About
Collin Kelley is the author of the novel, Conquering Venus (2009, Vanilla Heart Publishing), and three poetry collections, After the Poison, Slow To Burn and Better To Travel. His spoken word album, HalfLife Crisis, is available at CD Baby and iTunes. Kelley, a Georgia Author of the Year Award-winner and Pushcart Prize nominee, is also co-editor of the Java Monkey Speaks Poetry Anthology series from Poetry Atlanta Press.
Description
<p style="padding:0px;margin:0px 0px 14px;color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="font-weight:700;font-style:italic;">If you had the chance to remake the world, what kind of world would you choose?</span></p><p style="padding:0px;margin:-4px 0px 14px;color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><span>When tragedy strikes Lucas Mack's young life, he desperately yearns to escape its sorrow, and takes an improbable leap through the mythical maelstrom. Rather than splashing down on the far side like his neighbors, he's transported to a magical realm where he has the power to redefine not only who he is, but the world in which he resides.</span></p><p style="padding:0px;margin:-4px 0px 14px;color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><span>As he stumbles about trying to find his way, he meets Mia, an equally troubled fellow pilgrim. With the help of a mystical guide and an aging wizard, they navigate the enchanted land while learning to control their newfound powers. Yet this realm is more complex than they expected, with seasoned sorcerers who've been corrupted by the sinister side of magic.</span></p><p style="padding:0px;margin:-4px 0px 14px;color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><span>Limited by natural law and seduced by magic's power, they are tested as never before. Will the gift of magic bring renewed hope or drive them to the edge of the void?</span></p>
Story Behind The Book
Conquering Venus and Remain In Light are the first two books in The Venus Trilogy.
In 1968, Irène Laureux's husband was murdered during the Paris student and worker riots. Thirty years later, she is still on the hunt for the man who knows how and why Jean-Louis died – his secret lover, Frederick Dubois.
Aiding in her search is American expat Martin Paige, a writer still reeling from a love affair gone wrong with a student, David McLaren. Martin meets a young poet, Christian, and the two fall in love, but their happiness is shaken when Martin's friend, Diane Jacobs, arrives in Paris with news that David has gone missing.
Diane discovers that David's disappearance is more than just a missing person case with connections to drugs, stolen identities, long-hidden government secrets and a shocking connection to Irène's past. This literary mystery takes readers from America to London and into the dark underworld of the fabled City of Light.
Reviews
<em>Conquering Venus</em> is a stunning debut novel—a poetic page-turner, a
wonderful mystery, and a compelling story of self-realization. - <em>
OutSmart Magazine</em><br /><br />Kelley does an excellent job of taking us seamlessly into the paranormal
scenes and back to reality, neither missing the proverbial beat or
losing one bit of his hold on the reader. - <em>New Southerner</em><br /><br /><em>Remain In Light</em> is a first class suspense novel. - Grant Jerkins, author of <em>A Very Simple Crime</em> and <em>At the End of the Road</em>.<br /><br />Filled with what-will-they-say-next characters, a suspenseful pace, and intertwining plots <em>Remain in Light</em> is a wickedly fun read. - Lambda Literary Review