5-Star Award!
The Arcane Arcade by Leonard Streitfeld and Jay Dubya.
Introduction: The Arcane Arcade is a collection of sixteen short fiction stories. The general theme of the book is paranormal experience and the tales are presented as short stories, novellas and novelettes. The stories have been rewritten and edited many times until they have evolved into their finished form.
The characters and events depicted in The Arcane Arcade are strictly the products of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to any real person or persons is absolutely coincidental, and it is the hope of the authors that readers will appreciate the pure fantasy identities, personalities and plots presented in the sixteen-fictional works.
5 Stars: It takes advanced and gifted writing skills to successfully write a short story collection that will capture the imagination of the readers and hold their interest to the end. Two authors skilled at their craft have teamed up to bring you ‘The Arcane Arcade’.
Dr. Leonard Streitfeld had been John Wiessner’s eye doctor for many years. Len Streitfeld and Jay Dubya have written and rewritten the stories “The Chess Set,” “The Cups,” “The Incense Burner,” “Reflections,” “Stained Glass” and “The Black Magic Pen” many times until all sixteen tales appearing in The Arcane Arcade have evolved into their present quality literature form.
The Arcane Arcade collection is book crafted in the paranormal experience and have evolved into this great example of short story literature.
Here are my short descriptions, of each story in ‘The Arcane Arcade’.
- In “The Chess Set” the wealthy chess master is confronted by the Black Knight.
- In “The Cups “a snow globe scene pales in comparison to this coffee mug collection.
- In “A Christmas Doll “it is the gift of a ballerina doll that changes everything.
- In “Reflections “we are reminded that charity begins in the heart.
- In “The Dark Side “we witness “One perpetual nightmare that’s been moving in perpetual motion.”
- In “Photographs “we are reminded that a picture is worth a thousand words.
- In “Premonitions “is it a chance encounter, coincidence or something much more.
- In “The Combat Mission That Never Was” we learn “Heaven Can Wait but Hell Cannot”.
- In “The Skull “we read what happens to an unclaimed corpse that might surprise you.
- In “Stained Glass “it is the mystery surrounding the broken heavenly stained-glass window.
- In “The Image “conjures up the question is it “animal, vegetable, mineral, or strange thing”.
- In “An Incense Burner “New Orleans Mardi Gras turns into a veritable nightmare.
- In “The Dye Is Cast “as the song titled “16 men on a dead man’s chest, yo-ho, ho and a bottle of rum” pierces through the Bermuda Triangle fog.
- In “The Talismans “we examine the actions of one persistent seeker of wisdom.
- In “The Tattoo “finds Dennis in the throws of an inebriated ink nightmare.
- In “The Black Magic Pen “a writer’s dream of literary perfection and international fame makes the tools of his trade a necessary phenomenon.
I would have to say that the short story titled “An Incense Burner” is my favorite out of this well written collection. Let me bring you into the story here:
…..At 11:55 p.m., the New Age black magic medium prepared the ‘spiritual laboratory operational card table’, the very essential incense burner, the vital red votive candles, and the male voodoo doll was then dressed in similar white shirt and black pants, just as Jason’s principal adversary had been wearing at the coin club meeting. Newman then spread Rosco Scola’s former note scraps over the male doll’s body. The obnoxious, loudmouthed Coin Organization President had never conceived or realized that he had made an immense blunder by inadvertently leaving behind the hand-shredded documentation with his indecipherable, crude handwriting scribbled upon it.
…..As the den’s grandfather clock pendulum signaled the stroke of midnight, Jason snickered as the black arts’ prestidigitator began performing his ‘other world methodology’. The devil’s new metaphysical priest then roughly thrust the red-hot pin into the doll’s throat and next, the hex practitioner meanly and spitefully twisted the pin back and forth several times to dramatically emphasize his great enmity for his avowed enemy. Four more pins were soon viciously inserted, a separate representative one shoved into each of the doll’s arms and legs.
…..The incense burner was then wildly smoking-out dense fumes and billows, and a moment later a ghost-like cloud rose and wafted, and then the dark gaseous mass hovered above the voodoo operating card table. The fog formation slowly drifted towards the targeted doll, and when the fumes encountered the lying figure’s throat, the thick, hazy mass mystically swished into the doll’s voice box, and then the visible gas phenomenon suddenly disappeared from visual existence.
…..The unearthly ceremony was over at precisely 1:00 a.m. and the vital items that had been used for the “spiritual retribution communication” were again stealthily placed and concealed inside their respective storage hiding compartments. However, the five malignant pins still remained implanted in the doll’s anatomy.
…..“Languish in your anguish,” laughed the contemporary warlock to the tiny representation of corpulent Rosco Scola. “Your pain is my gain!” Jason Newman humorously rhymed. “Let’s see what happens to your throat and to your four doomed appendages. Ha, ha, ha!”
Did this voodoo from this self-learned witch-doctor work? I will let you discover for yourself.
Editorial Review by Book Marketing Global Network.
Product Details:
Paperback: 358 Pages
Publisher: Bookstand Publishing (February 11, 2020)
Language: English
Short Story Collection
Amazon Hard-Cover Print:
https://www.amazon.com/Arcane-Arcade-Leonard-Streitfeld/dp/163498899X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1575562593&sr=8-1
Amazon Soft-Cover Print:
https://www.amazon.com/Arcane-Arcade-Leonard-Streitfeld/dp/1634988981/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1575562593&sr=8-1
About The Author: Jay Dubya is author’ John Wiessner’s pen name. John is a retired New Jersey public school English teacher, having diligently taught the subject for thirty-four years. John lives in Hammonton, New Jersey with wife Joanne and the couple has three grown sons.
Counting London: Lashed, Lacerated, Lampooned and Lambasted, along with its companion books Twain: Tattered, Trounced, Tortured and Traumatized, Poe: Pelted, Pounded, Pummeled and Pulverized and O. Henry: Obscenely and Outrageously Obliterated, John has written and published thirty-seven total books. Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II, Pieces of Eight, Part III and Pieces of Eight, Part IV all contain short stories and novellas that feature science fiction and paranormal plots and themes. Nine New Novellas, Nine New Novellas, Part II, Nine New Novellas, Part III, Nine New Novellas, Part IV, One Baker’s Dozen, Two Baker’s Dozen, Snake Eyes and Boxcars and Snake Eyes and Boxcars, Part II are short story collections all written in the spirit of the Pieces of Eight series.
Other Jay Dubya adult-oriented fiction are the works Black Leather and Blue Denim, A ’50s Novel, and its exciting sequel, The Great Teen Fruit War, A 1960′ Novel. Frat Brats, A ’60s Novel completes the action/adventure trilogy. Jay Dubya also has produced two irreverent Biblical satires, The Wholly Book of Genesis and The Wholly Book of Exodus. A third satire Ron Coyote, Man of La Mangia is a parody on Miguel Cervantes’ classic novel, Don Quixote published in 1605. Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, TSTC, Part II, TSTC, Part III and TSTC, Part IV are satirical works that each corrupt thirteen classic stories from American and British literature and from Greek mythology. Fractured Frazzled Folk Fables and Fairy Farces and FFFF & FF, Part II satirize and corrupt famous children’s literature stories. Mauled Maimed Mangled Mutilated Mythology is an adult-oriented satirical/parody work that pokes fun at twenty-one famous classical myths. Finally, Shakespeare: Slammed, Smeared, Savaged and Slaughtered and Shakespeare: S, S, S and S. Part II lampoon the famous works of the great playwright.
The author has also penned a young adult fantasy trilogy: Pot of Gold, Enchanta and Space Bugs, Earth Invasion. The Eighteen Story Gingerbread House is a collection of eighteen new children’s stories. And last but not least, two Jay Dubya non-fiction works are So Ya’ Wanna’ Be A Teacher and Random Articles and Manuscripts.
Jay Dubya’s books are available in hardcover and paperback formats at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and Booksamillion.com. Kindle versions are available at Amazon.com. Jay Dubya’s e-books are available at Amazon Kindle and at Barnes and Noble Nook.
Jay Dubya (John Wiessner), author of 56 books, gives a biography of his life.
Born in Hammonton, NJ in 1942, John had attended St. Joseph School up to and including Grade 5. After his family moved from Hammonton to Levittown, Pa in 1954, John attended St. Mark School in Bristol, Pa. for Grade 6, St. Michael the Archangel School for Grades 7 and 8 and Immaculate Conception School, Levittown, Pa. for grade 9. Bishop Egan High School, Levittown Pa was John’s educational base for Grades 10 and 11, and later in 1960 he graduated from Edgewood Regional High, Tansboro, NJ. John then next attended Glassboro State College, where he was an announcer for the school’s baseball games and also read the news and sports over WGLS, GSC’s radio station.
John had been primarily an English teacher in the Hammonton Public School System for 34 years, specializing in the instruction of middle school language arts. Mr. Wiessner was quite active in the Hammonton Education Association, serving in the capacities of Vice-President, building representative and finally, teachers’ head negotiator for 7 years. During his lengthy teaching career, John had been nominated into “Who’s Who Among American Teachers” three times. He also was quite active giving professional workshops at schools around South Jersey on the subjects of creative writing and the use of movie videos to motivate students to organize their classroom theme compositions.
John Wiessner was very active in community service, being a past President of the Hammonton Lions Club, where he also functioned for many years as the club’s Tail-Twister, Vice-President and Liontamer. He had been named Hammonton Lion of the Year in 1979 and in 2009 received the prestigious Melvin Jones Fellow Award, the highest honor a Lion can receive from Lions International.
John also was a successful businessman, starting with being a Philadelphia Bulletin newspaper delivery boy for two years in the late 1950s in Levittown, Pennsylvania. After his family moved back to New Jersey in 1959, John worked at his grandparents and his parents’ farm markets, Square Deal Farm (now Ron’s Gardens in Hammonton) and Pete’s Farm Market in Elm, respectively. He later managed his wife’s parents’ farm market, White Horse Farms (Elm) for three summers.
Also, in a business capacity, for 16 summers starting in 1967 John Wiessner had co-owned Dealers Choice Amusement Arcade on the Ocean City, Maryland boardwalk and also co-owned the New Horizon Tee-Shirt Store for eight summers (1973-’81) on the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware boardwalk. In addition, he was a co-owner of Wheel and Deal Amusement Arcade, Missouri Avenue and Boardwalk, Atlantic City. And then, for 18 summers beginning in 1986, John had been the Field Manager in charge of crew-leaders for Atlantic Blueberry Company (the world’s largest cultivated blueberry company), both the Weymouth and Mays Landing Divisions.
After retiring from teaching in 1999, writing under the pen name Jay Dubya (his initials), John Wiessner became an author of 56 books in the genre Action/Adventure Novels, Sci-Fi/Paranormal Story Collections, Adult Satire, Young Adult Fantasy Novels and Non-Fiction Books. His books exist in hardcover, in paperback and in popular Kindle and Nook e-book formats.
Books (For Adults) by Jay Dubya
- Pieces of Eight
- Pieces of Eight, Part II
- Pieces of Eight, Part III
- Pieces of Eight, Part IV
- Nine New Novellas
- Nine New Novellas, Part II
- Nine New Novellas, Part III
- Nine New Novellas, Part IV
- Black Leather and Blue Denim, A ‘50s Novel
- The Great Teen Fruit War, A 1960 Novel
- Frat’ Brats, A ‘60s Novel
- Ron Coyote, Man of La Mangia
- The Wholly Book of Genesis
- The Wholly Book of Exodus
- The Wholly Book of Doo-Doo-Rot-on-Me
- Mauled Maimed Mangled Mutilated Mythology
- Fractured Frazzled Folk Fables and Fairy Farces
- Fractured Frazzled Folk Fables and Fairy Farces, Part II
- Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics
- Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part II
- Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part III
- Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part IV
- Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part V
- RAM: Random Articles and Manuscripts
- One Baker’s Dozen
- Two Baker’s Dozen
- UFO: Utterly Fantastic Occurrences
- Shakespeare: Slammed, Smeared, Savaged and Slaughtered
- Shakespeare: S, S, S, and S, Part II
- Snake Eyes and Boxcars
- Snake Eyes and Boxcars, Part II
- Suite 16
- O. Henry: Obscenely and Outrageously Obliterated
- Twain: Tattered, Trounced, Tortured and Traumatized
- Poe: Pelted, Pounded, Pummeled and Pulverized
- London: Lashed, Lacerated, Lampooned and Lambasted
- Hawthorne: Hazed Hooked Hammered and Hijacked
- Hawthorne Hacked, Shakespeare Sacked & Thurber Thwacked
- Time Travel Tales
- PLOTS
- THEMES
- The Psychic Dimension
- The Psychic Dimension, Part II
- Prime-Time Crime Time
- First Person Stories
- Modern Mythology
- The FBI Inspector
- The Arcane Arcade
- Thirteen Tantalizing Tales
Young Adult Fantasy Novels
- Enchanta
- Space Bugs, Earth Invasion
- Pot of Gold
- The Eighteen Story Gingerbread House
International Internet Places To Purchase Jay Dubya Books
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jay+Dubya&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss
https://www.bookdepository.com/author/Jay-Dubya
https://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=Jay+Dubya&productType=917504
https://www.fishpond.co.nz/c/Books/q/Jay+Dubya
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Jay+Dubya&_sacat=267
https://www.walmart.com/tp/jay-dubya
https://www.sapnaonline.com/shop/Author/jay-dubya
https://opentrolley.com.sg/Search.aspx?author=dubya-jay&page=1&pgsz=20
https://magrudy.com/author/jay-dubya/
https://www.booksamillion.com/search?id=6656766903467&type=author&query=Jay+Dubya&sort=sales
https://www.powells.com/SearchResults?keyword=Jay+Dubya
https://www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=Jay+Dubya&mtype=B&hs.x=20&hs.y=28
Amazon Author’s Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Jay-Dubya/e/B004G76264
Professional Website:
http://www.authorsden.com/johneweissner
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jaydubyabooks/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DubyaJay2
Author’s Page At Book Marketing Global Network:
https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/book-marketing-global-network/jay-dubya