Living Jackson Magazine

The Sun Singer

A review by Caine Campbell

A reviewer likes to put a novel into a category. Partly that’s for the reviewer’s own satisfaction, but pigeon-holing the book is helpful for the reader as well. When I vouchsafe to you that the main character, young Robert Adams, bears some resemblance to Harry Potter in his possession of a special power and his adventures in a world that is part real and part magical, you begin to decide whether it’s the kind of novel you want to read.

When I continue to the effect that this novel by Jackson County author Malcolm R. Campbell differs in many respects from the fiction of J. K. Rowling, your intrigue may grow. Next I mention that The Sun Singer may in some way partake of the characteristics of horror fiction, such as the tales of Stephen King. Then I tell you that elements of the fiction of Franz Kafka are brought to mind as the writer of The Sun Singer weaves his spell. Readers familiar with Oxford Stroud’s To Yield A Dream will recognize a haunting resemblance to the zany and comical yet profoundly serious themes and escapades therein.

Now you can see that after suggesting the possibility of putting this novel into a category, I have in fact placed it in several different pigeon holes. It is that kind of novel—a slippery, chameleon kind of fiction the likes of which you may not have previously experienced.

Dare to take a trip with Robert Adams if you will. A plane trip and adventures in the mountains of the Midwest are inviting prospects. Before you pack your bag, however, you must realize that Robert did not know whether “…he was going into the sun or into magic’s darker shadows.” The journey is at the same time real and unreal, at the same time prosaic and magical. What may be said of the journey may indeed be said of the whole of the book and of the fiction writing of Malcolm Campbell.

If you dare to take the trip, that is, dare to read the book, you may look forward to getting the answers to these questions: Who and what is the Sun Singer? Who is the raven? Who is Owl? Who is Gem? Who is Cinnabar? What and where is the place called Pyrrha? On a deeper level, you learn one answer to the question, what are dreams? And, if you inquire, what is death?

As for dreams, “Like this old tree, some dreams are infinitely wise. Others are like the children playing on those swings, young and carefree.” To which Robert replies, “When I wake up, my dreams seem weird. I always wonder why I believed the situations were normal while they were happening. How do I make sense of it?” Grandfather said, “You control them. It’s your dream. Change it.”

It is high adventure that his grandfather plans for Robert and for all in the family. We are not surprised to learn that Mother disapproves of the journey. Do not mothers always disapprove of the fun that grandfathers plan for the boy in the family? It is not just fun, in this case, that Mother opposes; she is against dabbling in magic.

Who is Robert’s grandfather? In a literal sense he is Thomas Elliott. Of greater significance to the story, he is Robert’s mentor and partner in magic, a traveling companion who leaves this note for Robert: “Dear Sun Singer—Like Osprey, your spirit totem, your vision knows no horizons as you carry messages between gods and men and become transformed. Fear the fireweed, not the fire. You own the sky!”

In that note we learn the overarching plot of the novel—the magical transformation of the main character. Complementing the plot is the theme of the novel: Time reveals hidden truth. On this note your reviewer would stop, except he fears you would not forgive him if he did not warn you that, in his magical travels, Robert Adams becomes Sonny Trout. That cryptic remark by the reviewer should leave you puzzled, a perpetual state in which you will find yourself as you travel with Malcolm Campbell’s characters through the pages of The Sun Singer.

The 307-page novel is available in paperback at a reasonable price at Downtown Interiors in Jefferson.

Caine Campbell is himself a novelist but only in that particular is he related to Malcolm R. Campbell.