The Blank Slate Boarding House for Creatives Kindle Edition

If your taste runs to intricate, detail-rich, intricately plotted, character-driven historical fiction, you'll not only want to read this book and recommend it to friends, you'll savor it. A battle of wits between two of the world's eminent magicians lingers through the pages like an apparition, the pending confrontation never more than a chapter or two away. It's what Conan Doyle might label a three pipe case. Tension rises throughout, with characters, plot devices, natural disasters and dueling narratives popping in and out, like rabbits from a hat.Stanton's characters converge on the Blank Slate Boarding House from different directions: Perjos' evil intent is to become The World's Greatest Magician; Emily is a newly-hired housekeeper, Susanna sometime friend/ part time arsonist, Henry, Claudia, Ver Mien, Mrs. Cornelius, Harry Houdini (The `Wriggling Rabbi,') Arthur Conan Doyle & his wife Jeannie, Old Ted, an overgrown wood nymph, Tommy, Tony, Jakub the naked cellist, and last but not least the house itself as a main character with its closed bedroom doors and all that implies.Perjos departs Cherbourg on the SS Rotterdam. Conan Doyle is aboard, both men traveling to New York to attend the magician's convocation. Perjos' sworn enemy, Houdini will be there as well. Perjos intends to stay at the boarding house, where he's been in attendance before, and where former assistant Susanna resides, waiting for her chance to wreak revenge on Perjos for a past injury.Emily is the protagonist of the tale. Young, inexperienced, virginal Emily from Ohio arrives by train in Port Glover, and is whisked off to the house by Susanna, the stories catalyst for both good and evil. Emily meets Mrs. Cornelius and her eclectic collection of artists. Through a swinging door, Emily sees and hears things she's never in her life been exposed to, but she's determined to follow her father's advice, to `do her best.' The mantra will see her through the various twists, turns and adventures that can only be found in a boarding house filled with creative, eccentric people.Mrs. C realizes Perjos is coming back and the plot thickens. Ver Mien is convinced that Perjos is out to get him, and he's right; Henry likewise holds ill-will toward the sinister Perjos. The artists have good reason to be anxious; Perjos' hexing ability is well known. He once convinced a young artist that he had no fingers. The poor fellow believed the hex, and killed himself. He tells Henry the poet that he'll lose `one word per day,' and Henry mourns this `fact.'As Perjos is fond of saying, suspicion is either the magician's enemy or his cloak.Susanna assaults Perjos. She's arrested and remanded to an asylum; Tommy courts Emily; Emily courts disaster when she falls under Perjos' spell, lured by his offer to be his assistant. The magicians perform, Conan Doyle has a seance with his long-dead son; Bears are shot; Mrs. Cornelius falls for Old Ted, and gives him Emily's locket; Perjos uses Ver Mien as a prop, removing part of his skull in what he labels `trepanation.' Perjos brings back Dolly, the pachyderm that Houdini used in his own act, and apparently abused for years. With this sleight of hand, Perjos wins the competition.But there's more to come! Jakub the cellist imagines his dead sister; Ver Mien renders his final work in red; like a deus ex machina, Susanna escapes her cell, returns to the Blank Slate and sets fire to the house. Emily tries to save everyone, and succeeds, mostly. Mrs. Cornelius refuses to leave, Susanna lies unconscious from Emily's head bashing. When Emily yells at her to leave, Claudia delivers one of the funnier lines in the book: "Why? Are Republicans caucusing downstairs?" The house burns, and the story comes to its intermingled, interwoven, climactic end. The final chapter has Emily back at the train station. This time she steps onto the platform a married woman, with a husband named Tommy, and a daughter named Susanna. The house is a charred husk of its former self, the chimney standing as a marker of a twisted tale from a time when Emily has `done her best.' Given the mix of 'creatives' here it's amazing what can be written on a blank slate.Stanton's writing is crisp, lush, well researched and well paced. Chapters interweave and mingle with satisfying transitions, and plot lines follow well. Rich details like a reference to the novelty of electric lights in rooms, attire, citations of historical individuals such as president Harding and other named characters give a strong sense of time. Almost allegory, the book has sinking ships, wild animals, a `leaving Eden' kind of subplot with dying trees, morality plays within various magic acts and rich language from characters who stay true to their voice.There may be too many characters for full development of any one of them. Some are left hanging. Claudia, for example, needed much more unpacking, and Henry should have shared more of his poetry. There could have been more dialogue between main characters, though at 350 pages in the digital edition, the book is far more epic than short story, so each role was a bit limited. The relationships between Susanna and Emily, and Susanna and Rose Cornelius are somewhat blurry, with a homoerotic element that could have been explored better, and been a very satisfying sub-plot because of it. Emily's figurine has the makings of a fine objective correlative, a device which could have been used to much advantage, but appears only at the margins. There's much use of symbolism in the book, a lot of which could require a second reading. This is a book that could be re-read, each pass revealing more and more.Blank Slate Boarding House for Creatives is a rich, rewarding period piece, well crafted historical fiction and very satisfying.Byron Edgington, author of The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life

If Amazon allowed details, I'd originally rate this at 3.5, but I rounded to 4 instead of 3 because it's not a 3.I was really excited to read this because I loved the idea of the setting and time period. In that regard, Stanton didn't disappoint.I loved the Blank Slate boarding house. It was a fun setting. It was different and felt fresh. The crazy artists brought a lot of energy. Stanton did a really good job bringing all kinds of personality into it that I wasn't expecting. The owner of the house was interesting and I was excited to learn her story. Susanna was probably my favorite, and the most consistent, of all the characters. She's a free spirit and it worked for her.Where the book wobbled a bit was in regards to the MC Emily. Emily was mostly straightforward from the beginning of the story, but there were a few scenes where her actions just didn't fit. It threw me off several times, and the ending- well, seemed less than right to me.Perjos, the bad guy, was sufficiently creepy and terrible. I loathed him, and was fascinated by him, in the same breath. Kudos for that. My only disappointment with Perjos was the anticlimactic ending. I won't give away much, but it didn't match up with the mounting suspense and desire for Perjos to get what's coming to him. Old Ted was said to be 'strong enough' for Perjos, so I was REALLY excited to see how Old Ted's eccentric personality combined to defeat Perjos, but again . . . didn't match up.There were a few things in regard to the actual reading that made the waters a bit choppy. Stanton has short scenes, some of them very short, which was okay in some parts. But in others, it just seemed cut short. The result of that was a lot of jumping around, so I never felt glued into a scene, or what it meant, or what effect it would have. Sometimes it also made me disconnect from the characters because there just wasn't enough time in the scenes to really know them. Also- the trees. I'm not sure how the trees tied into the overall story. I may have missed the connection, but if there was one, it was never obvious.Overall, it was a fun, worthwhile read. If you like links to things outside the story, Stanton provides those throughout. I look forward to more of his work in the future.

After having read Stanton's first novel, I ordered this one as soon as it became available. Like with the first one, he says that the story came to him in a dream. This is where the similarities between the two novels end, however. Unlike other writers who often repeat themselves again and again in later works, Chaunce Stanton creates something completely new in his second novel.The style of the book reminded me of E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime" (one of my all-time favorites) in the way it mixes historical and fictional events of the 1920's. I have to admit that the feeling of the Jazz Age did not come completely across for me, this could have to do with the fact that I have read many, many books regarding that era and moreover, I did not make use of any of the links, as my old Kindle doesn't support this. I imagine that if you clicked on all the hyperlinks, it would get you more in a 1920's mood.Apart from this minor complaint, I am once again impressed by Stanton's creativity and his literary skill. He definitely is a wonderful storyteller. The book never became boring, instead I always kept reading longer than intended because I wanted to find out how the story continues/ends.Like some other reviewers said, he could have spent some more time/pages on some individual characters. Although I would have liked to find out a little more about some of them, all of them are developed and not flat.When Chaunce Stanton publishes his next novel, I will surely be among the first people to purchase it. The way he uses language and narrates a story has put him among my favorite contemporary authors.

Interesting philosophical discussion and - good historical context which to a history teacher is very important! I found it a little hard to get through at times a maybe just a, little 'more' needed - but thumbs up from me for the history and creating interesting characters!

Found this confussing at first

An extraordinary and accomplished piece of fantasy, with vivid characterisation and a compelling plot. The inclusion of Conan Doyle is an absolute treat.

Chaunce Stanton takes readers, brilliantly, back to the heady days of 1922.This is a tale of magic and mysticism, sometimes dark and disturbing. Intergrating an imaginative storyline that features Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, and a sinister 'Perjos' who sees himself as 'the greatest magician in the world!'With the owner and staff of the Blank Slate Boarding house, and history involving the house and characters, a fascinating tale unfolds.It will cause you to question what magic amounts to, physically and mentally, and what drives people to be or to do...and you will find it hard to put down!Cleverly constructed, this ebook takes ebooks to a new dimension, and readers to a whole new electronic experience!

From page one, Mr. Stanton drew me in. His no-holds-barred-style left me recoiling in disgust yet yearning for more! Blank Slate Boarding House for Creatives is a flawlessly orchestrated tale of dark magic peppered with a lush cast of characters, both fictional and non-fictional. My favourite, by far, is Old Ted, his guileless innocence a sharp contrast to the moody desperation of most of the other characters. Perjos is a work of art, his immoral capabilities a depraved journey into the depths of human nature. Blank Slate Boarding House for Creatives is a true masterpiece and not to be missed by those who relish plummeting head first into the shadowy world of magic!