Here we are at the dismount, as it were, of the dissection of the various stories and bits and bobs contained in WHAT LIES BETWEEN: Odyssium Collection Volume 2. This time, we're going into the collection's odd little outro story which, just like its predecessor, IN DARKNESS AND LIGHT, had its own odd little outro. It's been a gamble each time, considering that's the last impression you're walking away with. Either you close the book thinking that was really cool and different, or you're thinking, "what the hell was that?" I try to be optimistic and think everybody's going to land on the "cool" side of the couch, but I'm also realistic (or as my wife would say, pessimistic), and know there'll be one or two who fall on the "WTH" side.
The most obvious oddity when it comes to EVIDENCE OF MADNESS is its non-traditional format. No chapters, just a series of journal entries bookended by observations of an inquitor (or detective, of sorts) trying to piece together what went wrong in this rather wordy psycho's life. This is also called an "epistolary" format, so if nothing else, you learned a new word today!
EVIDENCE OF MADNESS is a carefully-chosen collection of journal entries that lend credence to this inquitor's theory that all was not as it seemed when it came to a famous author's decades-old descent into madness. The author in question is Stian Scurmaud, an aristocratic sort who has a joyless hole in his soul that he has always accepted. The only thing he's ever enjoyed is art, and decides to marry a woman so beautiful he believes her to be art personified. An awakening of foreign feelings comes shortly thereafter--and feelings are something to which he is not accustomed. This leads to an escalation of his drug abuse, a string of heinous murders, and a lost manuscrupt...one that not only can open the gateways into a forbidden realm of power, but details the means to take control of that power.
In essence, it's a very cool, very unconventional short story that might just pave the way toward the future of the Odyssium saga, as well as its potential annihilation. Stay tuned.
Get WHAT LIES BETWEEN, which includes EVIDENCE OF MADNESS at the link below:
Till next time, take care.
-C
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