. . . of my novella Circus, a romance of the big top:

MAGIC

Lloyd Fonvielle’s “Circus” is a magical performance. I say “magical” because it takes the reader into a magical world of imagination, color, longing, and odd triumph. It is the sprawling account of a young boy’s magical encounter with the magical circus, although “sprawling” is really not the right word for it, as the story is so tight that you don’t lose track of a single character. Not for a single second. Everyone is united under Colonel Greenbaugh’s fabulous Big Top!

“Circus” itself is a depiction, in more than one way, of love’s sacrifice: from the complete self-giving of a child to another child, to the unrequited adult loving that comes from a burned-over man. The fact that Fonvielle has told his story of love’s sacrifice within the exotic context of the great American circus, a phenomenon now mostly in the past, puts it at a distance. Yet that very distance of the great American circus from us in 2013 brings home the power of his story in a way that, by the end, completely undoes you.

I did not expect to be jelly at the end of this book. I did not expect to be thrown onto the ground by the characters of ‘Bap’, the Kelly Twins, young Jasper, and Lily. I just didn’t expect it.

I didn’t think a short novel like “Circus” would pack such a cumulative punch. So I’m writing this review in a state of emotional shock. But it feels good.

“Circus” is a masterpiece, not of nostalgia but of the essence of what is noble in us — love that comes to its point in the complete and conscious giving of a human self to another.

Writing a novel, even a short novel, is hard work, but a review like this justifies all of it.

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. . . of my novella Circus, a romance of the big top:

A Thrilling Read!

Yowza! A story as crazy, entertaining, and wildly fun as the circus itself! This is big top stuff — fast-paced, intricate, spellbinding, sad, funny, disturbing and redemptive. Big story, big characters, thrilling peek at our American past. I love it!

See the review and book details here — Circus.

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This book, one of those mad Taschen extravaganzas, is so big and heavy that it’s almost impossible to lift. It’s mostly filled with colorful illustrations of the circus through the ages — well, from 1870 to 1950, anyway — over six hundred pages of them.  It’s the next best thing to attending a show under the big top.

This is the original 2008 printing of the book, now out of print.  An abridged version was issued in 2010, about 100 pages shorter, and smaller in size, at a greatly reduced price — available today online for around $45.  The original edition usually sells for several hundred dollars, though I got mine at a bargain for $69, including shipping.  I don’t think the bookstore I bought it from realized it was selling the out-of-print edition.

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. . . ladies and gentlemen, step right up — but no crowding please . . . there’s room for all in Greenbaugh’s Majestic Circus, the Miracle Colussus! See Bap and his Congress Of Carnival Clowns, the Flying Kelly Twins, beautiful as fairytale princesses, the fearless Carl Ellenbeck and his ferocious lions, Jumbo the elephant — all appearing for your delight in three rings under the giant bog top!

In the sideshow tent more wonders await — dashing knife-thrower Roy Renaldo, The Incredible . . . savage and exotic peoples from all corners of the globe . . . freaks unlike any you have ever seen or read about!

On the far side of the midway you’ll find the cooch tent, where ladies perform startling dances in costumes that can barely be seen — gentlemen only, of course, positively no exceptions!

And it’s all yours in the romantic novella Circus, for the incredible price of only $1.49! For the Kindle or for free Kindle Reading Apps that work on almost all computers and portable devices, available here!

Step right up!  Step right up!  The show is starting now!

Circus

A romantic tale of the big top — in the time of the great circus trains that delivered a wild magic to the American heartland.

The year is 1935 and Jasper Grady, twelve years-old, in Wichita, Kansas flees an abusive home and casts his lot with The Greenbaugh Majestic Circus, The Miracle Colossus, where he will meet . . .

Bap, the genius clown and keeper of dark secrets . . .

Beth and Anne Kelly, twin trapeze artists who look like fairytale princesses and seem to share a single, troubled soul . . .

Roy Renaldo, the matinee-idol knife-thrower and lethal lover . . .

Carl Ellenbeck, the lion tamer, who is terrified his big cats will discover how terrified he is of them . . .

Colonel Adam S. Greenbaugh, owner of the circus, who watches as his way of life slips slowly into the realm of forgotten dreams . . .

But in this novella the dream lives on, in all its sordid, beautiful, breathtaking, heartbreaking glory.

On Amazon for the Kindle, any day now, priced to sell at $1.49 . . .

The circus is the only ageless delight that you can buy for money. Everything else is supposed to be bad for you. But the circus is good for you. It is the only spectacle I know that, while you watch it, gives the quality of a truly happy dream. The big cats do things no cat would ever do. You can see them jumping effortlessly over Mr. Konyot’s head instead of making that unbelievable low rush they close with in the dusk when the female lion shows her cubs the way to kill.

The circus bulls are disciplined and can make you feel that they are gay. They do not spread their ears and raise their trunks and come crashing through the bush.

The bears ride bicycles and dance and they would all get drunk if the Klausser family let them. You have known grizzlies to do very different things. But it was always because men intruded on their natural lives.

But in the circus it is like a dream. The animals are dream animals. The riders are dream riders. The flyers really fly and catch each other the way you are caught in good dreams.

The horses make the loveliest pattern of dreams and the best are the free horses. You get from the clowns just what you bring to them. As well as that which shows, they bring a great baggage of old mockeries and deflations that are as old as our conceits and self-delusions.

They also bring the true comic that makes the dreams we wake from laughing.

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