Author: fliplamken

The Body Reader

by fliplamken

the body reader“One day she stopped screaming.”

With these chilling words, the reader is plunged into the nightmare world of Jude Fontaine. For three hellish years, Jude Fontaine has been the prisoner of a sadistic captor. Filthy, starved, and beaten, she barely clings to her sense of self. Then for one moment, she has an opportunity to escape. But freedom is difficult. Her boyfriend has moved on. Her partner on the police force doesn’t think Jude is mentally fit for police duty. Just maintaining an aura of normalcy can be a challenge for Jude.

Then the body of a missing teen is found. What looks like a drowning accident is murder. Then another teen girl is found dead. Someone from Jude’s past is connected to the murders. The investigation will bring Jude face to face with old demons and challenge her sanity.

Author Anne Fraiser has created the most believable story about the mental and physical torment of a kidnap victim. Jude Fontaine is a mesmerizing heroine. Despite the physical and emotional abuse of her kidnapper, she struggles to survive. After escaping, she fights to take control of her life. But she is no victim. She is a kickass heroine. She is the best female character since The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

However, this novel is much better written than Stieg Larrson’s debut novel. As with all of Fraiser’s novels, there is amazing depth to the secondary characters. In particular, the mother of a missing teen girl resonates with humanity. The plot twists and turns. There are betrayals. In the end, I was left wanting to read more about Jude and her partner, Uriah Ashby.

Only Lovers Left Alive – A Review

by fliplamken

Tom Hiddleston alone is reason to watch this movie. His character, Adam, is a Only lovers left alive hero, a dark, moody rock musician vampire, sick of  destructive  humanity and of life itself. But his wife, Eve, sensing his depression leaves her home in Tangiers to be with him in Detroit. Slow paced, the movie is a visual delight. Modern Detroit is a haunting, gothic backdrop to the story. The perfectly matched, elegant physical beauty of Hiddleston and Swinton makes them the perfect pair to play  sophisticated vampires. Both Hiddleston and Swinton move with a languid grace as if they had all the time in the world.  These long-lived vampires have spent centuries immersed in the arts and sciences. They do everything exceptional well. They create beautiful music, influence great artists and learn science through the ages. They can speak and read a multitude of languages. Eve packs books for trip rather than clothes. In fact, they do everything well except dance. They can’t dance for shit. Adam and Eve have a deeply romantic relationship and a soul connection. Despite a 20 year age gap, Swinton and Hiddleston lit up the screen with their sexual chemistry. The music was incredible.  There are subtle touches which I love, Adam’s musical studio with its out-dated equipment reminded me of Frankenstein’s lab. And have I mentioned Hiddleston’s stand out performance bringing to life a multifaceted Adam, who could be the self-pitying, depressed artist to the ardent lover to the calculating. His final words in the movie, “I get the girl” was a chilling combination of sexuality and violence.

What is my freak flag?

by fliplamken

As a child, I had an esoteric spiritual upbringing. My father was an outspoken atheist. While she was a Christian, my mother didn’t attend church. This behavior would make our neighbors concerned about her children’s souls. So they frequently offered to take us to church. My mother eagerly accepted any and all offers, which gave her a few hours with a few less children. So I went to a wide variety of Christian Churches, from Catholic to Methodist to Episcopalian to Pentecostal to Baptist. As a kid, I enjoyed bible classes. I loved the churches, which passed out little glasses of grape juice during the service. Wasn’t as thrilled with the dried up bread served with it. Sadly our neighbors worst fears proved true, I am an agnostic.

A much greater influence on my adult spiritual life was my maternal grandmother. She read the writings of Edgar Cayce, strongly believed in reincarnation,  and followed astrology. She introduced me to astrology and I have been a life long student of astrology.

Not that astrology has given me a lot of spiritual depth. It is a form of navel gazing for me. I used it to better understand myself and those closest to me. And despite having read dozens of astrology books over the decades and attending the occasional astrology class, I would never claim to be an astrologer. I am still the passionate amateur, reading and learning.

I had an aha moment regarding my Uranus in Leo in my first house. Uranus is one generational planets in astrology.Uranus is symbolizes revolution, innovation, and other galvanizing moments.  So everyone in my generation (from 1956 to 1962) has Uranus in Leo. How it impacts an individual depends on where it appear in your individual chart. It is your inner revolutionary. I have Uranus in Leo in my first house. The first house represents your self, identity, physical body, personality and the face that your present to the world. Now conventional astrology books would say that this means that the world could see me as a trailblazer or a weirdo with a strange appearance. Neither really applies.   With Uranus in Leo in my first house, I proudly wave my freak flag. By freak flag,  I show the world the parts of me that most people would hide.  I embrace my individuality.

So with this blog, I intend to wave my freak flag.