to serve; those who have given up; those imprisoned; those who will fight at any cost; and those who will protect the people they love with every breath will tip the scales. Ennea is not done fighting.
Isn't it gorgeous?
There will also be a blog tour for the book release and you can check out all the details in the graphic below
Buy No Heart for a Thief here
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: James is a nerd with a head full of stories and limited time to put them on the page.
He grew up in Grand Rapids, MI, spending an excessive amount of time at a local community theater where he developed his affinity for storytelling. This affinity grew into a deep admiration for language and spoken word poetry while studying mathematics and education at the University of Michigan. A few hundred mediocre poems and lackluster performances later, he decided his dream of writing a novel might not be as ridiculous as he once thought. He firmly believes that art—even silly books about magic, or maybe especially silly books about magic—has the ability to tell stories that sink beneath the surface.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: We are the stories we tell ourselves...even the lies.
The Thief, a great spirit, and her descendants have abused their ability to steal magic for centuries. When Kaylo starts to hear the song of other people’s magic, he must learn to hide from his people as well as the invaders. A gift or a curse, Kaylo may be able to save his people from the Gousht Empire that claimed their land with this stolen magic.
Eighteen years later, Kaylo still prays to the spirits, but not out of loyalty or love. He knows better than to rely on those selfish bastards for anything. While hiding in the forest from his foolish acts of rebellion, he encounters a girl, Tayen, being pursued by two soldiers of the empire. Against his better judgment, he risks facing the consequences of his past to intervene.
When Tayen attempts to run off seeking vengeance for her family, he offers to train her to wield her magic and a blade. If he can’t convince her to relinquish her need for vengeance and stave off the demons of his past, he’s going to get them both killed.
FORMAT/INFO: No Heart For a Thief was published on January 24th, 2023 by G&D Publishing and has a print length of 460 pages. It is the author's debut epic dark fantasy and the first book in the Malitu trilogy.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: At the beginning of the story we find Kaylo, a hermit living in the forest, saving Tayen's life from a horrible fate. She's been running for her life since finding her family murdered at their home. After Kaylo saves her, he offers her a place to stay. She's reluctant but she's lost her entire family and soldiers are after her (and her magic).
In this world there are people who can listen to something called The Song, and through its rhythm they can do many things according to who of the Seven Spirits, they have a connection with. These people are called Dancers. Not all people have a connection, those who do not are called Spirit Bound.
Kaylo can connect with two spirits, not one, like most dancers. One of the spirits is the Seed, which gives him the ability to manipulate everything that grows in the earth. The other spirit is the Thief, which is the one that made him pretty famous as Ennea's Thief, The Hero of Anilace. His belief in the spirits has become very bitter and grudging due to the many tragedies the spirits did nothing to prevent.
"'Listen, little shade, at the end of the day, the spirits will do what they're going to do. No prayer is going to change that. And right now, they seem content with letting us all kill each other over land and their so-called gifts.'"
Tayen can manipulate the shadows due to her connection with the spirit called Shadow. She's not very good at it but she's still a child, still learning. The people who Kaylo saves her from are soldiers of the Empire that were going to stripped her of her connection with the Shadow using a very special crystal. They believe their God showed them where to find the crystals to subdued the dancers (those who can listen to the Song), after they landed on the shores. Now the soldiers just steal the dancer's connection with the spirits using the crystals and the person striped of the connection, they send to the mines, to extract the same crystals used on them.
There are so many themes interwoven in the story, which in my humble opinion, I think are really well done. Discrimination, occupation, war, trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and survivor's guilt are a few of these.
Even though I was having a really hard time stopping myself from screaming at what the children did, Tayen in the present timeline and Kaylo in the past, I thoroughly enjoyed both of their characters. Tayen is so focused on revenge that I had problems connecting with her at times, no matter how justified her bloodthirstiness may be. She was almost blinded by it. Kaylo, in the present is very hard to reach but not hard to understand. I found him fascinating. He has spent so much time isolated from the world, and having to face it in the form of this child, who in so many ways is kin, one that shakes his world completely. He just wants to live in peace but the war isn't done with him quite yet. Both of them and the secondary characters are very realistic and sometimes I had a hard time not to empathize with everyone, even with the antagonists. You can see all sides of the conflict and at least in my case, can't help but grieve for it.
The relationship between Kaylo and Tayen starts to evolve towards a found family. Kaylo feels like a father to her, even if she doesn't want to admit it, and his hideout from the world, like a home. But as she's set on revenge and wants to leave, he offers to train her and while doing that, he shares part of his life story. He, in sharing his story is trying to convey and teach her so many things but the one that matters most is "Tayen don't leave. We can live in this quiet place. There's no need for revenge. The only thing revenge can bring is more pain and death".
Their master- disciple relationship is wonderful. How he trains her, and cares for her is so heartwarming. He really cares for her, and because of that he's forced to decisions that cost them both.
The writing was fantastic. Fast paced with pauses of relative calm in between action. Those pauses served to connect, understand, learn more about the characters, the magic system, the lore/religion/culture side of things, etc. all of which is so interesting and compelling that you just want to know more and more. I loved how action packed it was but especially the pace. I think the pace was just perfect for this type of story.
The descriptions of the land, the dialogue, the interactions between characters. The atmosphere was amazing. I loved when a particular scene, you don't need much to feel you're there. You dread during so many apparently inconsequential scenes.
The magic system and lore were awesome. Tayen's ability to manipulate shadows is very interesting but not as much as Kaylo's ability to use the Shadow himself, as he's more experienced. I found fascinating how Kaylo described the Song, and how he felt the plants and seeds in the soil and the life in them. I loved how the Seven Spirits were described, with their own peculiarities and providing abilities and at times, they seemed very human-like.
The different cultures were really interesting and very rich and especially well developed during the whole story.
I really liked how the Empire, even though I thought of it many times as bunch of religious fanatics, truly believed they were doing the right thing through horrible actions. It's always a great to feel that the antagonist is not evil just because.
The characters beliefs were put to the test more than once because morality, religion and necessity didn't always coincide.
After they're found out, they find no save heaven. The Empire has destroyed their way of living, their families, their friends, their homes until there's no other option but running.
"No heart for a thief, no save heaven, only a grave will do."
I absolutely loved this book. And I really wish it was longer because I really wanted to continue this amazing story. I really appreciated the author taking the time to write a very thoughtful and detailed Author's Note.
CONCLUSION: No Heart for a Thief is a very strong debut from the author, an absolutely amazing action packed story with fascinating and very complex characters. This wonderful dual timeline story, is one of loss, sacrifice, survival and magic that just makes you question these Spirits and Gods, more with each passing chapter. The pace is absolutely terrific and it will just leave you wanting for more until and beyond the very end. Cannot wait for the next book in the trilogy.
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