Joseph C. Gioconda

Sebastian can barely remember his mother, though he remembers being sent away as a child. Raised by the church he feels duty bound to become a priest, and he reluctantly takes on a mission to search out and retrieve occult books to bring back to the Inquisitor and to learn how deep the "problem" of witchcraft runs. The Inquisitor wants to know what the witches believe and how they worship the devil. Sebastian is to collect and record this data which he is told will be helpful to the Pope.
In his travels he will discover what really happened to his parents and that there is more evil in the alleged men of god than in a witches coven.
With a mix of fact and fiction this historical thriller takes a brutal look at centuries past when thousands of people were tortured and killed for imaginary crimes.
3.5 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy for review.… (meer)

I can't really say that many of these stories were scary, but the book did hold my interest. Several are written anecdotally as if the author is recounting an event that they personally experienced, and some, according to the editor's notes are admittedly "bite sized or ultra short." These are likely the stories I got the least enjoyment from. I don't like ambiguous tales with abrupt endings that seem to be over as quick as they start. That's just me. Other readers may feel differently.

The stories I most enjoyed were Convertible in which a traffic accident has an unexpected outcome.
Santa in which a jolly St Nick may not make it to the family gathering this year,
Mausoleum, about some young graveyard workers, and Gaslighting about a woman scorned, seeking revenge. All of these were by Joseph C. Gioconda.

The only story that I found scary was Lured by Amy Yun Yu. It is one of the more well rounded and fleshed out stories. A family living in a cramped trailer wherever they are able to park it have stopped at a book store on their way to the middle of nowhere and as the dutiful big brother begins to read the story his sister has chosen, sinister things are afoot.

So all in all it was worth the read and you may find some favorites too.

3 out of 5 stars

I received a mobi file through Book Sirens with no obligation to write a review.… (meer)

The Pope’s Butcher is probably one of the most well-researched and well-written books I’ve read in some time. To learn that it’s Joseph C. Gioconda’s first book makes it remarkable.

Based on historical facts, this book of fiction is about a priest initiate named Sabastian who is tasked with searching out witchcraft and its practices throughout the 15th century Roman Catholic world. Sabastian travels through Europe, Britain, and Ireland studying and taking notes on local witch practices. Toward the end of his travels, he judges witchcraft to be the innocent application of herbal medicinal practices that have been practiced from long before the founding of the Christian Church. In his notes, he opines that the actions taken by witches are entirely beneficial to the health and welfare of the communities being served. Spending a considerable amount of time with one young witch, he falls in love but leaves her to return to Rome to file his report with the chief inquisitor. According to the fictional account, Sabastian’s notes are misused and end up serving as the basis for the chief inquisitor’s widely distributed book on the evils of witchcraft. That book, The Witch’s Hammer, is still being published and is in circulation today. The initial publication of The Witch’s Hammer led to the deaths of thousands of women in Europe and America over the ensuing years.

In my experience, books that include a bibliography the size of the one at the end of The Pope’s Butcher are assigned social sciences texts that must be read in college. While historically factual and somewhat interesting as enhancements to the subject matter being studied, they are not enjoyable literary reading. Gioconda, on the other hand, wrote his book as reading literature, not an academic enhancement. I think that he succeeded in doing so and has, what will shortly become, a bestselling book as a result.

Gioconda, no doubt, has a busy schedule as a trial lawyer, but I do hope that he continues to set time aside for more historically based fictional writing. The Pope’s Butcher emotionally engaged me and always had me looking forward to my next reading session.… (meer)