Newest Review: Rarity from the Hollow

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robertt

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A Universe On the Edge

RARITY FROM THE HOLLOW.Robert Eggleton. Fatcat Press. eBook Published 2014.

C:\Users\Bob\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg

Image courtesy of the author.
Lacy Dawn is a little girl who lives in a magical forest where all the trees love her and she has a space alien friend who adores her and wants to make her queen of the universe. What’s more, all the boys admire her for her beauty and brains. Mommy is very beautiful and Daddy is very smart, and Daddy’s boss loves them all.
Except.
Lacy Dawn, the eleven year old protagonist, perches precariously between the psychosis of childhood and the multiple neuroses of adolescence, buffeted by powerful gusts of budding sexuality and infused with a yearning to escape the grim and brutal life of a rural Appalachian existence. In this world, Daddy is a drunk with severe PTSD, and Mommy is an insecure wraith. The boss is a dodgy lecher, not above leering at the flat chest of an eleven-year-old girl.
Yes, all in one book.
Rarity From The Hollow is written in a simple declarative style that’s well- suited to the imaginary diary of a desperate but intelligent eleven-year-old – the story bumping joyfully between the extraordinary and the banal.
The central planet of the universe is a vast shopping mall, and Lacy Dawn must save her world from a menace that arrives in the form of a cockroach infestation. Look again and the space alien has made Daddy smart and happy – or at least an eleven year old girl’s notion of what a smart and happy man should be. He has also made Mommy beautiful, giving her false teeth and getting the food stamp lady off her back.
About the only thing in the book that is believable is the nature of the narrative voice, and it is utterly compelling. You find yourself convinced that “Hollow” was written as a diary-based autobiography by a young girl, and the banal stems from the limits of her environment, the extraordinary from her megalomania. And that’s what gives Rarity From The Hollow a chilling, engaging verisimilitude that deftly feeds on both the utter absurdity of the characters’ motivations and on the progression of the plot.
Indeed, there are moments of utter darkness: In one sequence, Lacy Dawn remarks matter-of-factly that a classmate was whipped to death, and notes that the assailant, the girl’s father, had to change his underpants afterward because they were soiled with semen. Odd, and often chilling notes, abound.
As I was reading it, I remembered when I first read Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” at the age of 14. A veteran of Swift, Heller, and Frederick Brown, I understood absurdist humour in satire, but Vonnegut took that understanding and turned it on its ear.
In the spirit of Vonnegut, Eggleton (a psychotherapist focused on the adolescent patient) takes the genre and gives it another quarter turn. A lot of people hated Vonnegut, saying he didn’t know the rules of good writing. But that wasn’t true. Vonnegut knew the rules quite well, he just chose to ignore them, and that is what is happening in Eggleton’s novel, as well.
Not everyone will like Rarity From The Hollow. Nonetheless, it should not be ignored.
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
 

Lanaa

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Awesome!! There's nothing better than someone who truly appreciates your work. After all the blood, sweat and tears it's always nice to know someone appreciates your efforts :) Keep up the good work!
 

robertt

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Film Declined

I knew it was too good to be true anyway. I just retired, although I'm broke, to spend time finishing the sequel, Ivy. A publisher has requested it, but I indented with tabs and would like to fix it first, if I can figure out how.

Good luck everybody!
 

Paragraphic

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Congratulations on an amazing review! This book sounds incredibly interesting and is definitely going on my to-read pile.

Good luck with the sequel!
 

robertt

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Reader's Digest + Rarity from the Hollow

Congratulations on an amazing review! This book sounds incredibly interesting and is definitely going on my to-read pile.

Good luck with the sequel!

The most enjoyable science fiction novel I have read in several years

Rarity from the Hollow by Robert Eggleton is the most enjoyable science fiction novel I have read in several years. Who could think of an intergalactic handbook for entrepreneurs? Who could turn a tree-hugger into a paranormal event of death-defying significance? Who could create characters so believable, so funny, so astonishingly human (and not)?

Robert Eggleton, that’s who.

I put this book on my IPhone, and it followed me everywhere for several days. Strangers smiled politely at my unexpected laughter in the men’s room toilet stall. They looked away as I emerged, waving the IPhone at them as if it might explain something significant.

Oddly, the novel explains a great deal that has become significant in our society. Rarity from the Hollow is satire at its best and highest level. It is a psychological thriller, true to traits of mankind (and other species). It is an animal rights dissertation (you will laugh when you understand why I write that). It celebrates the vilest insect on earth (make that Universe).

The characters created by Robert Eggleton will bug your brain long after you smoke, uh, read the final page. Thanks for the laughs, the serious thoughts, the absolute wonder of your mind, Mr. Eggleton. A truly magnificent job.


You have my permission to use this however you see fit, with the following attribution:
Temple Emmet Williams, Author, former Reader’s Digest editor

http://warriorpatient.com/blog/2015/05/18/58/

5-18-15
 
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robertt

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Paragraphic,

Did you ever read my novel? While it's gotten several critical reviews like the ones above, with another due soon (I hope that it will be positive) from Tales of the Talisman, the novel has received few reader reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Thanks
 

RichardGarfinkle

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Mod Note:
Do you have permission from the blogger to reproduce the whole of that entry?
If not please remove most of that post. A paragraph or so will do to give us a sense of the review.
 

robertt

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Hi Folks,

Last Friday, Awesome Indies awarded a Gold Medal to Rarity from the Hollow and published the following review (excerpt):

“...a hillbilly version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, only instead of the earth being destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass, Lacy Dawn must…The author has managed to do what I would have thought impossible; taken serious subjects like poverty, ignorance, abuse, and written about them with tongue-in-cheek humor without trivializing them…Eggleton sucks you into the Hollow, dunks you in the creek, rolls you in the mud, and splays you in the sun to dry off. Tucked between the folds of humor are some profound observations on human nature and modern society that you have to read to appreciate…it’s a funny book that most sci-fi fans will thoroughly enjoy....”

http://awesomeindies.net/ai-approved-review-of-rarity-from-the-holly-by-robert-eggleton/



Thanks for the opportunity to read everybody's great posts. I stop in every now and then but usually can't think of anything cool to say. I did get the following email on Facebook that someone may be interested in. It's to writers of YA. I've only had one YA (sort of) story published, and YA is not my thing. But some writers here may have an interest:

Amy Hillgren Peterson Dear Robert: Would you be interested in appearing virtually (Skype or Google Hangout or similar) at the Wordfest event Feb 13, 2016, that is kicking off my Creative Writing for children and young adults class through continuing ed at my local college? If so, please add yourself as "Going" or "Interested" on my event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/562032267285715/
 

robertt

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10-17-15 Insightful Author Interview -- Rarity from the Hollow


“...Lacy Dawn does sound inspiring, but why did you decide to use the science fiction genre as the underpinning of the novel as opposed to another genre?” ………


“Recently here on the blog I’ve been featuring books that support charities or good causes. Today I’m introducing ‘Rarity from the Hollow’ by Robert Eggleton which is published to raise money to help prevent child abuse….”

http://lindasbookbag.com/…/rarity-from-the-hollow-by-rober…/

See the Lacy Dawn Adventures page on Facebook for more information and book reviews.
 
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