When Monsters Call Out The Names Of Men

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Kristine Kennedy

Some books have been a long time coming. When Monsters Call Out The Names of Men has been a very long time coming, and the fact that it is finally here at all is something of a small miracle worth celebrating before you even open the first page.

Gary Wassner wrote this fifth and final volume of his GemQuest series years ago, only to watch his publisher go bankrupt before it could reach readers. The manuscript sat on a digital shelf while fans of the series waited, hoped, and eventually wondered if the story would ever be completed. That it has been is a testament to Wassner's stubborn commitment to finishing what he started, and to the readers who never quite stopped hoping.

The GemQuest series has always operated in the tradition of the great epic fantasies, the ones we remember not just for their plots but for the worlds they built inside us. Twin heirs. A dark lord's ancient threat. A quest for a gem of extraordinary power. Sentient Lalas trees whose essences must not be lost. These are the elements Wassner has been weaving across four previous volumes, and When Monsters Call Out The Names of Men finally brings all of it to its conclusion.

What has always distinguished this series from the crowded epic fantasy field is the philosophical depth underneath the adventure. Wassner holds a master's degree in Ethics and Nineteenth Century Continental Philosophy, and that background is felt in how seriously the books engage with questions of good and evil, sacrifice and purpose, and what it costs to stand between the world and the darkness threatening it. The monsters in this series, as in the best fantasy, are never just creatures. They are ideas given form, and the men who face them must reckon with something inside themselves before they can reckon with the threat outside.

For readers who have followed the Twins from the beginning, this conclusion is deeply satisfying and long overdue. For anyone yet to discover GemQuest, this is the best possible moment to start from the beginning.

About the Author

Gary Alan Wassner

In the fashion industry, Gary Wassner, CO-CEO of Hilldun Corporation, known as the company behind many of Seventh Avenue's most prestigious fashion companies, has provided financing and factoring for many of America's most iconic designer labels. Derek Lam, Peter Som, Jason Wu, Maria Cornejo, Yeohlee, Alexander Wang, Nanette Lepore, Rebecca Taylor, Twinkle, Naeem Kahn, Zang Toi, Vivienne Westwood, Timo Weiland, Chris Benz, Mara Hoffman, Thom Browne, Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs and Alexis Bittar are only a few of fashion's finest that have benefitted from the discerning eyes and business acumen of he and his business partner of twenty years, Jeffrey Kapelman.

Recently named one of Fashionista's 50 Most Influential People in Fashion, Gary is also a member of the CFDA Advisory Board and a mentor for the CFI Incubator program, an advisory board member of Fordham Law School's Fashion Law Institute, as well as a member of Senator Gillibrand's Fashion Industry Working Group and a passionate supporter of the Save The Garment Center movement and all causes related to supporting the Fashion Industry in NYC.

In addition to being a force in the fashion industry, he is a well respected fiction writer and children's book author. His GemQuest series, The Twins, The Awakening, The Shards and The Revenge of the Elves is popular among sci-fi and fantasy readers. The fifth and final book in the GemQuest series, When Monsters Call Out The Names of Men, will be released the second half of 2013. One of his children's books, The Mystery of the Jubilee Emerald published by Mondo Publishing, is available everywhere. The second two books in that series were published in January of 2013, The Candle Rock Mystery and The Mystery of the Presidential Papers. Last year he published Isabella Cucharella, Fashion Designer Extraordinaire, a picture book for budding young fashion stars, 50% of the proceeds of which he donated to the CFDA Fashion Incubator.

Wassner resides in New York with his wife Cathy and his extended family.