- Penny Dreadful (novel)
infobox Book |
name = Penny Dreadful
title_orig =
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image_caption = MacAdam/Cage Publishing Reissue Cover
author =Will Christopher Baer
illustrator =
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country =United States
language = English
series =
genre =Novel
publisher =Viking Press
release_date = March 2000
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover ,Paperback
pages = 224 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0670889202 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by =Kiss Me, Judas
followed_by =Hell's Half Acre (novel) "Penny Dreadful", (2000) is the second novel by American novelist
Will Christopher Baer . It is written in the grim style ofhardboiled fiction. First published byViking Press .Plot summary
To play the game of tongues, you must first understand the caste system….Phineas Poe, antihero of Kiss Me, Judas, returns to Denver from harrowing adventures in Mexico to find that reality has been rewritten and the laws of reason redrawn. When Poe is enlisted by his old ally, Detective Moon, to find a missing cop named Jimmy Sky, he finds himself perilously drawn into the game of tongues, a violent fantasy game played out by disaffected college drones, hacker kids, and goth refugees in underground punk clubs, on rooftops, and in sewers. Everyone he meets has multiple personalities, and before long Poe begins to lose track of his own various identities. If he can hang onto his sanity long enough to find Jimmy Sky, he might just beat the game.
Characters in "Penny Dreadful"
; Phineas Poe/Ray Fine: The main character. A former policeman suspected of murdering his wife, Phineas is an detatched and (in many ways) unbalanced individual who changes personalities the way that other people change clothing.; Detective Moon : A member of the Denver Police Department who used to work with Poe. He is the one who sends Phineas on his mission to find Jimmy Sky.; Jimmy Sky : The "King of the Freds" and a figure in the Game of Tongues.; Eve/Goo: A recent friend of Poe's from his adventures in "Kiss Me, Judas". Eve plays the Game of Tongues as her alternate persona, Goo, who is the girlfriend of Chrome.; Christian/Chrome: A cruel Mariner in the Game of Tongues, Chrome is a self-envisioned master of French and the beau of Goo.; Griffin/Major Tom: A high-profile Denver lawyer who went to college with Poe. Some time during a break in their friendship, he was drawn into the Game of Tongues to become Major Tom, a Mariner.; Lot McDaniel/Theseus the Glove: An officer in the Denver Police Department, and the head of the Game of Tongues in the city. ; Matthew Roar/Mingus the Breather: A Breather in the Game of Tongues, and a close friend to Chrome, Goo, and Dizzy Bloom.; Dizzy Bloom: A Breather in the Game of Tongues.; Crumb/Gulliver: A Redeemer in the Game of Tongues, and an old friend of Poe's.; Lady Adore: A mysterious but powerful figure in the Game of Tongues, who seems to stand almost on par with Theseus the Glove. Goo is her apprentice in a series of torture shows.
Major themes
Footnotes
References
External links
* [http://www.willchristopherbaer.com Official site of Will Christopher Baer]
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