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Miscellaneous Settling in Sandspur by Loren McLeod $12.95 / iUniverse / 2003 Part mystery, part character study, and part nostalgia trip, Loren McLeod's Settling in Sandspur is an odd mix for such a short novel (it is a quick read at about 150 pages). The set-up is actually fairly simple: the participants of a small Renaissance Festival in Sandspur put on the faire. Despite the fact that the fair's attendance and revenue has been shrinking for years, faire performers Sylvia and Elaine soldier on until the faire producer dies unexpectedly. Suddenly, the two are confronted with the prospect of closing the Sandspur Renaissance Festival down for good. This eventuality is not without consequence for the festival's participants, including a pair of underperforming dramatists, a social outcast who turns her desperate need for company into a thriving business, a couple of unrelenting bad apples, and a few stoners. If Settling in Sandspur has a major problem, it is that there are too many characters (with attendant backstories, which often read like newspaper obituaries) for such a short book. McLeod does a lot of work to make these characters distinctive, so it is unfortunate that he does not always succeed. A smaller cast and greater depth of characterization would have benefited the story, particularly late in the plot when the improbable events stack up. The festival itself, however, emerges as an unexpectedly resonant character in its own right. The faire and its players soon acquire the tenor of a traveling show, even though they stay in one place, and the title asks the question that the story answers: when the show ends, where do its players come to rest? To his credit, McLeod shows that the answer to this question depends upon the person asking it, and endeavors to illustrate this through his many interwoven storylines. He is hampered, however, by his large cast and by the accelerating improbabilities of the plot. Amidst it all, however, there are moments of emotion and charm, moments where the characters emerge from the tumult of events to speak for themselves. —Genevieve Williams

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