The Explosion of a Chandelier

by Damian Murphy

The Explosion of a Chandelier is a labyrinthine story of anarchists, bombs, impetuous youth, scandalous rites and extravagant visions, mutinous angels, intricate games, and the ritual seduction of an old hotel, all of which revolve around The House of Amaryllis, a place of gnostic exaltation and luxuriant delirium in the Spain of Alfonso XIII.

156 pages, Hardcover

First published December 7, 2023

Reviews

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like any good sleight-of-hand, even the publisher name, "Occult Books," is a deception, at least in the popular conception of what "Occult" means. Here, I think it's wise to refer to the original meaning of the word: hidden from view. You won't find wild sabbats, goat sacrifice (virgin or otherwise), or sulfur and brimstone here. No, this occultation of of a more refined sort. Something far more interesting (and sinister in the trickiest of ways).

What we have here is an exploration of the imagination and the manifestation of the imagination into the "real" world. This world is filled with subterfuge and the already-mentioned slight-of-hand. It is labyrinth whose walls shift. A game where the rules change in unexpected, winsome ways. But it's a make-believe which breaches the wall to that-which-is-hidden. These games and labyrinths create thin cracks in the zones that contain realities.

You'll recall this from your childhood, the imaginative playfulness and discovery of places undiscovered by most of society, the unveiling of the "truth" behind individual identities, the understanding of the true mechanism of seemingly ordinary objects that are much more than they seem on the surface.

Some of us are lucky enough to have survived into adulthood with those same revelatory faculties intact. But we have to work at it. It's a gift, to be sure, but a gift that has to be wrested, nay, stolen from the universe.

The Explosion of a Chandelier is a carefully-encrypted guidebook on how one might access such gifts, if one is bold enough to sieze them! But, like Damian's other works of a similar ilk (The Exalted and the Abased, The Academy Outside of Ingolstadt, and Abyssinia all jump to mind), those who are not accustomed to seeking for hidden things, who have forgotten the very real power of imagination, or who lack the courage to sieze the scepter that cracks the barriers between realities . . . well, they simply do not, cannot, and will not Know. On the surface, they will read a story about young men living in Spain during the age of anarchic revolution, a story about hotels and keys and bombs and chandeliers.

But, trust me, there's much more in there, SO much more! Hidden between the words, behind the pages, and most importantly, inside. Look inside! Don't let your reading eyes deceive you. Or, actually, please do!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a dreamlike depiction of post-WWI Spain, and against the backdrop of cloak & dagger plots & counterplots between various royalist and anarchist factions, a trio of fanciful young men preside over a series of imaginative and improvised games and pastimes. Though these oft-inscrutable activities seem on the surface like nothing more than frivolous larks, it is implied that perhaps they are having a subtle and occult influence on various political developments in their home country and abroad, specifically related to the sovereign King Alfonso XIII and the Rif War. Also involved in this story of visions, voyeurism, and tantalizing photographs is the mysterious House of Amaryllis (which I presume is named after the genus of South African buds, and not the Shinedown album), home to elusive entities known as the Sentinels: seemingly inanimate objects of strange powers and cryptic motivations, who seem to be playing their own games with the people who are drawn to their presence. What does it all mean (and what do the chandeliers have to do with it)? I'm not entirely sure, but fortunately logical comprehension is not a prerequisite for aesthetic enjoyment. Should be bound to please fans of Murphy's earlier work and Neo-Decadence in general: it's like Robbe-Grillet, just with blood (by "blood" I mean not in the Grand Guignol sense but in the passions)!

[Fergus Nm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our man Damian Murphy is at the peak of his powers here with this enigmatic novella, a tale of reality-warping parlour games and the mercurial youths that play them. The novella form is the ideal mode for Murphy, giving him space to stretch his narrative legs while still keeping things moving along at an enjoyably rapid pace. As always with Murphy, there's hints of a deeper, esoteric level to the text, so I look forward to rereading this in the not-too-distant future to see what strange jewels are waiting to be uncovered...
As well as all this, there's some (intentional or otherwise) shades of Cocteau's Les Enfants Terribles here which has me reaching over to my shelf for a long-overdue reread to see if this comparison holds up.
Beautiful presentation as an object, too - beautiful binding, creamy endpapers, nice weighted pages.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking place in the late 19th, early 20th century in Spain, The Explosion of a Chandelier involves the occult practices of, mainly, two high school boys, Vito and Héctor, and sometimes another named Renato, who, at first, play pranks on various people, from writing anonymous letters against a bank teller, to asking strangers to identify the place and contents of ambiguous photographs Vito has found. One day, however, Vito takes Héctor to the House of Amaryllis, which seems to be a cross between an old-fashioned gentleman’s club and a hotel, and enrolls Héctor in a secret society, whose initial duty requires Héctor to enter an elegant room that has in its center a vase through which a metal rod, an antenna, emerges. From this rod emanates a high-pitched tone that seems simultaneously monotonal and melodic. The tone puts Héctor in a good mood, and he emerges from the room several hours later, with no memory of having left the room or what he did. The pleasurable feeling lasts several days.

While The Explosion of a Chandelier is an occult tale, it is an occult tale without dramatic rhetorical flourishes or weirdness, or the use of outdated phrases or invented Latinate words. Instead, all is presented matter-of-factly in spare prose. Although the novel hints at the erotic, it explores more of phenomena Einstein dismissed as “spooky action at a distance"—in this case, the connection between the Lynchian House of Amaryllis and world historical events.

For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this swiftly paced adventure, D. M. marries a clarity of expression with a depth and ambiguity of subtexts. You feel a current running beneath the surface narrative of dark forces astir. Hector and Vito epitomize the thrill of youth's longing after dramatic distractions as they encounter with some uncertainty the consequences of their haphazard charades and observe with relish the preposterous reactions of hapless bystanders. Hector has imposter syndrome from all appearances, yet he gravitates naively toward the charismatic leader of their not-yet-infamous rebel group entrenched in a daily exercise of wreaking subtle anarchies, always seeking to exert influence and to confound the uninitiated. While they are not immune to sabotage, they are wary of outsiders, which is to say, the average, unseeing commoners who stand baffled in their wake. Under the monarchy of King Alfonso in Spain, but answering to a higher cause, they engage in frequently mysterious subterfuges on the level of composing surrealist missives to wage slaves or smuggling what might be a bomb into a derelict hotel. The setting is redolent with secret allure and is of the utmost importance. This novel marks yet another expertly composed foray into decadent explorations through the vehicle of occult descriptions fraught with menacing undertones by the master of the form. The main character may not be the most reliable viewpoint, and may often proceed willy-nilly at the beck and call of Vito, but his perceptions are decidedly interesting.

Each doorway and elevator becomes a portal to an unlikely and sinister destination. Hector is sensitive to the silent protestation of secret rooms and finds himself enmeshed in a mystery of eternal significance. Though this is not the most approachable work of Murphy's, it represents a glowing turret upon the magnificent cathedral he is composing one story at a time - each brick a scintillating phrase honed upon the axe of his aesthetic.

[Vultural · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murphy, Damian - The Explosion Of A Chandelier

Spain, possibly Sevilla, mid-1920’s, between the World Wars, pre-Franco.

Héctor enjoys a tenuous friendship with Vito, who professes more worldliness than he actually has.
While Vito poses and declaims a great deal, he is of a higher social standing than Héctor.

Both boys seem pre-teens, still engage in pranks, bound into mischief, tax their imaginations with wild role play. Viewing some adults as spies, saboteurs, anarchists, agitators.

Soon, Héctor, spending more of his summer afternoons in the enigmatic House Of Amaryllis, has a veil lifted: he glimpses a half lit world of alternative possibilities and ramifications.

This is a book that will carry you as far as you permit, in a variety of directions.
One may simply read a coming of age narrative. Another may read an analogy of Spain, or Europe, in an innocent, yet fraught period, just before the mass conflict. Yet another may see Fate’s hand, angels observing, utterly disinterested, the scrambling affairs of mankind.

This is the initial offering of the new Occult Press, and a real coup. One wishes them a long run.

[Abe Ziesing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This labyrinthine coming-of-age work of weird historical fiction will tickle the imagination while satisfying any desires for top-shelf verse and vocabulary. Comprising of an unusual combination of adolescent exploits and sophisticated humor, this gem transports you to early twentieth century Spain during King Alfonso’s attempts to subdue Morocco, where protagonist Héctor and his pal Vito turn the mundane into high adventure, and the obvious into the convoluted as they journey down a bizarre rabbit hole of compounding mysteries and surreal experiences.

Whimsically cryptic passages throughout gift the reader with infinite possibility and endless interpretive entertainment, analogous Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Time”. Murphy is a master of subtlety within his poetic prose to the point that if you spend too much time smelling the flowers you’ll miss the secret garden.

[Chris Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well-written story packaged in a beautiful book. Props to both Damian and the Snuggles.