From Publishers Weekly
The central conceit of this elegant, accomplished contemporary ghost story is that fuentesAsprings in which children have been ritually drownedAare portals of inexact time travel. A byproduct of the ritual, and of time-traveling, is that memory is cast off in the form of a crystal stone, which allows its holder to experience the cast-off memory, which "might be transferred to living flesh." Hale Appleton, leader of the Societas Fraternia, a spiritualist cult, creates one such crystal in 1884. The stone is then stolen, and pursued to the present day. Timelines and characters overlap here. Scenes from previous centuries take place on the periphery of the present story line, wherein Phil Ainsworth, an insular photographer who lives in Southern California, where Appleton made his sacrifice, gains custody of his niece. People from the past and present converge on Ainsworth in an attempt to get the crystal, or to block the portalAa well on his propertyAfrom being neutralized. Ambitious plotting and characterization augment Blaylock's (Winter Tide) lush language (ripples in a well "cast a hundred shifting shadows... crisscrossing in geometric confusion"). This is one ghostly tale that stands on very solid ground. (Aug.) ("Paper Dragons," 1986) and one for best short story ("Thirteen Phantasms," 1997). Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The coming of the rains to California's mission country releases a torrent of unusual activities surrounding a century-old mystery. Photographer Phil Ainsworth finds his life altered by the adoption of his late sister's child and the legacy she brings with her. As ghosts and strangers from the past seek redress for old grievances, a young girl's life hinges on the possession of a strange crystal and a magical well. The author of Winter Tides continues to display an uncanny talent for low-key, off-kilter drama, infusing the modern world with a supernatural tint. Blaylock's evocative prose and studied pacing make him one of the most distinctive contributors to American magical realism. Recommended for most libraries. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Blaylock continues to extend his range, this time with a novel of quiet--but not entirely psychological--horror. In southern California, underground aquifers may lie hidden for years, and in a rainy season, vanished pools and springs may suddenly reappear or even flood. One such pool turns out to hold more than water. Those who wade into it may thereafter wade out of their own proper time and not always be lucky enough to ever wade back. Inevitably, once what is happening by accident is understood, the foolhardy and the corrupt try to use the pool deliberately, with lethal results for themselves and others. Blaylock constructs what might be described as a leisurely page-turner: one wants to find out what comes next but doesn't feel compelled to rush onward to do so. Fans of horror in general--especially those who don't demand a high body count--as well as dedicated Blaylock fans will be well pleased. Roland Green


From Kirkus Reviews
More contemporary supernatural horror from the author of Winter Tides (1997), etc. In the hills of southern California, certain wells fill only in rainy years and possess magical properties: children drowned in them cast off their memories as eerie crystals. Photographer Phil Ainsworth lives in a rambling old house beside such a well, and, on the death of his sister, Marianne, he becomes the guardian of Betsy, a nine-year-old, over the objections of Marianne's friend Mrs. Darwin, to whom a previous will left both money and Betsy. Meanwhile, in 1884, a rainy year, cult leader Hale Appleton drowns his young dying daughter, but blackmailer Alejandro Solas steals the crystal. Schoolteacher Colin O'Brien, advised by a priest, fights Alejandro for it. During the struggle, Colin and May, the elder sister of Colin's girlfriend, Jeanette, fall into the well and time-travel into 1940though both find that certain of their memories have already been cast off as crystals. Hale Appleton arrives in 1942. Colin and May reside in what will become Phil's house while waiting for Jeanette to arrive. In 1998, a year of abundant rains, Hale Appleton instructs the avaricious Elizabeth Kelly to beguile Phil. Betsy, we learn, has May's memory crystal. Jeanette finally emerges from the well, but as yet Phil knows nothing of Appleton's obsession or of his intention to use Betsy as the vehicle to restore his long-dead daughter. This may be Blaylock's weirdest yet: intriguing, dramatic, atmospheric. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
The World Fantasy Award-winning author of Winter Tides presents the haunting story of a grieving widower, a little girl with an unusual gift, and an old house permeated by the past.

"Blaylock is a singular American fabulist."-William Gibson

"A chillingly realized tale of how the past haunts our lives."-Dallas Morning News

"Ambitious." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It's a gray, wet winter in southern California, and Phil Ainsworth is alone. The sudden death of his young wife has left him shaken, and he gets eerie sensations as he roams around the big, old house he inherited from his mother. He's sure he's seen people snooping around his property, by the old well that, in this wet weather, always seems ready to overflow. How much is real and how much is in his head? That's the question.

A late night phone call brings more bad news: Phil's sister has died, leaving her ten-year-old daughter Betsy an orphan and naming Phil as guardian. It seems like a bad time to bring a child into this unhappy house, but Phil had always promised he'd take care of Betsy - and now she's all the family he has left.

What he can't know is that Betsy is a very special child. She has the ability to sense the powerful emotions of the past, to hear the voices of the dead, and to see the uncanny powers that are closing in around this house.

FROM THE CRITICS

Faren Miller

Despite the presence of time-jumpers...and ghosts with a distinctly Blaylockian strangeness, some of the scariest presences in The Rainy Season are ordinary humans....Blaylock uses the supernatural to explore the darker depths of the human psyche... — Locus

Jonathan Strahan - Locus

The Rainy Season, a richly complex novel that deftly combines love, death, and family into a heady concoction that never fails, is Blaylock at his finest.

Publishers Weekly

The central conceit of this elegant, accomplished contemporary ghost story is that fuentes--springs in which children have been ritually drowned--are portals of inexact time travel. A byproduct of the ritual, and of time-traveling, is that memory is cast off in the form of a crystal stone, which allows its holder to experience the cast-off memory, which "might be transferred to living flesh." Hale Appleton, leader of the Societas Fraternia, a spiritualist cult, creates one such crystal in 1884. The stone is then stolen, and pursued to the present day. Timelines and characters overlap here. Scenes from previous centuries take place on the periphery of the present story line, wherein Phil Ainsworth, an insular photographer who lives in Southern California, where Appleton made his sacrifice, gains custody of his niece. People from the past and present converge on Ainsworth in an attempt to get the crystal, or to block the portal--a well on his property--from being neutralized. Ambitious plotting and characterization augment Blaylock's (Winter Tide) lush language (ripples in a well "cast a hundred shifting shadows... crisscrossing in geometric confusion"). This is one ghostly tale that stands on very solid ground. (Aug.) FYI: Blaylock has received two World Fantasy Awards, one for best short fiction ("Paper Dragons," 1986) and one for best short story ("Thirteen Phantasms," 1997). Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT

A young girl is drawn to a small box and its antique contents, and so is a too-neighborly widow. As the story unfolds, other people in the community both in the present and in the past also want these profoundly evocative relics. A middle-aged widower, Phil, is foisted into this scene because his sister has died and left her house—and her 10-year-old daughter Betsy—under his care. While he doesn't know about these enviable items, he does feel strange sensations in his sister's home and senses that people are not being straight with him. The question is: whom should he trust? Phil now wonders what is real. The title is subtle: the rainy season implies a change in the weather, a catalytic change. So the weather is used as metaphor. The character and plot treatment are equally subtle. The story slowly reveals itself, and the reader is drawn into the twists of magical realism. Phil and Betsy grow independently and together as the other characters help delineate their values and implications. An interesting read for the sophisticated. KLIATT Codes: A—Recommended for advanced students, and adults. 1999, Berkley/Ace, 356p, 18cm, $6.99. Ages 17 to adult. Reviewer: Lesley Farmer; Lib. Media Teacher Svcs., Cal. State University, Long Beach, CA January 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 1)

Library Journal

The coming of the rains to California's mission country releases a torrent of unusual activities surrounding a century-old mystery. Photographer Phil Ainsworth finds his life altered by the adoption of his late sister's child and the legacy she brings with her. As ghosts and strangers from the past seek redress for old grievances, a young girl's life hinges on the possession of a strange crystal and a magical well. The author of Winter Tides continues to display an uncanny talent for low-key, off-kilter drama, infusing the modern world with a supernatural tint. Blaylock's evocative prose and studied pacing make him one of the most distinctive contributors to American magical realism. Recommended for most libraries. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. Read all 8 "From The Critics" >

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