I bought “Vinnie De Soth, Jobbing Occultist” during a shopping spree for books by I.A. Watson who is one of my favourite pulp writers. Didn’t get around to reading it - as happens often with my shopping sprees - and picked it up just a few weeks ago to check it out. I finished it in less than a day, just couldn’t put it down.
Vinnie is introduced to us through the eyes of a young legal secretary sent to hire him for her company - which was ordered to hire him by another company, as you do in the business world. The first inkling that there was a connection to other I.A. Watson stories I’d read was when Sir Mumphrey turned up as a character Vinnie’s next door neighbour should send a letter to should he not be back in two weeks’ time. Another character in the first story was taken from the Transdimensional Transport Company, where he’s usually a villain. In the afterword, author I.A. Watson admits that he has created some sort of ‘cinematic universe’ for himself, where Sir Mumphrey can work on all that derring-do, the TTC can fit in any kind of weird science, and Vinnie can handle the horror stuff. As Vinnie definitely can.
Vinnie himself is a very nice guy - well, most of the time. He’s always down on his luck, clearly hardly makes money in his job as occultist, yet is always ready to help people without asking for money. There are, however, also suggestions right from the beginning that there’s more to him. He’s a member of one of the Nine Houses, the nine magical bloodlines of the western hemisphere - and he’s a pretty strong mage, too. Yet, Vinnie has turned his back on the family and on his past, rather living from day to day, meeting his possible clients in his ‘office’ under the stairs in the backroom of an occult bookstore, than being a member of the powerful De Soth clan. Penny, the legal secretary in question, finds him a nice, but a little awkward guy who usually says more than he should, but knows what he’s doing.
I.A. Watson wouldn’t be himself, though, if Vinnie were the only weird or interesting character in the series of shorter stories. He introduces characters like Tanner (a powerful elder werewolf who hates seers, although he works with one), Ursula (a ghoul who can pass for a regular young woman, also one of Vinnie’s exes), or Flapjack of the Carpathians (a professional, if freelancing minion with a hump and, when on the job, a proper lisp).
Vinnie himself is built up very well, very slowly. We see him do more and more magic, show more and more knowledge, but in the end, it usually isn’t that supernatural power which saves the day - it’s his intelligence. He frees himself and three others from hell by using four of his packaged exorcism on them - they are meant to put a being back home, which for humans is earth, not hell. He stops a megalomaniac with a group of overpowered ghosts by telling the ghosts that the megalomaniac will devour them in a bit, which turns them against their erstwhile master. He defeats the minotaur not by slaying it, but by having its intended victim forgive it and set it free that way - saving both of them, in essence.
As a mage, Vinnie clearly plays in the league of a Gandalf or a Dumbledore - extremely powerful, yet also aware that it’s not the fireball that will win the day, but the intelligent use of all resources. That is what makes him so interesting. In the final story, we see him banish two angels (whom he describes as the magical equivalent to a five megaton atomic bomb each in power) with the help of toilet paper and a toilet. Later on, he brings them back from the sewers he banished them to when he knows he’s not the most evil being around and they’ll go for someone else.
Again and again, he shows that he’s putting the needs of others above his own needs - working for no money, sacrificing his happiness to keep his girlfriend safe, risking his own life for people he hardly knows.
Vinnie clearly is not a regular De Soth, but he knows how to play his cards right, calling in favours when he needs them, or warning others off when it’s necessary. He employs agencies without them knowing he employs them (like getting an anti-terror unit to strike the lair where Penny is kept). Despite being a sweet guy most of the time, he also has a very dark side. In one story, he uses the principle of sympathy (that parts of the whole are still aligned with all other parts when separated) to explode a café and a flower shop. He has powerful allies, too, but he doesn’t need their support to survive - he’s equally powerful.
In the afterword I already mentioned, the author pointed out how the mages of old, in the legends and fairy tales, usually didn’t win their fights by slinging fireballs around, but by thinking ahead, outsmarting their enemies, and using their resources wisely. This is actually on the same level as the way Sir Mumphrey uses the powers of his watch - thoughtful and intelligent. This is also what I like very much about the stories.
It’s not hard for a good writer, and I.A. Watson is a good writer, to write decent action scenes. There are lots of them in the stories of his I’ve read and they’re all good. Vinnie slinging fireballs, however, isn’t as interesting as seeing him set a long chain in motion to defeat his enemies in the last story - calling in favours from people we’ve met in the book, telling people to do something seemingly unrelated, working against what his enemies will expect he’ll do. Understanding the story’s MacGuffin (the Enigma Box) much better than them and giving it what it wants: a very good story. Hero going dark for his love is a good story. Hero tricking the powers of darkness to save his love, though, is an even better one, so he gives the Enigma Box this one instead.
That’s actually what kept me reading: clever stories with twists I didn’t see coming from a mile off. Stories with fully realized characters who acted like people. Stories which were fun to read, not too long, yet long enough to carry their plots well.
Is “Vinnie De Soth, Jobbing Occultist” the best book ever written? Probably not. Is it worth your time? If you like horror stories with high stakes, yet also with humour, definitely. Especially now, while many people have their holidays coming up, it’s a good book to pack (digitally or otherwise). No matter where you’re on vacation, I can guarantee that you will enjoy sitting down with this one and reading it.
No comments:
Post a Comment