ON SALE for $0.99
A Perpetual Mimicry
by K. P. Ambroziak
A Perpetual Mimicry is currently ON SALE for only $0.99. This is one for the literary connoisseur. Not to be missed! Read my review and some of my favorite lines below.
Description
Almega throws Ani to earth to rot and die in the body of a man. Simon finds him first, and shows him how to exchange his decrepit body for a new one. Ani thinks he is the best guide an exiled angel can have. But Simon is shrewd and wants Ani to help him get back the thing Almega has taken from him: his wings.
When Ani falls in love with Sarah, he does not know she is the key to a banished one's survival and the reason he forfeited his wings in the first place. Ani has to resist Sarah in ways he cannot, and somehow save her from the one creature who wants to use her up: Simon.
Excerpt
Simon was the only being I had heard speak until that moment and I thought I was imagining the voice. But this was no fabrication. As I scanned the horizon, I saw a man coming towards me from across the field.
“Ani!” he called a third time.
He was just a man. There was nothing luminescent about him.
Feeling unprepared for my first meeting with a genuine mortal, I contemplated running away. But as I shuffled my feet, I felt the binding of the ragged leather around them. The two black boots I was wearing gave me the courage to stay, reminding me my true identity was concealed beneath a costume of flesh. I headed in the man’s direction.
Deep lines marked his face and the corners of his eyes were drawn downwards. His countenance was unpleasant and his bottom lip puffed out a little as though his mouth were full. He spat off to the side every now and again as he chewed his bottom lip. Luckily his sour eyes and thick brows gave his face another point of reference. I kept my focus on his stern brow.
“Ya fly home now boy,” he said. “Yer father’s almos’ gone.”
He spat a wad of cud to punctuate his speech. I held my breath.
“Well, what’re ya waitin’ fer?” he said. He gave me a mean stare then spat several more times before looking up at the sky. “Ain’t no rain comin’. I’ll keep an eye on ‘em sheep.”
He pointed a thick thumb at his chest as he spoke and then spat again. I coaxed a nod in an attempt to convince him I understood.
“Better hurry,” he said. “Sarah’s waitin’.”
Sarah? The masquerade suddenly got more complicated. I considered making an exit once again, but Simon’s words ran through my mind: let his instincts guide you. I tried tuning myself into my body’s desires, letting the boy’s intuition guide me. My attempt proved successful when something inside me, an emotion really, made me want to abide by the man’s request. I had a desire to go to Sarah.
The man saluted me as he made his way back out into the sea of sheep. I watched him go and then turned to follow the path from where he came. As I walked into the woods on the border of the pasture, a distinct smell blew through the trees. Smoke. But unlike burnt flesh, this aroma was pleasing. There was a fire burning somewhere deep inside the forest and I could smell the crisp wood as though it were right at my feet. This was not the first time I noticed the intensity of my earthly senses. Ever since I nabbed the shepherd’s body, I had known an increased potency of my faculties.
I followed the scent knowing it would lead me to where I needed to go. I walked through the woods a while before arriving at the origin of the smell. When I found a quaint cottage amidst a clearing of trees, I knew I had arrived. It was the only marker I had seen in the forest and sure enough charcoal puffs of smoke were curling their way out of the roof’s chimney. The modest hut appeared to be fashioned from the trees that surrounded it. It was familiar, for I held a picture of it in my mind. I recognized the little red curtains drawn across the two windows on either side of the door, and I couldn’t help but recall the rows of golden-rays growing along the sidewalls. I quickly realized these recollections were the remnants of the boy’s memory.
I stood for a moment listening to a woodpecker puncture its way into a treetop far above me. Two doves made love with their requited coos, while sparrows chirped incessantly beneath the branches. The symphony echoed up through the tops of the trees, evoking my envy as I stood wingless on the ground. I led myself up the pathway to the cottage. As I got closer, the avian orchestra soon faded into the background and all I could hear was the soft hum of a girl inside. The sound was flawless and delicate, no match for the birds.
I listened, as remembrances flooded my memory. I envisioned what lay waiting inside as I stood outside the cottage. A girl’s face materialized in my mind, a memory of aesthetic perfection. I knew I had gazed on this face before. The oval visage was framed with long unruly tendrils, light brown and soft. I recalled their touch as I imagined them into reality. Her big green eyes were like olives floating in almond casings, and her aquiline nose marked the exact center point of her face. Her perfect top lip was slightly thinner than its bottom counterpart, and her mouth drew downward into a delicate pout. The lips made the shape of a heart when her mouth was closed. I knew this perfect face awaited me on the other side of the door, and just as I reached out to push it ajar, it swung open.
“Ani!” her voice peaked.
My Favorite Lines
"Two doves made love with their requited coos, while sparrows chirped incessantly beneath the branches. The symphony echoed up through the tops of the trees, evoking my envy as I stood wingless on the ground."
"Water rushed over pebbles, as a palette of colorful wild flowers painted the water's edge."
"I longed to wrap myself around this girl and engulf her soul with mine."
"He was furiously splattering his brush across the canvas as though invoking a spell with his color wand."
"It was as though gazing upon her brought relief to anguish I didn't know I suffered."
"I wanted to tattoo the image of her living face upon the skin of my mind."
My Review
By Lynda Dickson
A fire angel is stripped of his wings, banished from his star, and forced to roam the Earth as penance. He plummets to Earth, landing in the desert where he encounters Simon, another banished one. Simon promises to help him regain his star. Wandering through place and time, our angel occupies a number of bodies and experiences a number of human emotions. First, he takes over the body of a shepherd, Ani, and comes to be known by this name. As Ani, he meets Sarah and discovers that there are worse fates than losing your wings and being banished from your home.
The writer has a fabulous vocabulary; the dictionary feature of the Kindle app certainly came in handy. I even learned a few new words, including: pinions, virescence, pulchritude, Lethean, sidereal, plumule, empyrean, and egregious. We may wonder what all the disparate story lines have to do with each other, but it all becomes clear in the end. A Perpetual Mimicry can be described as an angelic Groundhog Day.
This is one of the best-written and well-edited works I have read. A Perpetual Mimicry is the definition of beautiful writing; it is poetic and lyrical, profoundly moving, and will haunt you for a long time to come. I look forward to reading more by this author.
From the Author
I live in Brooklyn with my favorite person and just received a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the City University of New York. I'm happy (if not lucky) to spend most of my time writing while also teaching part-time. I want you to know that I appreciate the hours you spend reading my words and believe there's no greater gift than your time. Last but not least, I like basset hounds because they're funny looking, I'm bad at twitter, and I binge watch my favorite TV series - I'm talking about you, Sherlock, Vikings, et al.
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