Reading a second time through is really fascinating, so much more of the 'is fate real, and anyone can recompense' message seeps through. Still one of my top 5 recommended books. A thought provoking read.


You read that blurb, and look at that cover, and still you'll have no idea that journey you're about to embark on. Smoke City will make you book drunk. Having finished it, after not being able to put it down, I am still basking in the book drunk feeling. The message that Smoke City delivers is profound, and loud & clear by the end of the novel. If you are questioning whether or not to read this book, just do it. It's worth the read. ( )

Good story. Kept my interest. ( )

The last couple of books I received from LibraryThing for review have taken me to the American Northwest. The luck of the draw ... a growing presence of writers from that region ... or something else? I don’t know ... and I don’t mind, either. I like that part of the country, and I think it provides a good setting for tales of all kinds.

The latest addition to my e-bookshelf is “Smoke City,” a novel by Portland, Oregon author Keith Rosen.

I’ve visited Portland more than once ... big Timbers/Thorns fan here. I’ve enjoyed the soccer, the food and the drink ... and meeting all kinds of interesting people ... though those people might pale in comparison to Michael Vale and Marvin Dietz, two characters who are one-of-a-kind in more ways than you can imagine.

The paths each followed to their meeting in Portland couldn’t have been any more different, though both have known great pain and torment, and a desperate wish to escape. As we progress through Rosen’s novel we learn more and more of the backstories of Vale and Dietz as their paths join and they embark upon a journey from Portland ... and “what a long, strange trip” that might be for them and for all who cross their paths ... people and ‘Smokes.’

The Smokes .... of all the characters we encounter in the course of Rosen’s novel, they are the most ephemeral, the most confounding. And yet, their importance grows page by page, adding a supernatural slant to what is already an out-of-the-ordinary ‘road trip’ story.

You, the reader will also be taking a long, strange trip of your own. Rosen’s narrative style takes a lot of jumps back and forth, through time and space, as we learn more and more about Vale and Dietz, and how they become who and what they are today, in the here and now.

I must warn you, though, you may - or may NOT - like who you meet. Their circumstances and the means by which they arrived in those circumstances - not just these two, but the supporting cast of characters who join them on at least one stage of that journey - are sure to elicit a variety of responses, and varying levels of sympathy from readers.

Whatever feeling you have for the characters, whatever level of sympathy - or empathy? - you may have them, I urge you to stay with them through a few more pages, a few more miles down the road until you reach the journey’s end.
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NOTE: I received a free e-copy of this work through LibraryThing, in exchange for a review. ( )

A thousand thanks to the GR friend who led me to this book by mentioning that it was one of the best books they've read this year! I wish I could remember your name! It's such a thrill to find a wonderful new author in a small press book.

This book has three compelling ideas - the guilt-ridden executioner of Joan of Arc, an alcoholic formerly famous painter, and what appear to be ghosts in Los Angeles - and combines them into a road trip to possible redemption. A lesser author could have turned this into a melodramatic mess, but Rosson manages to dig deep into the characters and bring up some intense reflections, yet still maintain an overall hint of what felt like insouciance to me. (Mike's sunglasses!) Just the barest hint of Hunter S. Thompson. Improbably, it all blends. The cover art captured this perfectly for me, and I just went to look for the artists name, and surprise! It's the author!

And on top of all this - the writing. Rosson can nail an imagine for me with just a few words. Example, this description of Los Angeles: "Palm trees bowed in the dark, the breeze rich with eucalyptus and exhaust." I lived in LA years ago, and this brought me right back in an instant.

Here's a longer description of Mike (the alcoholic artist) sitting in a bar with a friend:
"And the evening wound around them. Two vultures curled on their stools as the bar wailed electric around them. They were of a different world than the other patrons - full-blown barflies, the two of them - and as such were hardly visible. He was an awkward piece of furniture that brayed laughter at odd times, got sloppy, fell off his stool. And the shame of this? The knowledge of what he was? It was all lessened when he was in the Moment.

I won't say what 'the Moment' is, you have to read the book. ( )

Ridiculously original, I can't even think of a book to compare this too. Joan of Arc's executioner has been reincarnated time and again and finds himself living a droll existence as a record store owner in Portland, Oregon. Marvin has never lived past 57 so he knows his time is near. He's all but resigned to the fact when he sees a woman on a daytime talk show claim to be Joan of Arc reincarnated. Is this it? Is this Marvin's chance to break the cycle of reincarnation and make amends for killing Saint Joan? He starts to hitchhike down to LA to find Joan of Arc and in the process joins Mike Vale, a former art icon and current drunk. Their road trip turns out to be more than adventurous. Their trip is dotted with smokes, ghostly apparitions that are starting to appear on the east coast. Know one knows what smokes want, but they they don't hang around long. Hundreds appear and disappear and a sense of doom is falling over California. Ghosts, booze, sarcasm, and a 14th century reincarnated executioner make this novel and unforgettable and fun read. ( )