David HerterRezensionen

I read this years ago, but I can report that the book creates scenes and scenarios and images that stick in your mind. Herter is a gifted dreamweaver.

But I can't remember anything about the book's import, what it was all for. What it had to say.

Perhaps those are the wrong questions. Or I just missed the answers.

But definitely worth a try for those who enjoy urban (in this case isolated small town) fantasy.

What was that about? Some boy with massive psycho problems, whose reality was completely intertwined with stories from comics and books? Sorry, I don't get it at all. And the writing style was quite hard for me to follow.

[One Who Disappeared]

The First Republic is the Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 until 1938 when it was subsumed by Nazi Occupation. David Herter’s trilogy delves into the cultural richness of this period as it is overshadowed by the looming evil of the times. His characters are historical figures, artists – most notably, the composers Leoš Janáček, Pavel Haas, Igor Stravinsky and Gideon Klein; the writers, Franz Kafka, Karel Čapek and Max Brod; the brothers of Čapek and Haas, the artist Joseph Čapek and the Hollywood actor and director Hugo Haas; and a mysterious flautist named Magdalena.

The critic, Brian Stableford, who wrote the introduction to [One Who Disappeared], describes the books as belonging to a heterocosmic tradition that realism rejected, but which has emerged not only in genre fiction but the wider scope of magical realism. Rather than try to summarize or analyze the trilogy, I would simply like to express my appreciation for Herter’s fascinating introduction to this time and these people in dazzling series of books that teases the imagination and provides a rich and strange exploration.

Herter’s own description of his experience in Brno during the festival that celebrated the birth of Janáček in 2004 (while he was working on the trilogy) is evocative of some of the magic produced by his books: http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Features/06_HerterLetter.html

Listening Guide to the connection between the city of Brno and Janacek’s Sinfonietta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uciNH5hCCvI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_an_Overgrown_Path
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEk9Iemd5s

[The Luminous Depths]

The First Republic is the Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 until 1938 when it was subsumed by Nazi Occupation. David Herter’s trilogy delves into the cultural richness of this period as it is overshadowed by the looming evil of the times. His characters are historical figures, artists – most notably, the composers Leoš Janáček, Pavel Haas, Igor Stravinsky and Gideon Klein; the writers, Franz Kafka, Karel Čapek and Max Brod; the brothers of Čapek and Haas, the artist Joseph Čapek and the Hollywood actor and director Hugo Haas; and a mysterious flautist named Magdalena.

The critic, Brian Stableford, who wrote the introduction to [One Who Disappeared], describes the books as belonging to a heterocosmic tradition that realism rejected, but which has emerged not only in genre fiction but the wider scope of magical realism. Rather than try to summarize or analyze the trilogy, I would simply like to express my appreciation for Herter’s fascinating introduction to this time and these people in dazzling series of books that teases the imagination and provides a rich and strange exploration.

Herter’s own description of his experience in Brno during the festival that celebrated the birth of Janáček in 2004 (while he was working on the trilogy) is evocative of some of the magic produced by his books: http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Features/06_HerterLetter.html

Listening Guide to the connection between the city of Brno and Janacek’s Sinfonietta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uciNH5hCCvI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_an_Overgrown_Path
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEk9Iemd5s½

On the Overgrown Path is the first of Herter's books in the First Republic Trilogy.

The First Republic is the Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 until 1938 when it was subsumed by Nazi Occupation. David Herter’s trilogy delves into the cultural richness of this period as it is overshadowed by the looming evil of the times. His characters are historical figures, artists – most notably, the composers Leoš Janáček, Pavel Haas, Igor Stravinsky and Gideon Klein; the writers, Franz Kafka, Karel Čapek and Max Brod; the brothers of Čapek and Haas, the artist Joseph Čapek and the Hollywood actor and director Hugo Haas; and a mysterious flautist named Magdalena.

The critic, Brian Stableford, who wrote the introduction to One Who Disappeared, describes the books as belonging to a heterocosmic tradition that realism rejected, but which has emerged not only in genre fiction but the wider scope of magical realism. Rather than try to summarize or analyze the trilogy, I would simply like to express my appreciation for Herter’s fascinating introduction to this time and these people in dazzling series of books that teases the imagination and provides a rich and strange exploration.

Herter’s own description of his experience in Brno during the festival that celebrated the birth of Janáček in 2004 (while he was working on the trilogy) is evocative of some of the magic produced by his books: http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Features/06_HerterLetter.html

Listening Guide to the connection between the city of Brno and Janacek’s Sinfonietta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uciNH5hCCvI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_an_Overgrown_Path
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEk9Iemd5s½

This book was very mystical and fascinating, almost utopian yet with a down-home Oregonian quirk.. Being from Oregon I loved it, and could easily envision it.. It was amazing how the story twisted and turned and its easy to think how it was all symbolic.. but not overtly so.. I know I'll be thinking about this one for some time to come!

Wrrr. I just don't think I tapped in to what this book was doing, somehow. I was pretty intrigued by the setting and atmosphere for about the first quarter or so, but then I kind of lost any sense of really being in the book. I suspect I would have fared much better if I had read the whole thing in one sitting--I get the sense the book really should be experienced that way. Ah well.

Without giving too much away, this third book begins in 1949 with Pavel Haas, his brother and their families comfortably ensconced in Hollywood, yet haunted by things past. A mysterious telegram arrives, and a subsequent meeting, (and with the help of a "stave flower") sends Pavel back to 1929, where the maestro, the Capek brothers and others are unaware of the impending war. Running against the clock, can Pavel enlist their help and change history?

What I said about previous book: He [Herter] has created a sense of place and character and atmosphere rich with period details, musical details, historical details... still holds true for this "gripping, fantastical" installment, which is more complex than the previous two. Again, one is drawn and immersed in this story with its whirlwind setting and pervading atmosphere of urgency. And music seems to pervade it all, so that even the earth itself is moved by it.

Things mysterious in the previous two installments are understood fully in this third, but when I finished it, I still found myself wanting to go back and start the whole trilogy over again.

Set in the early C20th and with something of that old-fashioned style to it - reminiscent of "The House on the Borderlands" with it's dream-like quality. I enjoyed it immensely except that the ending was a bit of a disappointment.

Daric is a boy growing up on an isolated estate on a far future terraformed Mars. He tends the estate plant life and listens to his ancient grandpapa's stories about the amazing exploits of the long-dead Emperor Darius, who transformed the entire Solar System. His brother gives him a task to accomplish in a nearby city and Darius get involved in a trail of adventures which will see him follow in the footsteps of Darius.

He is is kidnapped by agents of the faction fearing the return of Darius to stop an attempt to bring him to earth to open a trove that Darius left sealed long ago. He escapes and begins a journey that takes him to an asteroid, Triton and Pluto's ,moon.

The feel of the future in this novel is very strange. It draws a picture of technologies which function almost like a magical landscape, which does create a mysterious future, if not quite a believable one. One memorable aspect is the series of floating numbers Daric/Darius sees which enable him to locate himself in space. While the story and action are baroque in the extreme, what this novel lacks is any sense of real danger or of the clashing of 'big ideas'. There is no tension here. A boy grows up as a clone of a man.

Russell Kent, composer, is trying to deal with the loss of his wife while also trying to write an opera adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (And that is an opera I would dearly love to see.) As part of his ongoing recovery from grief, he decides to visit the small coastal town, Evening, where his wife died a year ago, and continue writing his opera there.

The town of Evening is a character all on its own. Set on the wintery coastline of Oregon, it survives through its cheese factory and tourism, and is peopled by some of the most dull, cheese obsessed, small minded small town people it has ever been the misfortune of Kent to meet. Luckily, there are some diamonds amongst the dullards; in particular his landlady Megan Sumner, and Bernard Dreerson, owner of the local bookshop, The Warp and Weft. These diamonds seem to be waging a war of some sorts with the town dullards, but it does take a while for the undercurrents to become clear, and they definitely weren't at all what I was expecting.

Herter has written a fascinating story, peopled with highly believable characters, and has made music come alive in words. A book where the unexpected occurs, and where cheese and music are both strong motifs. And it's not many books you can say that about.

A novella that feels very much like a fairy tale for grown-ups. An elderly Czech composer (clearly based on Leoš Janáček if you know even a little about his life and work) is left behind in a small nameless village somewhere in Czechoslovakia when his train is delayed by an avalanche on the tracks. He indulges his habit of recording sounds he hears in musical notation in a small notebook, and becomes obsessed with a particular song sung out of sight by a woman's voice "a vivid contralto...weaving a tune, a melismatic melody of leaps and turns." It is his distraction in attempting to locate this woman that causes him to miss the departure of his train. He is put up in large empty house---almost a Castle---where he is cared for by the housekeeper and her husband. He makes forays into the nearby Woods searching for that tune, which proves very elusive. Soon he begins to feel that Something does not wish him to capture these essential sounds, and yet he cannot give up the quest. There is an atmosphere to this compelling story that is reminiscent of Tolkien. A brilliant evocation of Eastern Europe between the wars, when Magic both dark and bright seemed to infuse the very trees and snowflakes, and mysterious forces were abroad in the land.

Interesting story, but didn't quite jell.

At the end of 2008 I read the first novella in Herter's trilogy, On the Overgrown Path which was a wonderful dark fantasy and mystery featuring the Czech composer Janacek.

This second book begins in the early 1920s with the arrival of Dr. Brod and Franz Kafka at Janacek home. There Kafka is introduced and he produces a mysteries "stave flower" - a folded parchment with many points covered in what seems to be tiny musical notations. Kafka tells him that it fell from the sky and hit him in the chest. With it came an ominous vision of the future, he claimed.

Now forward ahead to 1930. Composer Pavel Haas, a former student of Janacek is working with Karel and Josef Capek on a revival of their play, [R.U.R] or Rossum's Universal Robots. After an evening of camaraderie with the Capeks at a local restaurant, Pavel is on his way home when what looks like a paper star flower floats down from the sky and hits him in the chest. He pockets it. Later the next day, when during the play rehearsal he unfolds it, the theater goes dark. . . .

What begins now is a gripping fantastical tale that I would prefer not to spoil for you. Herter is actually quite a fine writer (one of the better ones in the field of genre literature, imo). He has created a sense of place and character and atmosphere rich with period details, musical details, historical details. You are there in the theater with Haas, the Capeks, the other costumed actors. You are there when the lights go out, and you are there for what comes after...

Both books are very well done and I'm really looking forward to the third!½

Weird. Details a strange, strange and curious universe. Well written. But not interesting enough to hold one's attention all the way through, unfortunately.

A weird tale of a future of the solar system that has undergone numerous poltical earthquakes so deep that the information itself takes on mythic proportions. It's an odyssey of a young man on Mars who awakens to his legacy as the former Ruler of the Solar System.

The composer Janacek is stuck in a small village near the mountains when his train leaves without him. The villagers are very accommodating and he decides to make the best of his time by investigating some folk music he heard but strange and mysterious things begin to happen. Set in the early 1920s in Slovakia (or near the border), this delightful novella manages to still give the feeling of a folkloric wooded winter setting, with just a dash of Gothic. Janacek is an intriguing character to be placed in the middle of it.

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Description: En route from Bratislava to Prague in the deceptive spring of the 1920s, Leos Janáček, famed opera composer, ethnographer, and amateur psychologist, is stranded in an obscure and enigmatic mountain village, lured from his train by a song of blood. Here, Janáček must become a detective far from home. Attempting to solve a bizarre murder in which he himself is suspect — and whose perpetrator might be a wild animal, a jealous lover, or Nature unhinged — he brings to bear his singular skills of observation and poetic insight, and most importantly, his belief in the truthfulness of the "little melodies" heard in everyday life: the cry of a bird, the plash of snow from the eaves, the horrendous lie voiced with a smile. What he uncovers is a many-stranded aria of ravenous Nature and mischievous Time, threatening to consume his world.

My Review: What a beautiful little package this book is! I love the Millais cover image, Ophelia, and particularly like the way it resonates with the dark, supernatural story Herter is telling here.

This little beauty was very pleasant to read. It's a supernatural fantasy set in 1923 Czechoslovakia, featuring the composer Janacek as its main character. The evocative language, and the use of Janacek's known habit of recording every sound in musical notation wherever he was, were very nice features of the book. The dialogue was, in a word, wooden; some of it was intentional, and I could completely see that the author was attempting a 19th-century cadence with sterling success; but then, but then, but then...almost every time Janacek speaks, the statement is an exclamation! As thought this 70-year-old man of a certain dignified station in life was a Valley Girl! That made the unnaturalness I felt was a hallmark of Janacek's dailogue all the more evident!

The supernatural-death-dealer elements were fine, and well-handled; the story path of the isolated village with dark secrets and darker customs is well-worn, but nonetheless enjoyable to tread; yet the whole, which I began wit every expectation of adoring, ended up in the "glad I read it, but won't re-read" category. I would cheerfully recommend the book to anyone who likes dark fantasy tales, and would equally recommend it to anyone interested in moody, atmospheric fiction. Just don't pin your socks to your pants, they are in no danger of getting blown off by On the Overgrown Path.½