About
the Book
Title:
Song of the Oceanides
Author:
JG Zymbalist
Genre:
YA/NA fantasy/steampunk
Song
of the Oceanides is
a quirky but poignant coming-of-age tale about children, Martians,
freaky Martian hummingbird moths, and alluring sea nymphs.
The
first thread relates the suspenseful tale of a Martian girl, Emmylou,
stranded in Maine where she is relentlessly pursued by the Pinkerton
Detective Agency’s Extraterrestrial-Enigma Service. The second
thread concerns her favorite Earthling comic-book artist, Giacomo
Venable, and all his misadventures and failed romances. The final
thread deals with a tragic young lad, Rory Slocum, who, like Emmylou,
loves Giacomo’s comic books and sees them as a refuge from the sea
nymphs or Oceanides incessantly taunting and tormenting him.
As
much as anything, the triple narrative serves to show how art may
bring together disparate pariahs and misfits—and give them a
fulcrum for friendship and sense of communal belonging in a cruel
world
J.G.
Źymbalist is the pseudonym of a very reclusive author who grew up in
Ohio and West Germany. He began writing Song
of the Oceanides
as a child when his family summered in Castine, Maine where they
rented out Robert Lowell’s house. There, inspired by his own
experiences with school bullying and childhood depression, the
budding author began to conceive the tale.
For
several years, J.G. Źymbalist lived in the Old City of Jerusalem
where he night clerked at a series of Palestinian youth hostels.
There he wrote the early draft of an as yet unpublished
Middle-Eastern NA fantasy. Returning from the Middle East, he
completed an M.F.A. in poetry at Sarah Lawrence College.
The
author returned to Song
of the Oceanides
while working for the Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society,
May-September, 2005. He completed the full draft in Ellsworth, Maine
later that year.
He
has only recently decided to self-publish a few of his previous
works. Foreword
Reviews
has called his writing “innovative fiction with depth,” and
Kirkus
Indie
has called his style “a lovely, highly descriptive prose that
luxuriates in the details and curios of his setting.”
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