Neid-Fire

by Caldon Mull

Corentin and Armel are cousins on a gap year to spend the summer months cleaning up their Great-Aunt's Farm in the Brittany Forest. Helen has been asking the men in her family for years to come through and tend to the acreage, but their local family feud in the South African Winelands has interfered with her wishes. The young men return to their ancestral home to discover their strange past. There appears to be much forgotten from the family's history and the cousins soon begin to evaluate their lives, juggling a future as a Vintner or any other career in the land of their birth against their prospects in the Old Country. As the summer months pass, Corentin and Armel begin to experience things that they would not have thought possible as they adapt to their new circumstances.

56 pages, Paperback

Published November 21, 2018

Reviews

[Anya · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful weird fantasy novella in Mull's usual subtle and nuanced style. He mixes a little modern South African quirkiness into the arcane traditions and mythology ancient Brittany to create a fascinating story. Woven with interlinking threads of self discovery, responsibility, expiation and healing, this story will sweep you away, and live with you for a long time.

[Tiah]

~We've been 'almost there' the last five times you've asked.~

~I've got a strange feeling about this old place, like it knows me...~

~I'm not angry with you. It's just...I...did apply for the Fire Department and they turned me down...state racial quotas; I'm too male and too white...try again next year...~

~blood that ties you to the land.~

~We are not our fathers...~

[Caldon Mull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neid-Fire is a seditious work. It took a great deal of effort to complete because I wanted to examine three concepts; Sin, Poison Fruit and Family and deal with them in a layered way with a Novella-length Weird Tale.
The first concept of 'Sin' is central to the Novella in the concupiscence of Armel and Constantine's paternal line. A Neid-fire burns away sin but if the individual does not wish to be present, they will receive no redemption. If a Neid-fire is not started, neither can they redeem their fellows. If the individual does not wish to share anything at all (including responsibility), then they do not belong in the community that requires redemption.
The second concept of 'poison fruit' is important in that Armel and Constantine have to realize their duties and abilities without a direct connection to their grandfather and their respective fathers. It has to mean something to them, and not just be something they accept without a commitment from themselves and each other.
The last concept is 'Family'. Chances are that you know your cousin almost all your life, and while you choose your friends and not your family; what if your only true friend is someone in your family?
Offsetting the tension between the first two concepts and the last was a difficult act to deliver on and accounted for some of the extra effort I had not anticipated. I really liked the result; taking real-live places and draping a lens of paranormal over the reality to complete the Weird experience. If you wanted something different, this would definitely be it.