Iago's Penumbra: A Metaphysical Novel

by Rose Guildenstern Narrated by Melanie Hooks

Overview

Everybody loves a good ghost story, yet poor dead Vee feels anything but “good” being stuck upstage in the heavens of her own afterlife. She can peek in on Val, who's “downstage” with the living but haunted by ghosts. Then there's Julie, stubbornly stage left but longing to be downstage with Val. And finally, poor Peter remains solitary in his stage-rightness with the sneaking suspicion he might be dead wrong. Trapped at center stage lurks the demon Iago, willing to bridge heaven and hell to exit this cursed performance once and for all. Just as Good Omens revamped the book of Revelation and His Dark Materials reimagined Milton's Paradise Lost, Iago's Penumbra is a modern love story about the darkness that redeems us, rooted in the works of William Shakespeare-with a little philosophy, physics, and cosmic horror thrown in, just for fun.

Editorial Reviews

John Matthews

One of the most unusual books I have read in recent years. To begin with most of the characters are dead right from the start, thus allowing an exploration of life-after-death, the Otherworld, and all points between. Part love story, part metaphysical exploration of loss, desire and wisdom, part occult novel, the author has created an original and at times deeply unsettling account of what it means to be human, what it means to lose humanity, and what it means to discover something beyond the physical, time-bound world in which we live. Rose Guilderstern is an exciting new voice which we will most certainly be hearing from again.

Sasha Graham

Iago's Penumbra is a rare piece of dark magic leaving you spellbound until the last luscious page.

Emily Carding

I do not think it would be possible to expect anything quite so entirely creative, clever and consuming, full of surprises, romance, drama and, of course, magic...No doubt Will himself would be proud.

Monica Bodirsky

Iago's Penumbra takes you on an unforgettable journey through the shadows while weaving an exquisite tale of love, life, and the afterlife. Guildenstern's writing has the rhythm and depth of a musical ocean with tides of longing, joy, sorrow, and the inevitable. A deeply satisfying and thought-provoking tale that everyone needs to read.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159959928
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	05/28/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

ONE Hang there like fruit, my soul, Till the tree die. —Cymbeline, attributed to William Shakespeare My death was a catharsis, not a calamity. More an edge than an ending. Fuzzy, sure, but also refining. Like being thrown into one of those Monet paintings with all the water lilies. Only as my head dipped beneath the surface of the fragmented pond, the world flipped, and I swam upward into the mottled waters rather than down. The light beneath, the darkness above, squirming pigments shifting everywhere, squelching and oozing, until the colors ran together and, at last, I lost track of my own color in the exquisite beauty of it all. I have been told people do not really get that Monet’s art is all about shattering the light—cannot appreciate chaotic impressions too far removed from how humans generally make sense of reality. In order for anyone to read on, they must find my story personal, relatable somehow. But how can the living relate to the dead? Allow me to draw back from the nameless truth of disembodiment, then, and instead begin my story a little smaller—a bit more singular. To when I was merely a teenage girl whose cells had turned against her. Before I died, everyone was so afraid for me. Frightened of the darkness I would face before they did. The minister assured me that I’d soon meet the Light of the World, and my dad told me that I had lived such a bright life for someone so young (this, of course, as his eyes were blinded by tears). My mom did not say much—she never could tell me all those small, light lies that other mothers tell their daughters to help them face the brokenness of this world. They were all speaking for themselves, of course, not for me. I have always felt more at home in the shadows. Maybe I have known the darkness too well—but I will let you be the judge of that. Cancer killed my body, but it was the Light that annihilated me. And surrendering to the Darkness is what saved me.

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