Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

  (Brentwood, TN: CamCat Publishing, camcatpublishing.com, 2022). ISBN: 9780744304510 Along with abandoned castles, caves, and ancient forests, cornfields are immediately evocative of horror. Images of a pair of gloved hands pulling someone unexpectedly into high corn (something I filmed last autumn for one of my projects), the rats in the corn in Stephen King’s The Stand , scarecrows, and of course King’s Children of the Corn all bring a chill to the spine.   Then there are the entities known as faeries, which are not the cute little sprites that fill the pages of children’s books. Even Tinkerbell, before she was Disney-fied, kills Wendy in JM Barrie’s Peter Pan because she is jealous of her affection for Peter. Faery and UFO lore have significant overlaps (a fact touched on in this story) and the idea of parallel dimensions and the elements that make up a good faerie story—don’t eat the food, don’t invade their space, the exchanging of a human baby with a Changeling, b...

 (Garden City Park, NY: Square One Publishers, 2021). ISBN: 978 0 757055065. What If is one of the most powerful tools in the storyteller’s toolbox. From the earliest days of humankind, What If was a practical, educational, and at times life-saving tool before it later became an essential starting point for professional storytelling and entertainment. I used this technique for two and a half decades as a theatre-based social justice advocate, workshop presenter, and playwright working with middle and high school students. What If allows us to construct stories with enough resonance to evoke intellectual, physiological, philosophical, ideological, and practical responses in a safe, non-confrontational space. Because there is no immediate danger or serious consequences, participants in a What If exercise are free to take chances and explore options. What If encourages out of the box thinking and rewards participants with new, actionable insights. Terry Jastrow’s novel, The Trial of G...

 (Toronto: Synapz Productions, 2021). ISBN: 979-8-776-93093-5. Based on the Quebec Bridge Disaster of 1907, The Bridge began as a screenplay. From its dedication—“Big Tech: Actions have consequences”—and opening quote from Margaret Meade—“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world”—the author emphasizes the seriousness of the subject matter. In the present, the protagonists are Ben and Esther, senior-year engineering students at a Canadian university. Ben is a short-cut taking, system-gaming partier; Esther is serious and astute. When their professor pairs them for an Ethics project, sparks fly as they unpack the events of the Disaster. Using their project as a literary device, Palmer goes back in time to the precipitating events and tragic culmination, out of which, with the support of Kipling, came the advent of the Iron Ring ceremony (which the author knows firsthand). In a private ritual, graduating engineers are given a ring of ...