User:Jmdeane1/The Book of the Damned

Yo. I am Johanna Deane, your humble instructor, and my last name is weird. I think it means "valley". That's annoying. (First name is accurate--divine gift etc.) And you are responsible for the various sections of this page.

Sample of Citation
 * Username - Yourfirstname Yourlastname - Sectionofpageyouwanttodo
 * firecrackers08 -Jessie Dominick -Characters
 * segotthold - Sara Gotthold - Awards
 * amandascarpaa -Amanda Scarpa -Publication
 * Chughes26- Cassidy Hughes- Background
 * kaylalee1 - Kayla VanWageninge - Critical Reception
 * CourtResearch - Courtney Lepping - Style
 * stk37341-Samantha Dallessio-Plot
 * richar88 - Matt Richards - Plot

Plot
The Book of the Damned is the first of the Paradys series by Tanith Lee. The Book of the Damned divides into three novellas. The novellas are entitled Stained with Crimson, Malice of Saffron, and Empires of Azure. The plots of each novella are different however, each novella takes place in the city of Paradys also at times called Paradis. Each novella follows a different character during a different century.

Stained with Crimson
Takes place in the nineteenth century. It follows Andre St. Jean, a poet, who is handed a ruby scarab ring by a man that collapses at his feet. His friend Phillippe, who is later found murdered, introduced Andre to the owner of the ring, Antonina von Aron, at a salon she was hosting. Andre becomes infatuated with Antonina who later dies introducing the reader to her brother, Anthony. Anthony challenges Andre to a duel which ends in Andre’s death and burial. Andre comes back to life as a woman, Anna, and discovers that Antonina and Anthony are the same person. After Anna sleeps with Anthony, she comes back as Andre once again. It is a story of constant sex changes and cycles of death.

Malice of Saffron
Takes place during the Medieval times. It follows Jehanine, a farm girl from the country who is raped by her stepfather .In an attempt to get help, she goes on a quest to Paradys to find her brother. When Jehanine explains her brother what had happened, he does not believe her story. Since Jehanine had no where to go she follows a dwarf who leads her to the Nunnery of the Angel where she is invited to stay. Jehanine ends up cleaning the nunnery by day and roaming the streets with thieves dressed as a boy named Jehan by night. In her male disguise, Jehan sought revenge on men for making her suffer. This included having her brother attacked. At the end of the novella Jehanine finds peace and redemption as she becomes a nun and helps people that became sick from the plague.

Empires of Azure
Took place in a modern time, speculated to be during the 30’s or 40’s. It is told from the voice of the narrator, a writer, whose true name is not revealed. While sitting in a crowded cafe she is presented with a note from a stranger that states “In a week, or less, I shall be dead”. Within a week the stranger, Louis, ends up dead. The note drives the narrator to visit the home of the stranger to investigate his murder. She finds Louis's journal which reveals all of the bizarre secrets that the house contains. As the narrator begins to experience the strange events for herself she is approached by the demon Tiyamonet who orders her to finish writing the journal that contained the story of the house and his triumph.

Characters
For each section of the book, there were different main characters. Each book had around five main characters that played an important role in each novella. 2. Malice in Saffron 3. Empires of Azure
 * 1) Stained with Crimson
 * Andre St. Jean – Main Character who is introduced on page 2.
 * Phillipe – Best friend of St. Jean, who is properly introduced on page four (He is mentioned on the first page, but nothing is said about him as a person).
 * Madam Antonina Von Aaron – This was the woman introduced on page ten that had black eyes and was mischievous. It turned out that she was a vampire. We do not find this out until much later in the book.
 * Anthony Scarabin – He is mentioned on page 44 as Antonina’s brother, but it is actually Antonina reincarnated.
 * Anna SanJeanne – Technically, Anna is brought into the story on page (192 is what I have in my book but I need the actual page number from a real book, please help if you can), but we don’t find out it is her until page (again, I need help.) Anna is the reincarnation of Andre.
 * Jehanine (Jhane is her nickname)– She is the main character introduced on page 91. After being raped by her stepfather, she runs away and lives in a nunnery. We later find out she has evil throughout her.
 * Jehan – Jehan is the male version of Jehanine. He comes into play on page 96. Jehan is a very bad man and wreaks havoc. Since he is like another personality forced in most likely because of the betrayal of her family, Jehanine does not remember everything that Jehan does.
 * Conrad – He is introduced on page 113 as a thief who is in charge of other thieves. He is greedy and is attracted to Jehan.
 * Fero – Introduced on page 96, he leads Jehanine / Jehan to different places like the nunnery and her brother, Pierre. He also transforms at the end of the book into an angel, claiming to be Esrafel after Jehanine asks if that is his name.
 * Pierre – He is the brother of Jehanine. He is introduced on page 101, although he is talked about on page 91. After sending Jehanine away, Pierre is raped and beaten by the thieves and gets the plague later in the book. He is apparently well known in Paradys.
 * Osanne – Osanne was a nun who tried saving Jehanine’s soul from the evil on page 110, but fails. After acting strange for a while, she is found dead in the nunnery well.
 * Main Character - Main character introduced on page 179. She runs around and reads a book given to her to find out more about Louis St. Jenier and his story.
 * Louis St. Jenier – He is also introduced on page 179. He tells the main character that he will die soon, and he does. His story, however, is told through the book that the main character reads.
 * The friends – Louis’s friends are introduced on page 180. The friends, Vlok and Curt, are mischievous and aren’t very friendly to the main character
 * The Ghost / Timonie – The ghost, introduced on page 192, lives in Louis’s house. She visits him throughout the story
 * The spider – Even though this character is not a person, the spider is still very important. The spider lives in the earring that Louis finds on the floor (which is found on page 194). The spider is the cause of Louis’s and Timonie’s death.
 * Tiyamonet – Tiyamonet and Timonie are pretty much the same person. Tuamon is also the same person. Tiyamonet’s only difference is that she was an Egyptian princess and she lived a long time ago. So, Timonie based herself off of her and called herself by that name.

Background
The Book of the Damned is made up of three novella length stories all stories are independent but they also are connected due to many similar themes and elements throughout each story. Each story takes place in a parallel-universe of Paris in a city called Paradys, which is very similar to the word for “beyond the kingdom of the dead” Paradys is located in northern France, which built itself up to a major city through its cathedral and taverns. Each story takes place in different time periods of the city. Stained with Crimson, the first story in the book, takes place in 19th Century Paradys Malice in Saffron, the next story in the book, is said to be during the medieval times of Paradys. Finally, the last story in the book, Empires of Azure, takes place in an early 20th century Paradys.

Awards
In 1989, The Book of the Damned was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Collection. Out of twenty-five nominees, The Book of the Damned placed fifteenth and has not been nominated for or received any other awards since then.