Hi Perfume Posse, Portia from Australian Perfume Junkies with a book, Quantum Demonology, by one of us. Yes, you read right, ONE OF US!!

A perfumista, blogger, fabulous friend of mine, and many of yours Sheila Eggenberger from The Alembicated Genie. Now Sheila has been a reader of Perfume Posse for many years, I was Skyping with her this week and when I told her that I would be reviewing her book on the Perfume posse there were nearly tears of joy. This is where her journey into perfumista-hood began. Where Sheila learned that fragrance was totally amazing and incredible but ultimately a thing for fun, joy and enjoyment. That though the perfumers were gods that they are also human and sometimes even fallible, that aspirational marketing can also be hilarious and that there are a bunch of mad frag heads that can swear like truckies, laugh like mistresses and read, work, interact and smell like whatever they damn well please. Imperfect, sometimes strung out perfumistas for whom fragrance is both alter and relaxation, a place where you can come 24/7 and there’s something to fire you up even if you are in your pyjamas suffering from insomnia or just need some unreal reality to get you through a totally shit work week. So for my mate Sheila the world has turned full circle, now we can read about her on Perfume Posse. Isn’t life cool?

Quantum Demonology by Sheila Eggenberger

Quantum Demonology by Sheila Eggenberger $41 delivered worldwide BookDepository

I don’t know how many of you read Sheila at Alembicated Genie but she is a one in a million reviewer who sometimes writes a fragrance review and other times writes a story, a fantasy around whatever scent she is reviewing. It can be mind blowing to read some of her work, other times I have to read it and digest it for a day or so then come back and reread it to enjoy the flight of fancy. Her knowledge is far reaching and wide ranging and for a single post she may go and immerse herself in literature, history, encyclopedia and images of the time, place or person she is writing of. A deep love of understanding her topic before embarking on the journey of writing.

Quantum Demonology feels the same and very different, this is a fiction, a fantasy, a magical tale of good versus evil, um, no. A tale of what we would usually consider good and evil on much the same side and the protagonist: a just past youthful woman, tough, hardened, rocker, smart mouth, sensualist with a history and a brain. Thrown into events far beyond her knowledge and previous arena: in love with someone, something, totally out of this world: pushed beyond what she thought she would ever have to do and into places and situations that would send all of us cuckoo the question is will she survive to reach the payoff, will the payoff feel like it should and will there be gratitude or agony on the other side. Be careful what you wish for…….

I had read some of Quantum Demonology in its raw state and it didn’t make much sense to me because I was reading bits here and there. Also Sheila did a couple of full and complete finalising rewrites that tightened, focused and polished carbon into a diamond. The first two chapters are not gripping, they are explanation and set up: plough on into the third chapter and clear your calendar because I promise you that you will need two or three days of chronic page turning. It was the third chapter that caught me hook line and sinker and hurled me headfirst into Sheila’s imagined world. Suddenly I could not stop reading and NEEDED to find out the next turn, twist, surprise and information.

Quantum Demonology is a created world based on what many of us already know but turned sideways and made believe-able by a really excellent storyteller. Once I had suspended disbelief I was hooked.

Another great thing about theb book is how scent focused it is. Sheila describes fragrance in ways that have you there with her, there are also some wonderful nods to frags we have heard of, sampled, owned and worn. I love finding the mentions like going on a treasure hunt. Every time I recognised something I got a thrill, a shiver as if the little nugget had been left for me to find, which of course is exactly how Sheila planned it. For us, so we her peers in perfume would get that shock of recognition.

All I can say is, DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR and grab Quantum Demonology. You will be incredibly happy that you did. Then come back and tell me what you thought, I can’t wait to read your reviews.

Portia xx

Quantum Demonology by Sheila Eggenberger $41 delivered worldwide BookDepository