This is my stop during the blog tour for The Fairytale Chicago of Francesca Finnegan by Steve Wiley. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 13 till 26 March. You can see the tour schedule here.
The Fairytale Chicago of Francesca FinneganWritten by Steve Wiley
Narrated by Sean Lenhart
Length: 6 hours and 12 minutes
Genre: Fantasy/ Fairytale
Age category: Adult
Release Date Audiobook: March 1, 2017
Blurb:
In Chicago, a secret L train runs through the mythical East Side of the city. On that train, you’ll find a house-cat conductor, an alcoholic elf, a queen of the last city farm, the most curious wind, and an exceptional girl by the name of Francesca Finnegan.
When we first encounter Richard K. Lyons, he is a man who has long forgotten the one night, when he was still a boy called Rich, when Francesca invited him aboard the secret L for an adventure through the East Side. The night was a mad epic, complete with gravity-defying first kisses, mermaid overdoses, and princess rescues. Unfortunately for Rich, the night ended like one of those elusive dreams forgotten the moment you wake. Now, Rich is all grown up and out of childish adventures, an adult whose life is on the verge of ruin. It will take the rediscovery of his exploits with Francesca, and a reacquaintance with the boy he once was, to save him.
Excerpt:
Fairyism
There is magic in the city.
When Rich Lyons was a little boy, he learned of the magic from an old, cockeyed, Captain Hook–looking magician. The old man sat alone at a table for two outside a neighborhood bar every summer day, all day, always with a glass of twinkling whiskey. He said the twinkle had once been in his eye, but had blown out one windy day and splashed right into the whiskey. Rich liked how the twinkle twinkled in the whiskey. He liked it so much, he asked the old man if he could have it. The man told Rich he didn’t need it, because he already had a twinkle of his own, and besides, that particular twinkling whiskey tasted like shit, worse than Malört, if that’s possible.
“You be careful,” the old man warned, “because in the city of wind, a twinkle may blow out. The wind here, it twirls and sings like a music-box ballerina. It plays tricks and tells stories like an old-man magician. Like me, like this …”
And so, the old man performed tricks for Rich and regaled him with city folklore and fantasy. He said the Great Chicago Fire was arson, started by a fire-breathing dragon from the Fulton River District who was fed up with the cold winters. He said the Chicago River started flowing backward when a giant sea serpent sneezed so powerfully, it changed the direction of the current. He said the sky was purple (not black) above the city because a wicked witch had stolen all the black for her cats and bats and witch hats.
Rich’s favorite story was one about the L trains, and how each had come to be named for a color. The old man said the colors arrived when the first skyscrapers did. Before then, all the trains were the same dull brown. On the day the first skyscraper went up, a rainbow, unused to encountering buildings so high in the sky, accidentally crashed into it. When the rainbow crashed, each of its individual colors went splattering in all directions. Some landed on the L trains and stained them. The only train to miss a color was the Brown Line, because, the old man said, it was offline for repairs.
The old man also said there was one line, a secret line, that got a splash of lavender.
One day, Rich asked the old man if he could use his magic to tell fortunes. The old man said, well, hell, of course he could, it was a matter of simple city magic. Rich asked if he might hear his own fortune. He wanted to know what he would be when he grew up.
The old man told Rich there wasn’t much he wouldn’t be when he grew up. He would be a father, a husband, an uncle, a brother, a friend. He would be a ghost in the graveyard. He would be a vice president of something. He would be a pisser in the pancake batter. He would be a reveler-adventurer. He would be a hider and seeker. He would be a rocket man. A businessman.
And, he would be a rich man.
You can find The Fairytale Chicago of Francesca Finnegan on Goodreads
You can buy The Fairytale Chicago of Francesca Finnegan here:
- Amazon
- Audible
My Review:
This book to me was almost like an adult version of Alice in Wonderland. Instead of a White Rabbit there was Francesca Finnegan. One night when Rich was young he ran into Francesca and she take him on a ride on the Secret L Train. Now Rich is an adult, to me a pretty messed up adult. He has to remember the night with Francesca to save himself.
The book bounces a bit. There are some silly to crazy stories mixed in with Rich's life story. At first I thought I was not going to get into the book but I pressed on and am now glad I did. This is a book unlike any I have ever read other then Alice in Wonderland. But unlike it, this is not for kids. The writing was well done and very imaginative. There is quite a bit of language in the book. I do think it was a fun book though.
Listen to a sample of the audiobook here on Soundcloud or below:
About the Author:Steve is a father, husband, uncle, brother, friend, and purveyor of fairy stories. He grew up in and around Chicagoland, where he still lives with his wife and two kids. He has been published in an array of strange and serious places, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., to Crannóg magazine in Galway, Ireland. This is his first book. He has an undergraduate degree in something he has forgotten from Illinois State University and a graduate degree in something equally forgotten from DePaul University. Steve once passionately kissed a bronze seahorse in the middle of Buckingham Fountain. You can email Steve at Lavenderlinepress @ gmail . com, or visit thewileymancan on Instagram.
You can find and contact Steve here:
- Website
- Goodreads
- Amazon
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