NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS
Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258
Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/
September 21, 2013
Religion and Psychiatry Satirized in
Christina Barber's Dark Suburban Fantasy
A Review of
Christina Barber Seeley's Pond (HD-Image, 2008)
193 pp $15.35 ISBN: 0-9770437-5-4
Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz
I first heard the term "dark urban fantasy" when it was used to identify the genre of the book under review. Perhaps a slightly more accurate term for this novel would be "dark suburban fantasy" since the evil paranormal events involving the protagonist, Julia Tayte, begin after she moves to a New Jersey suburban town near the demonic Seeley's Pond. The author, Christina Barber, has spun a good tale here, which is not suprising because she was trained by an excellent writing teacher, the late Vickie Kennedy in her Newnan-based The Writers Block.
For me the significance of her story is its satire of mainstream American religion and psychiatry. Most Christian churches believe in a theology which teaches that Satan and demons are no longer operative in human affairs because they were "bound" by Christ at the time of His Resurrection and Ascension. And most psychiatrists believe that Satan and demons do not even exist. This is the reason why neither Julia's husband, a Presbyterian pastor, nor her psychiatrists were able to help her: they thought she was suffering from a delusion! This was an even more frightening experience for her than the demonic attacks she suffered.
The author in the signed copy of her book which she donated to the public library in Newnan (where she lives) adresses the reader in these words: "wishing you unsettling reading".
Information on the author is available on her website http://www.christinabarber.net/
