{"id":10571,"date":"2017-11-08T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=10571"},"modified":"2017-11-07T13:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T18:24:51","slug":"review-black-bottle-man-craig-russell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-black-bottle-man-craig-russell\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#8216;Black Bottle Man&#8217; by Craig Russell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10572\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-black-bottle-man-craig-russell\/blackbottleman\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blackbottleman.jpg?fit=258%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"258,400\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"blackbottleman\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blackbottleman.jpg?fit=258%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-10572\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blackbottleman.jpg?resize=226%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"226\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blackbottleman.jpg?resize=226%2C350&amp;ssl=1 226w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/blackbottleman.jpg?w=258&amp;ssl=1 258w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 226px) 85vw, 226px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Black-Bottle-Man-Craig-Russell-ebook\/dp\/B0074V7N6M\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1504202709&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=black+bottle+man\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Black Bottle Man<\/em>\u00a0by Craig Russell<\/a><br \/>\nGreat Plains Teen Fiction (February 2012)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>176 pages, $9.99 e-book<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by\u00a0Joshua Gage<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Black Bottle Man<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a young-adult horror story based around the traditional \u201cdeal with the devil\u201d plot. Russell, however, makes the plot seem fresh with his historical take. He also twists the traditional roles of the devil\u2019s bargain into a unique novel which is sure to entertain audiences.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The novel\u2019s main character is Rembrandt, a ninety-year old man who has thirty days left in his life to find a champion to fight the devil. He earned this task on a family farm in the Midwest in the 1920\u2019s when his two aunts, desperate for children of their own, made a pact with a demonic bottle of ink. Having sold their souls for children, they owed the devil&#8212;the Black Bottle Man&#8212;something for their bargain. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, Rembrandt, his father, and his uncle Thompson offer to find a champion who will be strong enough to fight the devil in order to absolve the two women. There are, of course, conditions. The men cannot stay any place for more than two weeks. They can offer up as many champions as they want, but every champion\u2019s soul gets added to the pot. Also, this quest will continue until Rembrandt lives four-score and ten years and, his father tacks on quickly, thirty days more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other major character in the novel is Gail. Gail is a former teacher who was caught up in a terrible series of life events. One day, while she was playing a classical composition which she wrote for her students, a man named Andy Moore came into the classroom and took her and her students hostage. Instead of letting the police shoot him, Gail warned Andy that the police were there, which resulted in not only his death, but the death of four children. Gail went into a coma, and when she awoke she wasn\u2019t the same person. As a form of penance, she becomes homeless, living on the streets off the scraps and kindness of strangers and the attempts of her family to save her. She follows daily rituals of protection, but needs some way to redeem her soul.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Craig Russell writes a very provocative tale with lots of twists and turns that will keep the audience interested. The two parallel storylines work well against each other, culminating in a very interesting, but somewhat unexpected, finish. His use of history, especially with the scenes of Rembrandt surviving the Great Depression and other historical events, make for interesting reading and really help to develop his character. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, his search for a champion, and all the failed champions he tries to use, add suspense to the story. While some readers might find the writing a bit too simplistic, and the plot a bit too obvious, if one takes into consideration that this is a novel geared for young adults, they will be entertained and engaged by the story. Overall, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Black Bottle Man <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a quick read and a very entertaining novel. Horror readers, especially those interested in traditional, folkloric devil stories, are sure to enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Black Bottle Man\u00a0by Craig Russell Great Plains Teen Fiction (February 2012) 176 pages, $9.99 e-book Reviewed by\u00a0Joshua Gage Black Bottle Man is a young-adult horror story based around the traditional \u201cdeal with the devil\u201d plot. Russell, however, makes the plot seem fresh with his historical take. He also twists the traditional roles of the devil\u2019s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-black-bottle-man-craig-russell\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: &#8216;Black Bottle Man&#8217; by Craig Russell&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[1290,1291,506,79],"class_list":["post-10571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-black-bottle-man","tag-craig-russell","tag-joshua-gage","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: &#039;Black Bottle Man&#039; 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