November 2017 | Rougeski Reads

The Fifth Petal | Brunonia Barry | Rougeski Review

November 11, 2017 Rougeski 0

“You know who you are. You have always been other.” Rose’s Book of Trees Those who have always known they are other will find a home away from home in The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry. [more]

Cauchemar Media

Publications

Behind Lace Curtains

Jake Preston, New York photographer, spent his life searching for something more, a magic he could never quite perceive--yet he always let the lens see for him. He hungered for a revelation, but was terrified at the prospect of finding one . . . until he discovered his lover, dead on his blood-spattered bathroom floor, and on a mirror, a Cajun French message scrawled in fresh blood, the words merging with his reflection like sordid war paint.

Even though he cannot translate the scarlet message, he knows what it means. The murder is his fault--blood for blood. With unblinking eyes, Jake smears the haunting words into a meaningless blur of red and then with scarlet-stained fingers transcribes the message onto his flesh, transferring the bloodguilt onto his soul, completing the ritual by painting his face with a glistening mask of red. He knows what he has to do.

Library Angel

Jimmy and Julia, two college students, are haunted by oppressive memories of tyrannical, deceased mothers; Julia responds by becoming a reclusive overachiever and Jimmy, a serial killer. Their lives become inextricably intertwined by a shared fixation for a missing library book that contains marginalia detailing plans for the brutal murder of a local woman.

Julia, believing she has uncovered information that can stop a string of serial killings, struggles to find a way to prevent the murderer from striking again, never realizing she has embarked on a perilous, unconscious quest for freedom from the past. And Jimmy goes hunting . . . for Julia.