Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Dionysus in Wisconsin
SERIES: Wisconsin Gothic #1
AUTHOR: EH Lupton
PUBLISHER: Winnowing Fan Press
LENGTH: 356 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2023
BLURB:
A graduate student and an archivist work together to fight a god.
Fall, 1969. Ulysses Lenkov should be working on his dissertation. Instead, he’s developing an unlucrative sideline in helping ghosts and hapless magic users. But when his clients start leaving town suddenly—or turning up dead—he starts to worry there’s something afoot that’s worse than an unavenged death or incipient insanity. His investigation begins with the last word on everyone’s lips before they vanish: the mysterious Dionysus.
Sam Sterling is an archivist who recently moved back to Madison to be closer to the family he’s not too sure he likes. But his peaceful days of teaching library students, creating finding aids, and community theater come to an end when the magnetic, mistrustful Ulysses turns up with a warning. There’s a god coming, and it looks like it’s coming for Sam.
Soon the two are helping each other through demon attacks, discovering the unsavory history of Sam’s family, and falling in love as they race to find a solution. But as the year draws to a close, they’ll face a deadly showdown as they try to save Sam—and the city itself.
REVIEW:
Ulysses is in touch with the paranormal. After a few ghostly warnings, Ulysses begins researching child prodigy Dionysus Sterling aka Sam – now an unassuming archivist. This leads Ulysses and Sam to work together, fostering deep romantic feelings. However, someone or, more accurately, something has other ideas. The question is who will win the day?
Dionysus in Wisconsin is a super investigative paranormal read with pockets of high drama, and the use of several forms of mystic sight, that led to a crescendo of a finale.
The story is told in the third person from the viewpoints of Ulysses and Sam. Technically it was sound. However, several references and some terminologies were so high-brow that I reached for a dictionary. Eventually, I winged it and got the gist of what was being said by the surrounding words. The main protagonists were academics, so I got that street language wouldn’t always be on display, but occasionally the posh wording interrupted the story’s flow. Also, there were occasions when, despite reading a passage several times, it was hard to decipher whose voice was in command.
The era of the story is 1969, and in this universe, magic studies are part of regular studies, much like math. The setting is a university, but it is mainly the backdrop as opposed to going to classes, etc., as the main characters are from the post-grad and teaching side, instead of the student. The focus stays on family, the paranormal, and the investigation.
Ulysses comes from a family familiar with the supernatural and a lovely taste in food. Amongst other things, Ulysses uses his body as a tool for the paranormal, speaking to ghosts and stretching his senses to understand the consciousness of a building. His family uses Tarot Card’s sigils to create wards, and talking to spirits. However, with all this magical ability, Ulysses has forgotten how to listen to what his body is telling him on a personal level. I immensely enjoyed the matter-of-fact way Ulysses takes everything in his stride with a touch of sarcasm.
Sam is the misunderstood librarian from a powerful and wealthy family. Instead of courting the limelight, he is happier sorting through papers and ancient texts, creating references for others to use, and some teaching. He has book smarts but struggles with body language and wanting things for himself. Sam’s family is an eclectic bunch ranging from half-decent to outright bitch, and for one reason or another, Sam seems to be the black sheep.
Sam and Ulysses come across as old souls in very young bodies. Their investigation leads them from danger to dancing, lots of food, examining the reasons behind love, talking to scared ghosts, amplifying magic, time on a Triumph motorbike, and events that could end in death.
I found Dionysus in Wisconsin was a cleverly put-together story with frequent enough danger to keep me turning the page, interesting investigations, and a delightful slow-burn love story. If I hadn’t been sidetracked using a dictionary, I might have given it full marks.
RATING: 
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