Book-It '10! Book #75
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was a library request.
Title: Cat Magic by Howard Cruse
Details: Copyright 1986, Tor Books
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Some people in Maywell, New Jersey commute to New York. Some are working on a lab project that will change the world-- if it is allowed to succeed.
And some people are witches.
Amanda Walker is not a witch-- yet. She's an artist looking for work-- unaware that someone has a desperate need for her, a dark plan that may require Amanda to enter death itself.
If she is allowed to live long enough to make a choice.
Amanda's tale is far stronger than she knows. It is ancient beyond memory. In times of great change it must be relived, in all its fear and hope, its wisdom and its passion.
One of those times is now."
Why I Wanted to Read It: This book's arrival to me is curious. I didn't recognize the title nor the author when it showed up in my periodical "reserved" section in the library. I flipped through it and realized it must have been from awhile back when I was desperately researching any Pagan fiction I could find that was set fairly recently (at least in the past century).
I cringed reading the back cover, expecting another book of "witch horror", something Jack Chick lite. I got ready to return it without reading (which I hate doing) until I read the author's foreword. An excerpt:
“Catmagic concerns Witches and Witchcraft, also known as the religion of Wicca. It is about the spiritual path of real Witches. It has nothing to do with tomfoolery like alleged "black magic." The Witches I met in doing research for Catmagic were no more evil than Christians or Buddhists or Hindus, or the practitioners of any other perfectly legitimate religion, among with Wicca can certainly be numbered. They were good people, passionate in their concern for the welfare of the natural world and the growth of their own souls.
Certainly there are a few people who distort Witchcraft and mock its ancient rituals in ceremonies that glorify evil. I met two such people. They turned out to be secretly associated with another religion. They were calling themselves Witches and engaging in painfully silly black magic rituals involving dead goats in order to discredit Wicca. Others who do evil in the name of Witchcraft are mentally disordered or, simply, charlatans. Such people should no more be counted as Witches than practitioners of the black mass should be considered Catholics.
To learn more about the "old religion", the reader is invited to write to Circle Wicca, Box 219, Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, 53572.” (pg V)
Intrigued and impressed, I decided to give this book a chance.
How I Liked It: It's impossible to separate the book from the time in which it was written and published.
Despite the vast strides of the internet communities in the past decade alone ( The Witches' Voice being an invaluable resource to the Pagan community since 1996), the mass quantities of books available on the subject, and even a few prominent fictional characters here and there that claim Paganism, the public at large is still fairly ignorant when you mention the word "witch" (witness the jokes surrounding Christine O'Donnell).
For a Witch of my generation, who converted in the age of the internet, the underground closeness shared by the smallness of the Pagan world is fascinating and almost quaint (and one of the few redeeming factors of the Bell, Book, and Murder: The Bast Mysteries series).
Therefore, a book about real Witchcraft in the modern day, published in the 1980s, must have been a revelation.
But as literature itself, it's awful. Utterly awful. The research the author claims to have done and the egalitarian forward prove largely false. A jumble of our terms exist, sure, and even some of our concepts on Deity. But by and large, it feels like the author read Drawing Down the Moon (a pioneer at its debut in 1979!) and threw around and affixed terms to a slap-dash plot.
No, Witches (spelled with a lowercase "w" in the book) are not portrayed as devil-worshipers, Satanists, or other such popular falsehoods. We are also thankfully spared the almost equally-bad stereotype of the fruity fluffy-bunny ditz about as serious as his/her faith as a passing fad (in fairness, that stereotype had yet to fully evolve in 1986). So how exactly does the author portray Witches inaccurately? For one, the town has a sort of commune village where the Witches live, in a kind of creepy cult-like order, doing the biding of the matriarch who may (or may not!) be in league with a mad scientist character, who, by the way, is a lunatic who used to be a Witch (or not) who is currently involved in a frenzied plot to somehow cheat all death (the reasons for this and said matriarch Witch's possible sponsorship are never really given).
Perhaps the most common mistake that the author makes is the fact that Witches tend to eschew such hierarchy (even among the more formal traditions) and it appears that the author created a hippie cult/commune with mostly benevolent tendencies (and a touch of the supernatural-- and I mean supernatural, not the genuine magic of Witchcraft, nor even it enhanced for poetic purpose as in Heart of a Witch) and slapped the label of "Witch" on it. Even the after-death scenarios we are privy to have more to do with Christianity (absolving of personal guilt, looking for redemption, cleansing of sin) than Paganism, despite the author deeming the ultimate "finish" as "The Summerlands" (also wrongly calling it "[the witch] version of heaven").
More than inaccuracy however is the fact that this is, as I said, a down and out, a horribly plotted book with interchangeable, barely drawn out stock characters to which we the reader are never properly endeared or in some cases introduced. Wading through the various plot lines (when you can find a consistent plot, that is) is a confusing jumble of childhood flashbacks that are never given proper context nor explanation, the sudden appearance of supernatural characters/elements (ditto), and an overall John Saul feel that leaves one in need of a long shower.
It may have been revolutionary at the time, but the doors it may have opened are great to use to escape from this book to far better.
Notable: Ah, implausible time-lines, one of my pet pet peeves! Even the brilliant Stargirl had my nerd heart shifting for more precise dates.
In this tale, we are granted with specific dates aplenty. The story takes place in October 1987 (so yes, the author was technically writing in the near future at the time). A sheriff recalls his years in the matriarch Witch's first coven, in 1931 when they were "just kids!". Simple math tells us that he is referring to a time fifty-six years into the past. Although he alludes to falling in love with her, let's say they were actually prepubescent, around seven or so. That would make the sheriff sixty-three. Why exactly hasn't he retired? No references are made to him being "wizened" or any of the other terms that would accompany someone of that age on the police force (particularly in the 1980s, pre-Boom-"60-is-the-new-30!" mentality).
Sadly, that is probably the smallest of the sloppy factual errors in this book.
Title: Cat Magic by Howard Cruse
Details: Copyright 1986, Tor Books
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Some people in Maywell, New Jersey commute to New York. Some are working on a lab project that will change the world-- if it is allowed to succeed.
And some people are witches.
Amanda Walker is not a witch-- yet. She's an artist looking for work-- unaware that someone has a desperate need for her, a dark plan that may require Amanda to enter death itself.
If she is allowed to live long enough to make a choice.
Amanda's tale is far stronger than she knows. It is ancient beyond memory. In times of great change it must be relived, in all its fear and hope, its wisdom and its passion.
One of those times is now."
Why I Wanted to Read It: This book's arrival to me is curious. I didn't recognize the title nor the author when it showed up in my periodical "reserved" section in the library. I flipped through it and realized it must have been from awhile back when I was desperately researching any Pagan fiction I could find that was set fairly recently (at least in the past century).
I cringed reading the back cover, expecting another book of "witch horror", something Jack Chick lite. I got ready to return it without reading (which I hate doing) until I read the author's foreword. An excerpt:
“Catmagic concerns Witches and Witchcraft, also known as the religion of Wicca. It is about the spiritual path of real Witches. It has nothing to do with tomfoolery like alleged "black magic." The Witches I met in doing research for Catmagic were no more evil than Christians or Buddhists or Hindus, or the practitioners of any other perfectly legitimate religion, among with Wicca can certainly be numbered. They were good people, passionate in their concern for the welfare of the natural world and the growth of their own souls.
Certainly there are a few people who distort Witchcraft and mock its ancient rituals in ceremonies that glorify evil. I met two such people. They turned out to be secretly associated with another religion. They were calling themselves Witches and engaging in painfully silly black magic rituals involving dead goats in order to discredit Wicca. Others who do evil in the name of Witchcraft are mentally disordered or, simply, charlatans. Such people should no more be counted as Witches than practitioners of the black mass should be considered Catholics.
To learn more about the "old religion", the reader is invited to write to Circle Wicca, Box 219, Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, 53572.” (pg V)
Intrigued and impressed, I decided to give this book a chance.
How I Liked It: It's impossible to separate the book from the time in which it was written and published.
Despite the vast strides of the internet communities in the past decade alone ( The Witches' Voice being an invaluable resource to the Pagan community since 1996), the mass quantities of books available on the subject, and even a few prominent fictional characters here and there that claim Paganism, the public at large is still fairly ignorant when you mention the word "witch" (witness the jokes surrounding Christine O'Donnell).
For a Witch of my generation, who converted in the age of the internet, the underground closeness shared by the smallness of the Pagan world is fascinating and almost quaint (and one of the few redeeming factors of the Bell, Book, and Murder: The Bast Mysteries series).
Therefore, a book about real Witchcraft in the modern day, published in the 1980s, must have been a revelation.
But as literature itself, it's awful. Utterly awful. The research the author claims to have done and the egalitarian forward prove largely false. A jumble of our terms exist, sure, and even some of our concepts on Deity. But by and large, it feels like the author read Drawing Down the Moon (a pioneer at its debut in 1979!) and threw around and affixed terms to a slap-dash plot.
No, Witches (spelled with a lowercase "w" in the book) are not portrayed as devil-worshipers, Satanists, or other such popular falsehoods. We are also thankfully spared the almost equally-bad stereotype of the fruity fluffy-bunny ditz about as serious as his/her faith as a passing fad (in fairness, that stereotype had yet to fully evolve in 1986). So how exactly does the author portray Witches inaccurately? For one, the town has a sort of commune village where the Witches live, in a kind of creepy cult-like order, doing the biding of the matriarch who may (or may not!) be in league with a mad scientist character, who, by the way, is a lunatic who used to be a Witch (or not) who is currently involved in a frenzied plot to somehow cheat all death (the reasons for this and said matriarch Witch's possible sponsorship are never really given).
Perhaps the most common mistake that the author makes is the fact that Witches tend to eschew such hierarchy (even among the more formal traditions) and it appears that the author created a hippie cult/commune with mostly benevolent tendencies (and a touch of the supernatural-- and I mean supernatural, not the genuine magic of Witchcraft, nor even it enhanced for poetic purpose as in Heart of a Witch) and slapped the label of "Witch" on it. Even the after-death scenarios we are privy to have more to do with Christianity (absolving of personal guilt, looking for redemption, cleansing of sin) than Paganism, despite the author deeming the ultimate "finish" as "The Summerlands" (also wrongly calling it "[the witch] version of heaven").
More than inaccuracy however is the fact that this is, as I said, a down and out, a horribly plotted book with interchangeable, barely drawn out stock characters to which we the reader are never properly endeared or in some cases introduced. Wading through the various plot lines (when you can find a consistent plot, that is) is a confusing jumble of childhood flashbacks that are never given proper context nor explanation, the sudden appearance of supernatural characters/elements (ditto), and an overall John Saul feel that leaves one in need of a long shower.
It may have been revolutionary at the time, but the doors it may have opened are great to use to escape from this book to far better.
Notable: Ah, implausible time-lines, one of my pet pet peeves! Even the brilliant Stargirl had my nerd heart shifting for more precise dates.
In this tale, we are granted with specific dates aplenty. The story takes place in October 1987 (so yes, the author was technically writing in the near future at the time). A sheriff recalls his years in the matriarch Witch's first coven, in 1931 when they were "just kids!". Simple math tells us that he is referring to a time fifty-six years into the past. Although he alludes to falling in love with her, let's say they were actually prepubescent, around seven or so. That would make the sheriff sixty-three. Why exactly hasn't he retired? No references are made to him being "wizened" or any of the other terms that would accompany someone of that age on the police force (particularly in the 1980s, pre-Boom-"60-is-the-new-30!" mentality).
Sadly, that is probably the smallest of the sloppy factual errors in this book.