Smoke City

by Keith Rosson

Marvin Deitz has some serious problems. His mob-connected landlord is strong-arming him out of his storefront. His therapist has concerns about his stability. He's compelled to volunteer at the local Children's Hospital even though it breaks his heart every week.

Oh, and he's also the guilt-ridden reincarnation of Geoffroy Thérage, the French executioner who lit Joan of Arc's pyre in 1431. He's just seen a woman on a Los Angeles talk show claiming to be Joan, and absolution seems closer than it's ever been . . . but how will he find her?

When Marvin heads to Los Angeles to locate the woman who may or may not be Joan, he's picked up hitchhiking by Mike Vale, a self-destructive alcoholic painter traveling to his ex-wife's funeral. As they move through a California landscape populated with "smokes" (ghostly apparitions that've inexplicably begun appearing throughout the southwestern US), each seeks absolution in his own way.

Genres: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Fiction, Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Literary Fiction

Audible Audio

First published January 23, 2018

Reviews

[Keith Rosson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best novel about Joan of Arc's remorseful and reincarnated executioner taking a road trip to LA with a downtrodden and self-destructive ex-art star that I'VE ever written, I can tell you that much.

[Brooke ☯︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smoke City by Keith Rosson is a shelf-hog! A true composite of genres. Reading the premise one might ask, how on earth could anyone handle all this absurdity? But Rosson does, while remaining grounded in the most humane themes of forgiveness, penance, guilt, and redemption.

Joan of Arc's reincarnated executioner and a washed up grieving alcoholic go on an existential quest in LA. The dialogue is smart, and often tinged with the wisdom that comes from living a lot of life. The characters are flawed and real and their path to redemption is often ugly and grimy, but it's believable.

Rosson absolutely has a special gift with his characters! I always enjoy what he writes. This is one that I could re-read as there are a lot of intimate moments going on that would make a re-read maybe even more enjoyable than the first time.

4.3🌟

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smoke City is a wonderfully unusual book that is a bit hard to pin down or categorize. It has underlying themes of guilt, redemption, penance, forgiveness, and despair.

It has a story that spans centuries, beginning with the childhood memories of the executioner who lit the flame in 1431 when he burned the Maid of Orleans - aka Joan of Arc - at the stake. Though that was his career, what could come of killing the embodiment of goodness and light on Earth? What possible penance could ever be enough? How can he ever find forgiveness? For six hundred years, he has suffered the curse of his grievous sin and been reborn over and over again, never getting absolution.

It’s also a buddy road trip story following in the wake of Kerouac and Neal Cassidy travels, seeing America in a broken van picking up Hitchhikers and stowaways. Marvin Dietz is the hitchhiker, a record store owner in Portland whose obsession with seeking Joan’s forgiveness for his sins in his past life earn him a seat on his psychiatrist’s couch till he sees a porn star on daytime tv declare that she’s posssed by Joan of Arc’s spirit. His erstwhile partner in crime is drunken loser Mike Vale, once the world’s most promising young artist, now condemned to asking customers if they’d like fries with that and on a mission to make peace with his ex-wife or her spirit perhaps.

And, on top of this cavalcade of wounded spirits, we get apparitions or ghosts or smokes, appearing seemingly randomly along freeways and in vacant lots, scaring the crap out of people. Hollywood is now Smoke City.

Smoke City is crazy. Not at all like what you’d expect.

Many thanks to Meerkat Press for providing a copy for review.

[Joy D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvin Deitz is the reincarnated executioner of Joan of Arc, cycling through lifetimes of penance since the day he lit the pyre. He flees Portland before he gets committed to a psychiatric facility, seeking a woman from a radio show who says she is the reincarnation of Joan of Arc. He ends up in a car headed to Los Angeles with Mike Vale, a washed-up alcoholic artist who has signed away the rights to his own work and is making one last drive to attend his ex-wife’s funeral. He loved her dearly and feels guilty for being such a poor husband. All this should be unbearably heavy, but instead the story makes you laugh and breaks your heart at the same time.

The timeline moves between the 21st-century road trip and Marvin's prior incarnations stretching back to 15th-century Rouen. In the present, translucent apparitions of the unresolved dead, called “smokes,” start appearing. They never require explanation because the book has established that some things don't stay buried, and the world is full of people haunted by what they can't undo. Marvin is just more literally haunted than most.

The prose is artful, but not overwrought. This is a book that values character over plot. The friendship that develops between Mike and Marvin has the feeling of a real bond. They are two people who have failed in life for different reasons, and find in each other's company not redemption exactly, but permission to keep going. Rosson balances grief with warmth and humor, especially through Casper, a late-arriving younger character who is a wonderful addition (I don’t want to spoil it). I absolutely loved this creative book about guilt, forgiveness, and the healing power of friendship.

[Nadine in California · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thousand thanks to the GR friend who led me to this book by mentioning that it was one of the best books they've read this year! I wish I could remember your name! It's such a thrill to find a wonderful new author in a small press book.

This book has three compelling elements - the guilt-ridden executioner of Joan of Arc, an alcoholic formerly famous painter, and what appear to be ghosts in Los Angeles - and combines them into a road trip to possible redemption. A lesser author could have turned this into a melodramatic mess, but Rosson manages to dig deep into the characters and bring up some intense reflections, yet still maintain an overall hint of what felt like insouciance to me. (Mike's sunglasses!) Just the barest hint of Hunter S. Thompson. Improbably, it all blends. The cover art captured this perfectly for me, and I just went to look for the artists name, and surprise! It's the author!

And on top of all this - the writing. Rosson can nail an imagine for me with just a few words. Example, this description of Los Angeles: "Palm trees bowed in the dark, the breeze rich with eucalyptus and exhaust." I lived in LA years ago, and this brought me right back in an instant.

Here's a longer description of Mike (the alcoholic artist) sitting in a bar with a friend:
"And the evening wound around them. Two vultures curled on their stools as the bar wailed electric around them. They were of a different world than the other patrons - full-blown barflies, the two of them - and as such were hardly visible. He was an awkward piece of furniture that brayed laughter at odd times, got sloppy, fell off his stool. And the shame of this? The knowledge of what he was? It was all lessened when he was in the Moment.

I won't say what 'the Moment' is, you have to read the book.

[Stacia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keith Rosson may have a new fangirl in me.

This was such a weird & fascinating tale & I say that with the highest praise. Cool concept, well-done, & straddles the line between literary fiction & odder elements weaving through the story. It's quite character-driven & these characters really do confront their pasts, presents, & futures, digging deep to face some ugly truths, examining themselves, reckoning with their acts, atoning, & offering some serious, some funny, & definitely some heartfelt moments from start to finish. There are many topics at play, lots of fodder for thought & discussion; I won't go into all that & will, instead, suggest you just read it.

I'll also say that I love the cover art & was impressed to find out Rosson did his own art. After reading a little more about him, I learned he's mainly an illustrator & graphic artist (designing artwork for bands such as Green Day & the Goo Goo Dolls). If writing is his side gig, wow, what absolute talent! (Read this article he wrote a few years ago: What It’s Like To Be A Legally Blind Illustrator And Graphic Designer.)

Oregon Public Broadcasting did an interview with Portland-based Rosson in 2018: Take A Weird Road Trip In Keith Rosson's Latest Novel, 'Smoke City'.

I loved it. Not sure it would be quite to everyone's taste, but if you're in the mood for a weird & intriguing road trip book, take a look at this one. I think it might surprise you.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spectacularly wise and smart piquaresque, unlike anything I have read before. It is unquestionably the first book I have read with dual timelines (with the same character) in the 15th and 21st centuries. Marvin is an executioner, in demand and hated, and he is charged with burning Joan of Arc. The universe (God?) sentences him to never die, or rather to keep dying and to come back as other people. We spend most of the time in Marvin's first and current lives, but there are moments spent with his other incarnations. When we meet Marvin he is in his 50's, close to the oldest age he has achieved, and he knows he must get Joan's forgiveness to ever rest. Knowing that he is about to be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility (even the kindest of therapists is going to have a hard time accepting that he is the reincarnated killer of a saint) he hits the road, leaving his record shop in Portland and heading west where it appears Joan has come back as well. He is picked up by Mike, once an art world it-boy, now an broken down drunk unable to hold on to fast food jobs. Mike is trying to get to his ex-wife's funeral in LA -- she is the only person he has ever loved and he wants to make up a little for being such a terrible partner if only by seeing her off. Mike an Marvin have adventures, one of which connects then to Casper. A weird as hell but healing friendship forms and they all chase their goals to SoCal, a place suddenly overrun by ghosts.

The book is uneven. It drags in several parts. One of the primary characters, Casper, is underwritten as are a few of the secondary characters. There are a few vignettes that do nothing but distract from the story. But all of this is easy to forgive because Mike and Marvin, are enthralling and their stories are brilliantly told and the points Rosson is making are so well made. In the end this is a book about grace, and about accepting that the point of penance is not to be granted forgiveness, the point is to do the work every day of atoning, to be better and to put good things into the world to counterbalance the bad things you have put into the world. Highly recommend this one!

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smoke City was bit of a weird read and I havnt figured out what genre it is. But I enjoyed it and it wasn't to weird not to follow what's going on.

[Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Review:
*I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher. This has not influenced my review.*

This was one of those books that called to me as soon as I read the blurb. And fortunately, this book was exactly what I was hoping it would be—strange, quirky, and offbeat, but also touching. The characters had depth and unique voices. The writing was rich. The plot was fairly slow, but that’s because the plot wasn’t really the point—this was all about the characters and their inner journeys.

I found Mike Vale, the alcoholic artist, to be the most interesting character. He seemed to be both awed at the beauty of all the life around him but also completely disenchanted with his own life and life in general. Above all else though, he was a mess. A perpetually drunk and hungover, battered, shameful mess. “Rolling chaos” he was called by one character. But, despite knowing he brought most of his problems on himself because of his drinking problem—which, just for the record, was not romanticized—and despite him being kind of a terrible person in some ways (e.g. cheated on his ex, drove drunk), I still pitied him and felt for him and found him likeable in an odd sort of way. In some ways, his disenchantment was relatable, and if not relatable, then entertaining. Haven’t we all fantasized at one point or another about punching some womanizing jerk talking loudly on his phone about his latest conquest? Or about dramatically quitting a dead-end job? Haven’t we all had one of those days where we figured we might as well jump into the next problem full-throttle since things couldn’t possibly get any worse? And his POV was written in a way that was almost poetic at times, but not in a fanciful, flowery sort of way. Kind of poetic but rough and gritty. Somehow it actually matched Mike’s simultaneous awe and disenchantment.

Marvin was interesting in a different way because of his past as Joan of Arc’s executioner, his guilt and torment over that (and the other executions and tortures he committed), and his despair over the curse of being reborn over and over but having to remember every life. The book explored the emotional impact of remembering a bunch of past lives like that in more depth than I was expecting. There was also a lot about his life as the executioner. I can’t say how accurate any of that was, but the author didn’t skimp on the harsh realities of life during that time; it was terrible and disgusting and miserable.

Even Casper turned out to be oddly lovable. He was just a young adult, fresh out of high school (I think), trying to get out of his small town and follow his dreams, and he was actually kind of sweet. He had Mike’s and Marvin’s backs, helped them out without even seeming to think about it, when they needed it.

And these three men, they just got kind of thrown together by chance (or maybe not chance, if you subscribe to Marvin’s beliefs about signs), but they stuck together, out of some sense of loyalty or divinity or maybe just plain desperation. But it was sweet.

I will say though that this book is not super fantasy/paranormal. There are the smokes, but, again, they’re not really the point. I’ve been told this book is kind of a cross between fantasy and literary fiction, so make of that what you will. It certainly didn’t stop me from enjoying it.

So overall, this is a book about unique, touching friendships, flawed but oddly likeable characters just doing their best to get by, redemption, and a whole lot of character development, and I’m glad I read it!

Recommended For:
Anyone who likes character-focused books, flawed characters, uniquely poetic writing, and touching friendships.

Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight

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Initial Thoughts:
Offbeat and touching with some really flawed but oddly likeable characters. Full review soon!

[Dianah (onourpath) · Rating 5 out of 5]

If someone told you to braid together three disparate story lines (let's say, the reincarnated soul of Joan of Arc's executioner, a washed-up alcoholic artist, and a sudden rash of ghost appearances), could you do it? Could you do it without sounding like an idiot? Keith Rosson can -- magnificently.

Rosson's characters are so layered and so well defined, they absolutely hum with realism, even when they're talking to ghosts, or remembering the lives they've lived since 1375.

Joan of Arc's executioner, Geoffroy/Marvin, has been caught in a curse since the day he lit the fire under Joan and saw her soul escape in the form of a dove. He's reborn again and again, with full memory of his previous lives, and knowing that he'll die before his 57th birthday.

Mike Vale lit the art world on fire at the tender age of 19, producing work that was both critically acclaimed, and sold for millions. Since then he's spent two decades drunk and penniless.

Everywhere, seemingly, ghosts are appearing. They suddenly manifest: everyone sees them, they stay for a few minutes, and then disappear. Who are they? Why are they here? What does it mean?

Rosson tackles the big life questions in this book; picking apart themes of purpose, redemption, suffering, forgiveness, addiction, passion, talent, guilt, the unknowable nature of life and death, the ways in which we help each other and the ways in which we hinder, the joy of living and the anticipation of death, and the absolute necessity of an examined life.

Rosson's talent is staggering, his craft is meticulous, and his story is one of the quirkiest, but most heartfelt I have ever read. He will clench your heart, and by it drag you through his landscape of both horror and bliss. You'll be so utterly grateful for it.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the near future, ghosts referred to as “smokes” have started appearing in southern California and northern Mexico, with Los Angeles as smoke central. These ghosts don’t go ‘boo’; they do not interact with people at all. They just show up, do their thing, and disappear.

Mike Vale lives in Portland, OR. Once the most highly praised young artist in the US, for years he’s been a self-destructive drunk who hasn’t painted a thing. Upon getting word that his ex-wife has suddenly died, he feels he must get down to LA for her funeral. He begins a guilt driven road trip.

Marvin Deitz owns a vintage record store, and is being evicted by the mob connected landlord. He is on a short leash with his therapist, because he’s been open about his belief that he is the reincarnation of the executioner who lit the fire that killed Joan of Arc. He also figures he’s about to die, since not once in his many, many lifetimes has he lived past 57- and his birthday is in a few days (he remembers every one of his lives). When he sees a woman on a TV talk show who claims to be the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, he feels he must talk with her and maybe, at long last, be forgiven for what he did. He needs a ride to LA.

Casper is a nerd who dreams of being a ghost hunter. He figures that the smokes are a great opportunity to become one and have his own reality show- but he has no car.

So this odd trio ends up on the freeway heading south to LA. Everything that can go wrong, does. While all three are on quests, it’s pretty much a character driven book. It’s sort of like a grail quest mashed up with “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”.

I really enjoyed this book. For all the grim story lines dealing with guilt and alcoholism, it was amusing. I ended up liking all the characters (even Mike), and was happy with how the story turned out. This is only the second book by this author, and I see he’s grown since the first one (which was also very good). Four and a half stars.

[Lars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Was recommended to this book by a friend whom I usually don't share opinions with = my expectations were low. Thought I would stop after a few pages. But no. Read the book in three days. There you have it!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do we live with the time we're given?

My 3rd experience with a Rosson work - following 'Coffin Moon' (which I sort of liked) and the collection 'Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons' (which I was quite taken with). 

If you have given the author a try - but your only experience was 'Coffin Moon' - you may have presumed he was out to carve a place for himself as someone consistently serving up horror, or rather a certain, immediately recognizable kind of horror. 

You would be wrong; as the 'Folk Songs...' collection more than suggests. 

~ and as 'Smoke City' confirms. If Rosson himself were to claim the title 'horror writer', it would be in circus tent-terms, with room for a wide variety of performing acts that would demonstrate the scope of the genre - and Rosson's own range within it. He doesn't seem to want to be pegged.

Unlike 'Coffin Moon' in particular, 'Smoke City' isn't scary, exactly. Yet it nestles comfortably in the horror realm due to its spookiness. It's filled with ghosts (largely known as 'smokes'). But 'SC' isn't really *about* the ghosts... not exactly. Yet, they're very much in the fabric of what 'SC' *is* about. 

Primarily, it's an existential novel. In a way, it's a rumination re: why we're here. But when it comes to a specific philosophy, that's in rather short supply. It may play around with certain tropes (i.e., reincarnation, planes of existence) but they are more in service to an exploration of man's purpose (which we can sort of know) rather than his ultimate fate (which we can't). 

Rosson rests his concern in what seems a semi-apocalypse. Or is it just a warning this time?, a rehearsal for what's not far off? We won't know, but that's what's suggested:

Sometimes I thought of the world now, this particular time around, this life--with its internet sites centered around public sex, and Hollywood gore-porn films that raked in millions at the box office, the metronomic eradication of endangered species and civil rights, conservative politicians' refusal to acknowledge  global warming and on and on--and I felt like we were inevitably rocketing toward something, some final collapse that would put Rome's toppling to shame.

There's something Felliniesque in Rosson's storytelling. He begins with a pair of parallel lives, belonging to what we perceive as real victims of circumstance, with an extra clown added later for comic relief. Visually, we're watching a road movie for the most part, in which the destination harbors a reckoning. 

Though said reckoning is for one of the main characters, it seems to me that it's for the readers as well. 

Lest you think this is largely heavy-going territory, it's not, really. It may not have quite the expected punch of average horror, but the narrative is aware of 'action' requisites and the novel supplies enough spark even without anticipated horror staples. 

On top of that, Rosson is capable of being poetic:

... this is what I saw near the end. I saw a white curl of smoke leave the flames and rise in the sky and take on the shape of a dove. It flew into the sky, wings beating, and vanished. It was her soul, I knew. Joan's soul. Leaving her body, ascending to the heavens.

~ as well as a stitch:

He looked like someone had an extra bag of suntanned muscle lying around and decided to put a  little ponytail on it and make an extra person. 

"Speaking of which, the hell happened to your head, bud?"
... "I gave the Tasmanian Devil a blowjob," he sneered, holding his shot in front of his mouth. "Things got out of hand."

The world ate irony for breakfast.

It was an odd feeling, the journey of this book. I wasn't sure at all how things would develop, and the uncertainty of that felt a bit weird. But I kept being tugged along, persuasively. By the time I got to the end, I was all in with the ride being very much worth it. 

I had found a gem. And it had found me.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this ARC for free in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. Just...wow.

I had no idea what to expect when I got this book and even after I started it, I still wasn't sure what to expect. There were so many individual and interesting pieces happening all at once but there was never a single time that the story drug on. The writing was brilliant, the story was great, and I definitely shed a few tears. Tears usually mean 5 stars.

Mike Vale was a young and insanely famous artist once upon a time but his life quickly went down hill and he was never really able to find his footing again until the death of his ex-wife, the only woman he ever loved, forces him to take a good hard look at his life on his way to her funeral in LA. On his way there he picks up Marvin; Marvin has lived a thousand lives and carries his guilt (and a curse) around with him for being the one who dropped the match on Joan of Arc's pyre. Meanwhile, ghosts, or 'smokes' as people have started calling them, are popping up all over the city of angels and no one can seem to figure out the why, where, or how of them.

Off topic: I'd just like to add the fact that the CDC being the ones to deal with the smokes was hilarious to me in ways that I cannot explain. It's such a messed up American government thing to do that I believe 1000% that if we ever got smokes for real, this is exactly how it would play out.

Above all though, I loved that this was a story about redemption. It really stuck with me and I just loved how it all wrapped up. I am so glad that I got the chance to read this book. Honestly, I don't think that it would have been something I'd bought on my own just because it's not my usual thing but it was such a great read. I cannot stress that enough.

[Mel (Epic Reading)]

DNF @ 65%

If I'm going to give up on a book I like to do it at around the 30%-40% mark. As that feels like a point at which I've given the book a fair shot, but also it's still worthwhile to give up and not complete the book for reading challenge. Smoke City really challenged my usual 'rules' for DNF's.
Oddly, I didn't DNF because this is a bad book, but because it just lost appeal for me. I didn't care what happened to any of our characters nor was I intrigued enough by the plot to continue. It just didn't make sense to carry forward.

Plot & Characters
From the blurb for Keith Rosson's book you will know right away there is reincarnation, Joan of Arc and an (mostly) all male cast in Smoke City. Yet it's really a contemporary story with oral journal-esque entries from the executioner of Joan of Arc. If you're thinking what I did; which is no one person really killed Joan, then I suppose you will also be surprised to know (as I was) that only one person lit the fire at her feet on the day of her death. These journal-esque entries are very interesting, a bit gruesome, but well worth the read. Easily my favourite parts of the book.
Instead the contemporary men just didn't do it for me. All of three of them are interesting enough as individuals; I just didn't connect with any of them. Neither did I have any sympathy for them. This may be because I had a hard time relating to these men. Each of them (there are 3 eventually) end up in the car (by fate) on a trip to Los Angeles. So they have little in common with one another. Thus it was hard to figure out why they were even putting up with one another; never mind why I was putting up with listening to each of them whine about their life.
Between one guy that ruined his own life, the young idealist (and naive) teen, and the god obsessed man I just didn't have much in common with them and honestly felt like they were all very self-centered and inconsiderate of those around them.

Similar to
I read a book a number of years ago that I hadn't thought about in a very long time; but certainly Smoke City reminded me of it on several occasions. It's called The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. While a totally different story it has many similarities including: leading male character(s), obsession with religion, and grotesque or gory moments that are very descriptive. I think if you liked The Gargoyle you are likely to enjoy Rosson's story.

Overall
Normally I would give one-star to a book that I do not finish but as I don't think this book is poorly written or has massive flaws I am choosing not to rate it at all. Instead I think it just isn't for me. There are lots of reasons for this (as noted above). While I do not attend Christian church anymore I was raised in the Christian faith and have a fascination with religion and people's experiences with it. So I don't think it was the use of religion here that put me off, as it was that I just didn't connect with the overall story. I would try another book by Rosson in the future as the writing and plot was not the core of my issues. It was more about the character choices Rosson made. I'm confident they make sense for the end of the book but I just couldn't convince myself to keep picking it up to read.

For this and more of my reviews please visit my blog at: Epic Reading

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

[Shomeret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smoke City by Keith Rosson is my second literary encounter with this author. My first was in Behind The Mask: A Superhero Anthology. Both books were sent to me by the publisher, Meerkat Press, as ARCs for review.

Near future Los Angeles is having a huge epidemic of spectral appearances in Smoke City, but we don't become aware of them until the characters arrive there. That's because this fantasy isn't primarily about ghosts. It focuses on the characters. There are two major viewpoint characters who are central to the narrative.

The first is Michael Vale, a former artist who has become a self-destructive alcoholic. He is somewhat sympathetic because he was cheated out of the rights to his work by his agent. Marvin Deitz is far more interesting and compelling. He is the latest incarnation of a 15th century Frenchman who lit the fire that burned Joan of Arc. He has been cursed to a continuous cycle of violent death and rebirth since then, and is consumed with guilt. Marvin also remembers every detail of his past lives without any need for past life regression therapy.

For Vale and Marvin, their journey to Los Angeles turns out to be transformative. Vale experiences character growth, and Marvin has some extraordinary experiences with ghosts that change everything for him. I was glad to see the much improved Vale, and a happier Marvin.

Readers who like their urban fantasy with a focus on characters, and a historical dimension will probably like Smoke City a great deal.

For my complete review see http://shomeretmasked.blogspot.com/20...

[Barb (Boxermommyreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you just read a book that's hard to explain but which also really clicks with you. Smoke City is that book. So basically Marvin, one of the three MCs, believes that he is personally responsible for executing Joan of Arc many many years ago and that because of doing so, he is cursed to be reborn over and over again. He also believes that his time is up in a few weeks. Suddenly Marvin sees an individual who claims to be Joan of Arc reincarnated, and he is on a mission to find her and apologize. Marvin end up teaming up with Mike, a down-on-his luck alcoholic and once famous artist whose ex-wife just died. California is being overpopulated with ghostly apparitions called "smokes" so the third member of our crew is a wanna-be paranormal investigation named Casper - yes, you can snicker - Casper the ghost hunter!

So all three are on a road trip to Los Angeles for their own reason and honestly, it's been a long time since I've met such a likable group of unlikable characters. These people are flawed - REALLY REALLY flawed, but man, are they fun to read about. Smoke City is a very character driven book and I really became invested in what happened to Marvin, Mike and Casper.

This book may not be for everyone. In fact, every time I look at the cover I think "That book must be really out there." And it is, but man is it a fun trip to an unknown destination.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a road trip to Los Angeles book with two off the chain main characters. Hitchhiking Marvin believes he's the reincarnation of the executioner of Joan of Arc. Mike is an alcoholic artist traveling to his ex-wife's funeral who gives Marvin a ride. On the way to LA they travel through countryside populated with "smokes" a recent phenomenon of tragic ghostly apparitions. It's really hard not to have empathy for these two sad sack main character losers. They are both filled with guilt and regret and they are seeking redemption. As always, Mr Rossen has written a story full of hope, humor and strangeness.
4 stars

[Lynda Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Vale is a brilliant artist who has fallen from grace into drunken obscurity. When his ex-wife dies suddenly, he feels compelled to travel to Los Angeles for her funeral. He picks up hitchhiker Marvin Deitz, who has been reincarnated and forced to die again and again as penance for executing Joan of Arc. Marvin is due to die again soon and is headed to Los Angeles in a last-ditch effort at redemption. Along the way, they pick up another hitchhiker - the ironically named Casper - a ghost hunter on his way to Los Angeles to make a reality show about “smokes”, the ghostly figures whose appearance in LA is becoming a regular occurrence. When these three lost souls come together, their lives will be changed forever.

The story is told from the points-of-view of Mike in the third person and Marvin in the first person, including entries from the journal he has been keeping over the centuries. Their accounts are interspersed with excerpts from newspaper articles, religious pamphlets, CDC pamphlets, and even a radio interview. The characters are perfectly flawed, and you will come to love each of them. And the way their stories converge is nothing short of amazing. The author sure has a way with words; his descriptions of Mike’s filthy apartment are so real that I am practically gagging right alongside Mike himself. His drunken bouts are also all too real, as are his hangovers.

Full of heartbreak and despair, this tale of friendship, love, and forgiveness is highly original and ultimately uplifting. Brilliant.

Warnings: coarse language, alcohol abuse, drug use.

I received this book in return for an honest review.

Full blog post (29 January): https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.co...

[Joshua Buhs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Metaphysical adventure.

It reminded me of Up Jumped the Devil or The Holy, road stories across time and space that deal with transcendental themes. In this case, there are three main characters, the executioner of Joan of Arc, whose been alive for the last six hundred years and cursed; an alcoholic painter; and a yokel who wants to make a reality tv show. They travel to Los Angeles, for various reasons that bring them together--a Los Angeles that is being visited by ghosts (or smokes) for reasons no one knows.

It sounds ridiculous, but Rosson roots the whole story in authentic emotions, and never pushes too hard on his conceits. So it works.

The story is a bit slow, at times. And the end is a bit too Hollywood, with the character endings feeling, in two out of three cases, unearned. There are other parts of the story--especially the friendships--that feel relatively forced.

In the grand scheme of the book, though, these are peccadilloes. Because of the expansive canvas and the innovative structure, Rosson can push on existential themes in a way that feels genuine, simultaneously bitter and sweet. The biggest mysteries in the book--why are the smokes here? how? and how did Joan of Arc's executioner live, cursed, for six hundred years, one life after another--he lives unexplained, which I prefer.

I can fully see that some people will see the book as sophomoric fantasy. I don't really disagree. To repeat myself, though, it's a fantasy that works.

[Elizabeth Sund · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I would have realized more early on that this book's main feeling is fun. In this world of dark/gritty sadness, I was ready for things to go really bad at every turn. Instead, this turned out to be a fun romp road-trip book. I loved Marvin so much. The description of reincarnation as torture in this book was spot on.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful...sad...horrific...funny...incredibly enjoyable read spanning 600 years in the life of the executioner of Jean D'Arc

Review to follow

[Ruthiella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is bats**t crazy and impossible to summarize. On the one hand, we have Marvin who believes he is the reincarnation many times over of the man who executed Joan of Arc in 1431. On the other hand, we have Mike Vale, a has-been painter with a serious drinking and anger-management problem. Turns out both need to get from Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles fast. The fact that L.A. is a hot spot for “Smokes”, which are brief apparitions of grieving ghosts that have been blocking traffic and terrorizing citizens does not figure into their plans…at least not until they are joined on their separate quests by young man hoping to break into cable television by investigating the Smokes. Wanting to know how Rosson will tie up this crazy story and its disparate plot lines keeps the pages turning. The end section is surprisingly redemptive for a book where the first half is extremely bleak and sometimes graphically dark.

Totally worth reading if you want to read something where you probably will not guess what’s coming next ever.

[Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the concept of this book sounded awesome! Marvin Dietz has been reborn over and over again, with all his previous lives memories intact. Ever since the day he lit the pyre that send Joan of Arc to death, he has lived with the awful curse, has borne dozens of children, and watched everyone he loved die as he continued to be reborn. But never to live past his 57th birthday (I can’t remember for sure, but somewhere in his 50’s). When the “smokes” (apparitions) start to show up around the country, a young girl also goes on TV to claim she has been possessed by the soul of the late Joan of Arc. Hoping for a small chance at salvation and forgiveness at Joan’s hand, he hitches a ride with Mike Vale, who is already travelling to CA for the funeral of his ex-wife, to find the girl living there who claims to be Joan. I found Marvin to be a very compelling character, and I would’ve happily stayed within his POV thru the whole story.

Then we get to Mike Vale. Drunkard has been artist with a huge chip on his shoulder. I honestly couldn’t stand reading from his POV. He was obnoxious and lazy, and I honestly couldn’t find it in myself to even feel sorry for him losing his ex-wife. We didn’t even get a POV from Casper, but I liked him more as a character. Casper is a young guy, who is hoping to make it big in California by essentially being a ‘ghost-hunter’ of the smokes that have appeared throughout the country, but mostly in L.A. He hides out in the back of the van that Mike and Marvin stop to have fixed, and it isn’t till much too late to turn around that Mike and Marvin realize he’s there.

Ultimately, all the characters end up finding their own kind of salvation, but nothing is ever explained about the ‘smokes’. Honestly, I don’t even know why that was the central occurrence going on in the story, but I thought it still an interesting concept and wish more had been learned and explained about them.

I’d give this author another try, as I did enjoy about 50% of what this book was about and the characters in it, hence the 3 stars.

Copy received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hearing the book reviewed and the author interviewed on NPR brought this current (published this year, in 2018) work of fiction to my attention. The author is local for me --- he lives in Portland, Oregon --- and part of the story takes place in Portland, with neighborhoods and streets I know. For me this was one of those highly satisfying reading experiences where after only a few pages one gets the exciting, anticipatory feeling that “this is going to be good” and as the book went on that was indeed true, and it only got better. I don’t want to give too much of the story away here (although no doubt reading the goodreads description of the book will do that to a certain extent), but in the end this is a sensitive, haunting story about hope, redemption, forgiveness, healing, and closure. Three flawed and hurting individuals are brought together by chance for a strange road trip from Portland to Los Angeles. Perhaps it can be said that there are elements of magical realism involved, in that ghosts/specters/spirits and reincarnation are woven into the plot. Personally I found the supernatural elements here much more palatable than I did in “Lincoln in the Bardo” (a book many/most are finding amazing that for me was simply not “my cup of tea”). And this is a book where the literary quality of the writing at times is quite remarkable and beautiful --- something highly valued by many in my former reading discussion group in Pennsylvania. If the goodreads rating system allowed for it, I might have awarded this book four-and-a-half stars. I ended the book in awe and admiration for what the author has accomplished, and basking in that glow of “reader satisfaction” that compels one to be a reader. I highly recommend this book (it’s not a “first novel” --- it’s a “second novel”) with enthusiasm.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one quirky piece of fiction. Like Joshua Ferris or Brock Clarke quirky. But also, well written fiction, much like Joshua Ferris or Brock Clarke. Ghosts, the reincarnated executioner of Joan of Arc, and one really messed up alchoholic artist on a hurried road trip to make it to his ex-wife's funeral on time all drive the narrative. Oddly, even after that description, I would describe this as an upbeat book, which is how the quirky ones tend to go.

[Jo Quenell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read. This is everything I look for in weird fiction: Funny, sad, strange and painfully human. I'm continually impressed with Rosson's writing. His prose, plot, and characterization are top shelf. This is the best new release I've read so far this year, and will likely be in the running for best book come December. I can't shake how fantastic this was. READ THIS BOOK!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvin Deitz is struggling: his landlord is trying to evict him from his record shop; his therapist is concerned about his sanity and his heart is being broken by the suffering he sees on the children’s oncology ward where he volunteers for four hours a week. If all of that wasn’t enough he knows that he won’t live beyond his imminent fifty seventh birthday. He knows this for a certainty because he is the reincarnation of the French executioner who lit Joan of Arc’s pyre in 1431 and, for over six hundred years, he has lived countless other lives, many of which were very short but none has ever lasted beyond fifty seven, the age he was when he lit the fire. Then a chance viewing of a woman on a Los Angeles chat show, claiming to be a reincarnation of Joan, fills him with hope that he will finally have an opportunity to make reparation, to rid himself of the guilt he has lived with for more than six hundred years. He just has to go and track her down so he immediately sets off to hitch a lift to Los Angeles. Within minutes of sticking his thumb up he is picked up by Mike Vale, a previously successful but now alcoholic, non-productive artist who is fighting his own demons and is on his way to the city for his ex-wife’s funeral. Along the way they give a lift to Casper, a young man who is also desperate to get to the city because he wants to make a show about the “smokes”, ghostly apparitions which have been appearing throughout Southern California and New Mexico. Who are they? Why have they suddenly started to appear? What are they looking for?
Keith Rosson has created three flawed but memorable characters in this compelling novel – even his more minor characters felt fully-formed and convincing. The story switches from the present day to past events, from first to third person; it combines history with magical realism and the paranormal; it is full humour often deliciously dark, reflections on the meaning of life, of the search for forgiveness and redemption, of political satire – and much, much more. There are so many genre-defying elements to the story that when I first started reading I wondered how it could possibly be translated into a convincing whole but, in a quite brilliantly inventive way, the author has managed to do just that.
From the powerful opening introduction to the final sentence I felt totally engaged, with both the storyline and with the characters, so much so that I felt a real sense of loss when I had to leave them behind as I turned the final page. The author’s writing is so evocative that, not only did I feel a strong sense that I was accompanying these characters on their journey, but I also felt that I could see the countryside they were travelling through and felt caught up in their experiences of the ethereal and compelling “smokes”. There was never a moment when I didn’t believe in the developing story and I think this is a reflection of the author’s skill in creating such multi-layered characters who seem to leap off the page to make themselves known. I loved the way in which he explored their developing friendship as they travelled towards their respective “destinations”, and how he made even their most deviant behaviour understandable and worthy of empathy. I enjoyed the way in which he creatively wove historical events into the story, his use of allegory and I appreciated the hint of the Jungian concept of a collective unconscious, of patterns repeating themselves down the generations and an ongoing search for resolution. The passages where he described methods of torture in 14th century Europe made for very disturbing reading, not only because they captured the degrading nature of man’s inhumanity to man in such a powerfully visceral way, but because they served as a reminder that men are still capable of similar outrages.
Keith Rosson tackles so many themes in this book that it feels impossible to do justice to all of them but some of the major ones focus on the nature of guilt, shame, despair, forgiveness, absolution, redemption, addiction, the search for salvation, our inter-dependence as human beings and a need to make the most of the life we lead. At times, there is an almost Kafkaesque nature to the writing which makes the story-telling not only convincing in our increasingly complex world but, for this reader, even more compelling. There is so much in the story that is thought-provoking, full of ironical observations and which challenges corruption and complacency. Yet, ultimately, this felt like a story about hope, about love and about the essential decency of people.
This was a hugely satisfying, cohesive and enjoyable personal read and it would make an ideal choice for reading groups, not only because of the varied themes, but also because the literary quality of Keith Rosson’s writing is truly remarkable and, at times, quite breath-takingly beautiful. This is his second published novel (although he has written lots of short stories) and I find myself hoping that his third won’t be too long in coming! A final point, but one which added to my enjoyment because it somehow set the scene for the “quirky” nature of this story, I must mention the author’s own design for the book jacket – it feels perfect!
I cannot praise this book highly enough but I hope that what I have written will convince you to buy yourself a copy and discover for yourself what a remarkable writer Keith Rosson is and what a unique, highly imaginative voice he has as a story-teller.
I received my copy of this book from Library Thing, in exchange for an honest review.

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

The book blurb sounds great! I loved the Joan of Arc and spirit theme, just didn’t care for the writing and plot execution.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Keith Rosson book that I have read and this one is much better that Mercy of the Tide. I think Rosson is excellent at character development, they all seem so real. But MotT really needed help in the plot and resolution. Smoke City has a much better story attached to the characters but I would call the resolution still a little soft. Clearly he is getting better with the practice of having a second book and I look forward to his next one.