Tarot Fiction

Trump Lloyd

Occult/noir/mystery: The Last Days of Madame Rey by A. W. Hill. The the prologue and the twenty-one chapters are illustrated by small RWS images. The book cover uses a TdM death card image. Haven't read it yet. Bought it from Amazon for a penny + shipping.

In The Last Days of Madame Rey, Raszer's task is yet another daring rescue, this time to retrieve an ambitious young lawyer from the wrong side of the karmic tracks. But once hired by Fortis Cohn's worried father, who hopes to free his son from the spell cast by right-wing demagogue Bronk Vreeland, Raszer finds himself at the vortex of a startling series of eerie events.

Could Vreeland's Mt. Shasta-based Military Order of Thule be unleashing the unnatural earthquake spasms rippling through Northern California? Has April Blessing, Raszer's stunningly sensuous and far too independent-minded operative, misjudged her ability to handle Bronk's fascination with her?

Most importantly, what ancient mysteries are encode on the document left behind at Madame Rey's Palmistry & Tarot Parlor by a doomed film executive?
Click to expand...

The author's site is at awhill.net
 

balenciaga

Highly Recommend - enjoying it

Up to page 93 of "The Grift" by Debra Ginsberg - just published -
The main character talks about every issue in tarot that can be discussed, as we do here on AT. Who knows, maybe the author is one of us:)
 

Ambrosia

Wow! I had no idea this thread had been dredged up again. Thanks for all the reading suggestions guys, there's certainly some interesting food for thought in here. :D Id forgotten all about posting this question. Awesome! Still blimmin wondering about that book with the Tarot reader and a supermarket though LOL!
 

aja

Memries, you are correct. The books that you're thinking of though are "The Lyre of Orpheus" and "What's Bred in the Bone." "The Rebel Angels" is the first book of this trilogy, and I don't remember if Maria's mother and uncle are featured much in it or not (it's been a while since I've read it) "The Manticore" is from a different trilogy, IIRC
 

Skydancer

Has anyone mentioned Accidentally Engaged? Cute read.

Also The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino? Super idea.

*S*

[well if I would have read more carefully I would have seen they are mentioned on the first page. duh!]

Great lists, btw. I am going to go Amazon shopping again here pretty soon. Well - okay; after New Year's.
 

Teheuti

Trump Lloyd said:
Occult/noir/mystery: The Last Days of Madame Rey by A. W. Hill.
Click to expand...
Just finished this book and loved it. Perfect for when you want an intriguing mystery/thriller with an occult/alternate realities twist. It may be a bit far out for some. There's not a whole lot of tarot reading but lots of references to the tarot and its history ala Paul Foster Case. Also some interesting use of the BOTA/GD Kabbalistic associations.
 

starlightexp

Johathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke make use of the older decks in the story...mmmmmm love that book
 

memries

Thanks Aja..I was looking again today when this thread came up again.
I think The Fifth Business was about archetypal symbols as in "trickster" as well which would relate to Tarot.

I am going to start reading everything he wrote. And reading over the Trilogy's I have read as well. There is such a lack of accomplished writing on the market and I am really tired of reading, writing that is not inspiring.

I just finished reading Herman Wouk's Inside, Outside and I found it marvellous as well. I don't know how I ever missed that one of his but I did.
 

Egypt Urnash

Alan Moore and J.H. Williams' comic book Promethea is, for most of its run, a tour through the entire Sephrioth, with encounters with most of the Tarot cards along the way. Crowley pops up, as does chaos-magician favorite A.O. Spare.

(Issue 12 is a quick overview of all the Major Arcana; the rest of the series' run is the tour along the Sephrioth. 1-11 set up the world and the situation.)

It's pretty difficult reading in places, with the occasional strange panel layout. And certainly not for kids; Moore gets very very direct about what 'putting a wand in a cup' is a symbol for early on. Ahem.

It does not, necessarily, succeed as either an entertaining read or a discourse on Moore's variety of chaos magic, but it is one damn interesting experiment.
 

Debra

NOVA, by Samuel R. Delany. A wonderful old sci-fi book--I'd say proto-cyberpunk--with a card-reading central character; hinges on questions of fate and free will. I re-read it every year :D

Probably two bucks in any decent-sized used bookstore with a big paperback sci-fi section.
 
Rider Waite book Legacy of the Divine Tarot