Please join Karen Michalson for a reading and discussion of The Maenad's God. 

Selected by Independent Book Review as one of the best books of 2022; IAN Book of the Year Award Finalist for LGBTQ Fiction (2023).

This is a community event hosted by the author.

More information about the author available here: https://karenmichalson.com/

Registration is requested.

Description of The Maenad's God:

Alienation. Myth. Music. Law. Madness. Death. Divinity.   Boston 1992. Pete Morrow is an alienated FBI agent whose only escape from the colleagues and society he despises is through reading literary classics. When his boss sends him to warn away a drug dealer on an obscure army base, he discovers a murder and becomes obsessed with Jade McClellan, a mysterious man from Toronto whose rock band just performed at the crime scene. Tough-guy Morrow has never been in love before - but Jade is almost magical, an embodiment of myth and literature who creates living fantasies that rapidly become the only thing Morrow values in his otherwise miserable life.

But there's a problem. Morrow is investigating a mafia family that is investing in Jade's musical career. Being open about their relationship could get both of them killed.

Morrow's murder investigation annihilates his hard-boiled understanding of reality when he learns that Jade is an abandoned, mortal son of Dionysus, the god whose energy informs hard rock. Jade's mafia support is being arranged by Dirty Penny Starmaker, a witch who started life in 5th century BCE Athens, where she received a divine mandate to promote brilliant musicians throughout history. Penny is in a centuries-old war with Hugh McCrae, a primeval, human-like "monster" who has currently incarnated himself as a congressional aide with an unhealthy interest in Morrow's work. McCrae (rhymes with "decay") carries his own divine mandate to promote cultural decline by eradicating creativity and art. At the present time, this includes Jade, his music, and Morrow's newfound happiness.

After all, the universe must balance, no matter who gets destroyed in the process.

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ASK KAREN MICHALSON ANYTHING ABOUT The Maenad's God, its local setting (Charlton MA), and the ancient, ongoing war on creativity and authenticity. Some of the themes The Maenad's God explores are:

• Alienation. Why some people are cynical and 'done with society'?
• The nature of divinity; creativity as a way into some kind of higher reality; imagination as a sacred space
• How creativity is an art of rebellion - and a healing force
• The degree to which reality and fantasy inform each other
• Whether creating a private world is a subversive act against a toxic culture.