Crow's Fate Carnival of Mysteries Book #1 Six Book Series
Gay Romance, LGBTQ Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
Tin Box Press
July 12, 2023
Kindle
358
Amazon
Crow Rapp assumes he’ll spend his life growing corn in rural Illinois, like the grandparents who raised him. But during a visit to a traveling carnival, he encounters a handsome stranger named Simeon Bell—and receives a prophecy of a horrifying future. When that future materializes soon afterward, Crow flees… only to find that no matter how far he goes, fate pursues him.
Simeon reenters his life a decade later and causes Crow to consider whether actively fighting his fate might be better than constant attempts at escape. In a world tinged by magic, where myths are as real as the sky above them, the men try to determine Crow’s true identity. Along the way, they test the powers of friendship and love and explore the boundaries of free will—ultimately discovering whether the force of destiny can be overcome.
Crow’s Fate is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains an Illinois farmboy, a roustabout from London, and realizations about the power of love.
NEXT IN SERIES
7/19 STEP RIGHT UP - L.A. WITT 8/25
7/26 MAGIC BURNING- KAJE HARPER
8/2 NIGHT BLOOMING -MEGAN DERR
8/16 ASSASSIN BY ACCIDENT -E.J. RUSSELL
10/25 GOD'S AND MONSTERS- RACHAEL LANGELLA
DUAL REVIEW
Review By Linda Tonis
This is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series: the books are all standalone, but they all visit Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, at least once. A travelling show that takes you into a world of the unique and magical.
Crow Rapp was left with his grandparents in Chinkapin Grove, Illinois. His unmarried mother left him as an infant to be raised on a farm. Despite his circumstances he was loved by his grandparents and his Aunt Helen, but he lived with the stigma of being a bastard and the fear that it would be discovered he was gay. Although he always felt like he didn’t belong he was resigned to being a farmer working on his grandparents’ farm. A visit to a carnival would change his life forever.
It was at the carnival that he happened to walk into a fortune teller’s tent and where he met Simeon Bell, a roustabout. Simeon is from London and had a very difficult childhood, but he found a home with the carnival. As a joke Simeon decided to pick up the fortune teller’s crystal ball and what he saw sent him running in fear. That was the start of the horrors Crow would face.
On his eighteenth birthday three red birds flew into Crow’s window and he recognized evil when he saw it. He was told that if he didn’t join them all the people, he cared about would die, he chose to refuse and follow good, but he would find himself running from them for the next ten years. A fire destroyed his home killing his grandparents and would only be the first death that he would blame himself for.
All this happened in 1975 and ten years later Crow, now known as Cliff Robertson, would try to hide from the evil following him.
Different states, different names and they always found him, and someone would die but Crow would live through it, beaten, poisoned, stabbed, it didn’t matter Crow always healed and lived. Another visit to a carnival and he would once again see Simeon, for Crow it was ten years for Simeon three months.
After revealing what the last ten years had been like for him Simeon chose to quit the carnival and search with Crow to discover what he was and how to get rid of the evil that had consumed his life.
The answers Crow was seeking would take him and Simeon on a journey from one state to another. Searching for his mother and her family hoping to get the answers Crow was seeking led them to meet people who were not human. The one good thing that came from all the travel was how close Simeon and Crow got. Both had difficult childhoods but unlike Simeon, who grew up in an orphanage Crow had family and was loved.
The two men found comfort in each other, and the answers Crow was seeking were revealed little by little until it seemed he would be fighting against evil the rest of his life or give into it, the end could go either way. Crow wanted to protect Simeon and everything in his life was a huge question mark and answers were few and far between.
This book kept me on pins and needles waiting for the answers as to who Crow was, whether he would be able to fight against evil and remain good and what would happen between him and Simeon. Simeon also was a mystery, a thief with a sad past and something about him that was more than a normal human.
Secrets, surprises, amazing characters and a battle between good and evil. This is a book that shouldn’t be missed, it has it all.
Review by Ulysses Dietz
Crow Rapp knows he’s different. He just doesn’t know how different he is until his eighteenth birthday, when his world burns down around him.
Abandoned by his mother as an infant and raised on an Illinois farm by his grandparents, Crow’s life feels as if it fated to be one of flight and pursuit for no reason that he can understand. Then he runs into Simeon Bell, a roustabout at a traveling carnival, who seems to be from another place and time. Simeon becomes his sidekick—and then his spiritual guide—as the two young men face the hair-raising adventure of a lifetime.
It is very hard to write about this book, because that last sentence sounds phony. It’s not untrue, but the story as Kim Fielding has written it is far more cerebral and emotional than the words “hair-raising adventure” can convey. Crow’s journey is one of the soul, a struggle to understand who and how he is supposed to be in the world.
This is a horror story, and a love story, and would translate beautifully to the screen with the right cast. Crow is a fascinating character, but Simeon is remarkable. Simeon brings wonder back into Crow’s desperate life, filled with a generosity of spirit that seems unimaginable in someone who has been through what he has.
And that, perhaps, is the crux of this book: it’s really about relationships among the various players in the drama. The plot is necessary, and quite cleverly crafted to keep the reader on edge all the way through; but it is the evolving personalities of Crow and Simeon that drive the book emotionally. Crow is confused and isolated by what seems to be his fate—stunted in every way. Simeon, who has always accepted his fate with the shrugging attitude of a survivor, sees in Crow the opportunity to help his friend become more than he believes he is, while experiencing for himself a world he could never have imagined.
NEXT IN SERIES
7/19 STEP RIGHT UP – L.A. WITT 8/25
7/26 MAGIC BURNING- KAJE HARPER
8/2 NIGHT BLOOMING -MEGAN DERR
8/16 ASSASSIN BY ACCIDENT -E.J. RUSSELL
10/25 GOD’S AND MONSTERS- RACHAEL LANGELLA
