Tag Archives: #Strangecreatures

Science Fiction, Serial/Series

Harper, T.K. (1990) Wolfwalker, New York: Ballantine.

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Cover artist: Edwin Herder

It was dark, and she could not see. She could not hear for the roaring in her ears, and she could not move. Oh, moons of mercy, moons of light… She tried to spit out the panic but choked on grit and fur and dirty blood. Guide me in the darkest night… Struggling, she dragged a breath into her lungs, and then the fright that held her frozen burst and she screamed, the sound suffocating in the black death above her. Keep me safe from evil spirit…….(p.1).

Ember Dione maMarin is one of two main characters whose points of view Harper switches between. She also happens to be my favourite. Defying the patriarchy and traditional roles assigned genders Dion has gone all out by being both Healer and Warrior in addition to a Wolfwalker. She and her twin had just started their Journey before it all went wrong. Wolfwalkers are humans who bond with wolves. Because each of them has to adapt to each other, the human becomes wilder and the wolf less wild. Harper made the bond believable – you will see how.

Wolfwalker is the first of three novels in the Wolfwalker trilogy and was also my introduction to Harper’s authorship. And I loved that journey. A fun fact about Harper is that she has been through many of the same types of extreme sports as Dion has. She has also been a martial arts performer. I would be fair to say that Harper knows what she writes about, and it shows.

It was midday when the four men reined in at the river. The raiders had beaten them to the Phye by hours, and Aranur stook on the baks, his anger growing cold and hard as steel within him: The raiders had had a boat waiting at high tide. (p.48)

Aranur Bentar neDannon is our second main character and male. I’m not certain I ever really warmed up to him. At times he really got on my nerves. This is a man who is used to getting things his way. Most of that has to do with his size, abilities with a weapon, position in society and leadership abilities. Fortunately he is not a bully. Harper did a good job in maintaining their different personalities throughout the story. Obviously, these two will grow into a couple. Thankfully not in an annoying or cloying manner.

Group cohesiveness, individual coping methods and thrills are the main themes of Wolfwalker. While we do get to smile at something every once in a while, for the main part this is a grim story where grief, fear and exhaustion are more common. Harper handles both the lighter and grimmer sides of the novel effortlessly (it seems) and maintains her flow throughout the story. She walks a fine line between just enough and too much well and does that through all three novels. After reading her work, Harper has become one of my favourite authors.

A cry that knots your heartstrings
Is not easily untied (p.10)

Each chapter begins with a poem that foreshadows its contents. When I read the story by myself I skipped over them. It’s one of my failings as a reader. That was not an option when I read the story out loud to my daughter (24). I made her read out loud the chapter headings. Turns out I should have read the poems the first time through. I actually enjoyed them. Oh, well. Better late than never. My daughter also gave Wolfwalker a thumbs up and had me begin the next in line as soon as possible.

My copy is the 1990 soft-cover edition and 310 pages. Its blurb is one of the few I have read that represents the contents of the story:

A girl and her wolf.

Dion was a healer and a wolfwalker, and the unique telepathic bond that she shared with the wolf Gray Hish sometimes seemed to amplify her sensitivity to her patients. But she never guessed how strong that bond could be, or what kind of power it could wield, until she found herself lost in the wilderness, with angry slavers at her heels and war on the horizon. Suddenly she and her fellow travelers were fighting for their lives in the snowy winter wastes, where the wolves were their only guides, the greatest secret of the ancients their only salvation … and Dion their only hope to survive! (back)

We soon find out that this is a science fiction story placed somewhere on a strange planet. Most of its creatures are strange, deadly and obviously non-Terran. Personally, I’m not sure there are any weak points to the novel – aside from having to buy it used.

Wolfwalker seems intended for mature readers who enjoy grim stories. Harper’s writing expects something of the reader and deals with complex issues.

I loved it. Go buy it. I often use Thriftbooks.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Thriller

Thoma, C. (2014). Boreal and John Grey Season 1. Self-published.

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I absolutely loved the scifi/fantasy/thriller story Boreal and John Grey, Season One. Thoma is an author that justifies self-published works.  Season 1 contains the novellas “The Encounter” (45 p), “The Gate” (70 p), “The Dragon” (94 p), “The Dream” (100 p) and “The Truth” (107 p).

Although it was early September, the cold bit to the bone and the air smelled like snow. Snow and piss and trash. The alley stretched ahead, empty of life and strewn with crushed cans and paper.

Ella didn’t move. Faint humming filled her ears, and clicking noises sounded. The clouds above shifted, though no wind blew. The Veil was thinning. Shades would be lurking, waiting to pounce. In the past, faint, frail faeries came through; these had recently turned into more malevolent creatures — kobolds and goblins with a taste for blood. (p. 1.)

Right off the story reveals the quality of Thoma’s work and the kind of story we can expect. The first two paragraphs seethe with potential action and foreshadow a dark story. For Boreal and John Grey, Season 1 is a dark and action-filled story about elements of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau (PIB) and its dealings somewhere in the US.

PIB Voyants (“Sight”, i.e. can see Shades) are paired off and sent to investigate and deal with possible sightings of Shades (Vaettir). Ella Benson and Simon Esterhase make up one such pairing. An anonymous call was redirected to their team, yet only Ella turns up to hunt. What she discovers about the Veil and the Shades disturbs her boss, David Holborn. She does not reveal that when a goblin was about to kill her, it was instead destroyed by a man who fought “like a hurricane” and who left after making sure she was OK (without sharing his name). Throughout the story Ella finds that trusted people aren’t trustworthy while suspicious characters might not be suspicious after all. We also meet the ever-trustworthy Mike, Ella’s neighbour, friend and also Oracle (“He hears the Shades.”, p. 116).

Ella and the mysterious stranger are our main characters. Both are “Heroes“, i.e. “solitary people who fight for the greater good to the detriment of themselves and who do what must be done so others can live normal lives.”

Thoma tells us that she was inspired by the Icelandic saga Eddukvæði by Sæmundar (English translation). I saw this in the details of the story and how the characters from the Edda fit into modern US and  its paranoia. Edda’s inspiration made for recognizable yet new and original characters. I loved the description of the alternate evolution on a Boreal world (brrr).

Any steady reader of this blog knows that romance is not my thing. A majority of romance authors seem incapable of writing believable character interaction. Not so with Thoma. In this case I believed both the emotional and physical interactions that took place. The sex was European vanilla, and the violence held back yet remained believable. Swearing fit with its position in the story.

Certain issues were extremely relevant in a global context. Hatred left from wars leading to atrocious actions from extremist groups on both sides (e.g. Dave and Adramar) is one issue. Relationships across racial/ethnical divides is another. Child abuse a third. No preaching was involved. I hate preaching, even when I am the one doing the preaching. The worst part of the story was that it ended.

Information was weaved into the story in a manner that kept the drive going. No stutters or dissonances were found. Due to Thoma’s world-building, and how tight the story was, I found it difficult to  take breaks.

Each episode flowed flawlessly into the next and the amount of editing that must have gone into this showed. Fortunately, the novel ended without a cliff-hanger. There was a clear opening for continuing the story.

By now you must realise that I heartily recommend this scifi/fantasy/thriller. Fun characters, great resolutions, sex and some violence are all wrapped up into one of the better stories I have read this year.

I bought my copy at Amazon.

My other Thoma reviews: Rex Rising

Fantasy

Doctorow, Cory; someone comes to town, someone leaves town; New York, Tor Books, 2005

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@43.6538177,-79.4026059,518m
Illustrated by Dave McKean
Narrated by Bronson Pinchot
Illustrated by Damon W. Wallace
Illustrated by Dave McKean
Illustrated by Dave McKean
Illustrated by Dave McKean
Illustrated by David W. Wallace
Illustrated by Damon W. Wallace
Narrated by Bronson Pinchot
Illustrated by Damon W Wallace
Coverart by Shutterstock
Illustrated by David W. Wallace
Illustrated by Dave McKean

The clerks who’d tended Alan’s many stores—the used clothing store in the Beaches, the used book-store in the Annex, the collectible tin-toy store in Yorkville, the antique shop on Queen Street—had both benefited from and had their patience tried by Alan’s discursive nature. Alan had pretended never to notice the surreptitious rolling of eyes and twirling fingers aimed templewise among his employees when he got himself warmed up to a good oration, but in truth very little ever escaped his attention. His customers loved his little talks, loved the way he could wax rhapsodic about the tortured prose in a Victorian potboiler, the nearly erotic curve of a beat-up old table leg, the voluminous cuffs of an embroidered silk smoking jacket. The clerks who listened to Alan’s lectures went on to open their own stores all about town, and by and large, they did very well.

He’d put the word out when he bought the house on Wales Avenue to all his protégés: Wooden bookcases! His cell-phone rang every day, bringing news of another wooden bookcase found at this flea market, that thrift store, this rummage sale or estate auction.

Alan (or any name beginning with the initial A) reminds me of myself in so many ways. Not only was my mother a washing-machine, my father a mountain and one of my brothers a zombie, but I also like to have bookshelves full of books. But I want to have read the books. Well, actually, my family isn’t exactly like that, but Alan’s family is. We are similar in other ways as well. Like Alan, I tend to want to offer solutions to problems people have. Even when they haven’t asked for one. Maybe that is one way the Asperger brain works. Our passions often express themselves in the same manner Alan’s renovation of his house followed. I could totally live in a house like that, but would not want to go through all the hassle he did. But I have other areas where I can be as focused as Alan was with his house. Registering everything he ever owned onto a database is something I have known Aspies to do. Another way in which the Aspie brain can work is by following our own set of social rules, rules not generally accepted by neurotypicals. Take Alan’s relationship with his neighbors on Wales Avenue in Toronto, Canada.:

Alan rang the next-door house’s doorbell at eight a.m. He had a bag of coffees from the Greek diner. Five coffees, one for each bicycle locked to the wooden railing on the sagging porch plus one for him.

He waited five minutes, then rang the bell again, holding it down, listening for the sound of footsteps over the muffled jangling of the buzzer. It took two minutes more, he estimated, but he didn’t mind. It was a beautiful summer day, soft and moist and green, and he could already smell the fish market over the mellow brown vapors of the strong coffee.

A young woman in long johns and a baggy tartan T-shirt opened the door. She was excitingly plump, round and a little jiggly, the kind of woman Alan had always gone for. Of course, she was all of twenty-two, and so was certainly not an appropriate romantic interest for him, but she was fun to look at as she ungummed her eyes and worked the sleep out of her voice.

“Yes?” she said through the locked screen door. Her voice brooked no nonsense, which Alan also liked. He’d hire her in a second, if he were still running a shop. He liked to hire sharp kids like her, get to know them, try to winkle out their motives and emotions through observation.

“Good morning!” Alan said. “I’m Alan, and I just moved in next door. I’ve brought coffee!” He hefted his sack in her direction.

“Good morning, Alan,” she said. “Thanks and all, but—”

“Oh, no need to thank me! Just being neighborly. I brought five—one for each of you and one for me.”

Not quite understanding what makes up neurotypicals, and having to stand on the outside looking in, brings with it the danger of being deemed less than human, much like Krishna does with Alan. It does not take much for such a thought to take hold. People who work within healthcare are in particular danger of falling into this trap. As are people within the school system and, I suppose, any kind of bureaucrat.  It is something I have observed happen again and again to people who are dissimilar enough to any given average.

Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town mixes present and past into a tale of a dysfunctional family and a repressed present. Using any excuse to avoid dwelling on his family’s messed up relationships, Alan is a great example of escapism and dissociation. Only one thing can make him try to face his past and that is his neighbour Mimi. She reminds Alan, and us, of his old sweetheart Marci.  Except for the wings. Bat-like wings that get cut off whenever they reach a certain size. Cut off, that is, until her relationship with Krishna changes.

Marci is part of the story about David and his brothers. Or maybe that is Alan and his brothers. David and Alan are intertwined so tightly that only one apparent recourse seems open to the brothers. Or could something perhaps change this doomed relationship?

David (or any name starting with D) is the brother wronged by the rest. We find out how as the story moves along, but the reason is a common one in sibling relationships. Suffice it to say that being wronged had left its marks on him and his anger is most definitely deserved. Alan was the first of eight brothers. While the Golems tried to help, Alan ended up being the one who had to take care of his younger brothers. B and C had been easy to take care of.

Billy, the fortune-teller, had been born with a quiet wisdom, an eerie solemnity that had made him easy for the young Alan to care for.

Carlos, the island, had crawled out of their mother’s womb and pulled himself to the cave mouth and up the face of their father, lying there for ten years, accreting until he was ready to push off on his own.

However, the needs of the other four brothers were much more difficult for a child to understand.

Daniel had been a hateful child from the day he was born. He was colicky, and his screams echoed through their father’s caverns. He screamed from the moment he emerged and Alan tipped him over and toweled him gently dry and he didn’t stop for an entire year.

It is difficult to love colicky and needy children. Daniel had been both. Plus his first reaction to most things was violence. Some years later, Edward, Fredrik and George came along with one month between them.

Ed was working on his suspenders, then unbuttoning his shirt and dropping his pants, so that he stood in grimy jockeys with his slick, tight, hairy belly before Alan. He tipped himself over, and then Alan was face-to-face with Freddy, who was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts with blue and white stripes. Freddy was scowling comically, and Alan hid a grin behind his hand.

Freddy tipped to one side and there was George, short and delicately formed and pale as a frozen french fry. He grabbed Freddy’s hips like handles and scrambled out of him, springing into the air and coming down on the balls of his feet, holding his soccer-ball-sized gut over his Hulk Underoos.

What began as a relationship where their need for each other comforted them, slowly deteriorated into one of resentment and possibly hate. Doctorow does a great job of creating brothers that represent their role in their family’s dysfunction through their bodies and minds.

In spite of all of the commentary I have read, Someone comes to town is not particularly unusual for a reader of science fiction and fantasy. But it is well-written and well-edited and flows, even through the geeky parts. Retro-techno junkies are always fun.  Recommended.

Reviews:

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Translations:

Science Fiction

Hogarth, Mica; Earthrise (Mortal Instruments I); Studio MCAH; 2013

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“Great,” Reese said, losing what little energy she had. She imagined it bleeding into the ground beneath her tailbone and shoulders. “You were supposed to be in a jail cell we could get you out of for money, not underground in a place pirates hide people they want to make disappear.”

The Eldritch canted his head, hair hissing against one shoulder. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll send you a bill,” Reese said, trying to get a hand under herself so she could sit up.

(Earthrise, p. 29)

Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Western

De Pierres, Marianne; Peacemaker 1 (2014)

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Illustrator: Brigitte Sutherlands
Illustrator Brigitte Sutherland.

The Peacemaker series begins with the novel Peacemaker. Peacemaker also has a first installment of the webcomic edition on De Pierres website. De Pierres has called her Peacemaker stories cowpunk, meaning they are Australian Westerns (yes there is such a thing) with possible aliens/paranormal creatures, technologically enhanced humans and animals and an environmentally challenged country. Australia has gone from having its current 500 national parks to only one, Birrumen Park. There was still an outback while Virgin’s father was alive. He started a park lobby because he saw the direction real estate developers were dragging the country in. Now, Birrumen lies, as the last of its sort, in the heart of a supercity and is surrounded by a road, The Park Esplanada. Noise, people and buildings drench the outside of the park.

Peacemaker is told by Virgin. She is our main character.  Most of her childhood has been spent with her father in Birrumen Park. He taught her to not trust anyone, least of all those closest to her, and to love the park as much as he did. Virgin is passionate about keeping the Park out of the hands of real estate developers. As long as the tourists keep coming, the Park still has a chance.

… the company scientists deemed it too environmentally fragile to handle the impact of permanent residents. Tourists did enough damage.

And we had to have tourists.

The Park saved Australia’s tourism industry and tourists save the Park. My daughter just did her BA dissertation on eco-tourism. Many places depend on tourists to stay alive, but tourists bring their own set of problems that aren’t compatible with keeping a place “untouched”. Owners of the park are forced to make concessions like the Wild West theme of Birrumen. The future we see in Peacemaker is a likely one. Humans don’t have the intelligence to control our population growth or our ecological foot-prints.

Benny, Virgin’s horse, and the Park both ground Virgin when the chaos of the city becomes too much. Both are filled with technology. Benny has been augmented with recording equipment, and endurance and cognitive enhancers. All of his augmentations send information back to Totes, the park tech, and then on to the company storage and processing centre. Birrumen has all sorts of measuring equipment to make sure the park is left as undisturbed as possible. An electromagnetic field above the park keeps unwanted people out and the view in. No human is supposed to be in the park after dark. One evening Virgin forgets her phone inside and has to go back in.

Even though I’d been ranger here for a few years, I was suddenly a little nervous. The sand and rock and palms that I knew so well during the day had taken on an eerie quality.

The company didn’t like us “on board” (their expression for being in the park) after dark – something to do with insurance. I always pushed that directive to the limit because I like to see the sunset. …

As I bent to fumble with the pump, I felt my phone underfoot. Then another sound attracted my attention – muffled voices from the other side of the semicircle of palms that skirted the Interchange area.

Voices? Impossible! I was the last person out of the south-east sector every day. Park scanners and satellite imaging confirmed it, as well as my own visual sweep.

I picked up my phone and crept towards the sound, my boots silent on the sand. There were two of them, arguing, but I couldn’t get a handle on the thread. …

A strangled cry got me running toward them, hauling my pistol free from my holster. …

But the pair had fallen down onto the sand.

I flicked my phone light on and shone it at them. Only one person was there. Blood trickled from a small, deep wound on his neck.

Impossible! There were two! …

Weirdness arrives in the form of a crow. Virgin is attacked and wounded but manages to escape. On top of that, she was supposed to pick up her new partner, Marshall Nate Sixpence, but made it too late to make a good first impression. Then, her imaginary friend from her childhood reappears, a large wedge-tailed eagle called Aquila. Virgin is certain she is going insane because she is the only one who sees Aquila. Except she isn’t. Turns out Nate can also see imaginary friends. Hmmm. Maybe they aren’t as imaginary as Virgin thinks. Nathan calls them disincarnates. Her life is turned on its head. She goes from routine to chaos, from safety to one life-threatening situation after the other. Therein lies the mystery. Virgin’s investigative journalist friend, Caro, helps Virgin many times. Her boss, Bull Hunt, Superintendent of Park Ecology, remains on her side even when the police go after her. He used to be friends with her father and has continued to take care of her.

In some ways Virgin is a loner. She certainly thinks of herself as one, but tends to gather friends because of the way she treats people: Blunt but tries to protect the weak. Some of those friends are interesting cases. Totes, the park tech, is one such. Even though he bugs her apartment, Virgin keeps him on because she believes he is on her side. Chef Dabrowski feeds her and is as much of a surrogate parent as she will let him be. She is the kind of person who does not want to be a burden to the people she loves, yet does her best to help the very same people. Her personality appeals to my Asperger.

This is my favorite De Pierres series thus far. Her writing is compelling, the story asks interesting questions, is fun, full of action, full of interesting characters and has a great female lead. Plus it’s in Australian English. So, a definite yes from me.

Reviews:

Winner Aurealis Award– Best Science Fiction Novel, 2014

Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Hernandez, Jessica: Capering on Glass Bridges (Hawk of Stone I)

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Capering on Glass Bridges, 2015
On Fiaru Island, in the Kingdom of Greylandia, on the world Acu lives the Stone family. We first meet them at the Pairing ceremony of the youngest daughter. Meeting your canonipom and bonding with it is the most important day in the lives of Greylandians. As far as the people we meet know, Kaia Stone (16) is the only person who never did so. The Stones are humans. Canonipoms are not.

A canonipom is about a foot tall and humanoid in appearance, the same gender as its human and similar in nature and looks. Being a companion seems to be its sole purpose. Once a Pairing is complete, the two have a bond that allows telepathic communication.

Soon after the family returned from the bonding, a flird appeared with a message from the Speaker Council on Zavonia. A flird is a type of shape-changer. One form functions as a flying messenger capable of conversation and memorization. Its other form is flower-like. Travel for a flird must be instantaneous because the time it took to go back and forth between Zavonia and Fiaru was, at most, a couple of hours.

The Council invited the Stones to appear before them. Speakers are human magicians whose words, or Utterances, manifest. As with most magicians, talent and work ethics differ between Speakers. To get to the secretive island, the Stone family had travel overnight by ship. The Council of Speakers asked Kaia to go on a mission to the cursed Kingdom of Mar.

Ten years ago, Marians slaughtered the Tivmicians and, thereby, into conflict with one of the Speakers’ utterances:

“Should a group ever seek the extermination of another group, … let Acu’s skies cry blood on that day. Let the plagued realm know only misery, and let it offer escape to none.”

And so the Marians were cursed forever. Or so it seemed. Recently, the Utdrendans (one of the first three races) told the Speakers there was a chance the curse could be lifted. To do so, Kaia Stone of Greyland and Sir Pelliab Blackwell of Darlbent must go to Mar and report the Utdrendan message to King Richard of Mar and discover a cure. Kaia and Pelliab would not have to travel alone. The Council promised to send along two Speakers and five of King Robert’s (brother to Richard) sons. Mr. Stone refused outright to let his 16 year old daughter traipse off into unknown territory. Kaia felt this quest would, finally, give her life meaning and felt devastated by her father’s refusal. However, just as she was about to enter the return vessel, one of the Councillors pushed a flird bulb up her sleeve. If she chooses to go, it will have to be without her family knowing and that worries her.

Capering on Glass Bridges is a hero’s quest story, and that means we know what Kaia will decide. She is our main character and it would be strange if she stayed home. So. We get to meet five princes of King Robert’s 1000 children (busy man), two speakers and a kingsman along with the various people who are part of the adventure. Kaia and Pelliab’s challenge lies in getting to the Kingdom of Mar, then getting to King Richard, then finding out what they and the kingdom need to do to lift the curse. A solution is not found in book one of the duology.

Capering on Glass Bridges is Hernandez debut. It has a good story-line. Genre betas and/or editor would have improved it. Terminology is important and there were inconsistencies. However, there very few spelling/grammar problems, and the plot and creatures fit the “hero’s quest” genre.

Reviews:

The author gave me a reviewer’s copy of Capering on Glass Bridges.

Capering on Glass Bridges is available at Smashwords

Adventure, Fantasy

Ward, Matthew: Queen of Eventide (Eventide I) (2015)

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Queen of Eventide by Matthew Ward

Queen of Eventide kept me up until I had finished it. It was weird, fun and tense (sometimes all at once). Now that playtime is over, it is time for my review.

Maddie twisted around, wiping blood out of her eyes. She saw only mist, glowing and swirling in the moonlight, but this did nothing to stem her rising panic.

Maddie has reason to panic. She is being chased by several parties and does not know who is for her or who is against her. Keeping knowledge from me, the reader, is a great tool for an author. Mr. Ward wields it well although I do catch on to some things before he reveals them to me.

Nottingham supposedly flourishes with ghosts. Certain signs and portents must be present for some of them to show. In Queen of Eventide, some of these ghosts come from a place called Eventide, and they are of a particularly creepy/frightening nature. All of a sudden a person might find themselves being chased by a huntsman and his wolves. Maddie finds herself being chased several times and for reasons she does not understand. Each time William seems to appear to save her. Or is he really there to save her? Allegiances are an iffy matter in Queen of Eventide.

My favorite character was Charles King. Partly, that has to do with the sense of humor he brings to the story. When Maddie first meets him, he introduces himself as a fortune teller. Maddie tells him she thought fortune tellers were old women and Charles answers:

“Ah, there you have me,” Charles replied. “I am not, in fact, and old woman.” Maddie shot him a long-suffering look, and he pressed hurriedly on. “I do, however, possess a knack for peeking into the future.” He leaned forward, conspiratorially. “I inherited it from my grandmother – who was, you’ll be pleased to know, an old woman.”

Hollows are the strangest and possibly most disturbing creatures of the story. They aren’t creepy because of what they do, but due to what they are. We are talking bizarre. And that is all I can say about them without serious spoilers gotting in the way.

As an Asperger, metaphors can be a challenge. Mr. Ward excels in his use of them. Thankfully most of them are familiar ones. Some of them I use myself. The ones who aren’t add to the humor and fantastical aspect of the story.

Queen of Eventide was well worth the read – as my staying up well into the night is evidence of.

Definitely recommended.

Reviews:

Queen of Eventide is available at Smashwords.com

A copy of the story was given to me by the author

Eventide: [Middle English, from Old English ǣfentīd : ǣfen, evening + tīd, time; see dā- in Indo-European roots.] = aftentid/kveldstid in Norwegian

Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Sullivan, Samuel and Justin: Darkroot (Rhyme of the Willow II) page 179

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“The Blood Demon rushed at him, pure bloodlust in her eyes. Axton held out his scarred hand and envisioned the Green Witch’s vines.

To his astonishment, emerald vines sprouted from his palm, fast as the Darkblades from the skin of a Crow. The vines wrapped around the Blood Demon’s arm, and as Axton stumbled onto his back they flung her overhead. Aniva spun and whirled through the air until she ricocheted off a wall and came toppling behind the fleeing advisors.

Axton cursed while Aniva roused more violent than ever. The Blood Demon caught sight of him and roared, her lips curled back to reveal dozens of sharp yellow teeth.”

Fantasy, Quote

Flynn, Sabrina: A Thread In the Tangle – page 1

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TIME IS FICKLE, ever changing and flowing, ebbing like the sea.  A vast ocean of moments brushing against the next, rippling beneath waters both turgid and calm.  It slips between our fingers when we wish to hold it, yet moves with sluggish stubbornness when we seek to flee it, riding upon our shoulders like an oppressive yoke.  Time is a burden we cannot escape.  Our lives are swallowed in the cold, dark waters of its unfathomable depths; never to be remembered or recalled, fading like a whisper that never was.  On occasion—a very rare occasion—one moment will brush against the next and a spark will flare to life that refuses to be extinguished.  This is the moment, the spark, and this is how the end begins for a shattered realm—with a small nymphling who was cold.

Sabrina Flynn, A Thread in the Tangle

Fantasy

Ryan, Lea: What the Dead Fear (2011)

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Cover art by Lea Ryan
Cover art by Lea Ryan

What the Dead Fear is a lovely novella about acceptance and compassion.

My reasons for choosing a story varies. In the case of What the Dead Fear  it was the title that drew me. I found I had to know what the dead do fear. Well, they fear Gareth. But more than Gareth they fear

for the fates of the living, despite their witness to the hereafter. They fear retribution, but perhaps even more, they fear helplessness and insignificance.

Helplessness is an interesting sensation. Two of the characters (Juniper and Nikki) from the story suffer through acknowledging the need for different strategies. Acceptance is such a difficult choice but usually it is the only way to change. At least it is for me, and Ms. Ryan’s characters all either fight their way through it or remain stuck as they are.

I like the way the story plays out in Limbo and in the land of the living. What the Dead Fear is a ghost story riddled with strange creatures and plenty of action and humor. Definitely recommended.

Review:

What the Dead Fear on Barnes and Noble Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, It’s also available in audio HERE.

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short story/novella

Edwards, Nigel: Garrison (2011)

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Editing and cover design by Tim C. Taylor Cover images by KireevArt and fotola70
Editing and cover design by Tim C. Taylor
Cover images by KireevArt and fotola70

Garrison is a military fantasy in novella format. It is set in another time and place with pre-industrial technology and strange creatures. Whether these people are human, I do not know. That is just a presumption on my part.

Von was the most interesting person of this story. His exact role within the company wasn’t completely clear to me. While regular soldier seems to have been his official title, his role was more likely as some kind of troubleshooter. New soldiers saw him as a father-figure. Being just another soldier seems to have given him an in that was not open to the officers. The two newbies were highly visible in Garrison, but their role seemed to be as supporting characters to Von.

I liked Von and I enjoyed reading Garrison and Nigel Edwards’ writing.

Reviews:

Garrison on amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | iTunesUS | iTunes UK | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | diesel | Sony | Kobo

Adventure, Humour, Science Fiction

Ambrose, Nicholas J.: Ruby Celeste and the Ghost Armada (Ruby Celeste I) (2013)

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Ruby Celeste
Cover art by Karri Klawiter

“You’ve met these two clowns, right? Reuben Evans, and Glim Peters. He pointed at each in turn, and the two men pulled cheesy grins. Peters even crossed his eyes. “What names, eh.”

“Says Mikhail,” Peters called. “Who names their kid Mikhail?”

“Ignore him,” Michail said to Francis. “He’s still sore his parents misspelled their feelings at having bore him as a child.”

“What’s that then?”

“Glum.”

This word-play made me giggle. Ruby Celeste and the Ghost Armada has plenty of humour, plenty of action and a character who seems puffed up with his own importance, to say the least. Rhod Stein is always in the right and he can pretty much do what he wishes. Having had full control of his skyport – floating city – he seems to think that all he encounters will fall in with his plans. Not so.

Poor old Francis Paige is just not having a good day. Being kidnapped from down on earth, taken up into a floating city from which he might fall, ripped from his kidnapper and then chased and shot at is not something he is used to from home.

For having been through what he has, I think Francis pulled himself together quite well. I’m kind of like him. For a time I will bemoan whatever new thing it is that fate has thrown at me. Then I get sick of myself and get on with life as best I can. Francis’ experiences are a bit more extreme than any I have ever experienced. So I feel he deserves a few days to pull himself together.

In his need he finds support with Natasha Brady (the ship’s navigator and possibly the ship’s talk-to person). Natasha is the kind of person that listens and is able to see past angry and fearful expressions. Would that I could always do that. She is exactly what Francis needs to conquer his fears – quite understandable ones for a land-dweller.

We don’t get a whole lot of world-building, but there is some. The Ruby Celeste series is supposed to be a steam-punk universe. But it is not one with a great amount of technical explanations. There are a couple of unusual aspects to it. One of those is that the sky-vessel is powered by something called a Volum.

Like our “household” animals these Volums have been bred to serve the purpose humans want it for. At first I thought that the Volum must be in some sort of slave relationship to humans, but it seems the ones bred for the purpose are content as long as they are fed. I wonder if they have some effect on humans. Benjamin Thoroughgood seemed intensely interested in being with the creature, but whether that was “normal” for any person exposed to a Volum over time or if it was some character trait of Benjamin is impossible to say.

Ruby Celeste was the fourth character that was obvious in the novel. The Volum wasn’t. I just became interested in what it was. Ruby is what I would call a person who draws the attention of others. She isn’t physically intimidating, but that does not stop Ruby from being intimidating when she turns on her engines. Impulsive and stubborn are two words that fit her well. I am very stubborn myself but not exactly impulsive. I am, however, blessed with a son who is and that has brought a great many interesting experiences into my life – as any one who is associated with an impulsive person can attest to. Ruby has one quality that I treasure. She is able to admit when she is wrong and actually apologizes. Being the Captain does not stop her from “eating humble pie”. I both like her and am frustrated by her.

After reading book number one of the Ruby Celeste universe, I would have to say that I had fun reading it and loved the action and humour present.

Reviews:

Adventure, Children, Fantasy, Young Adult

Nye, Jody Lynn: A Forthcoming Wizard (Tildi Summerbee II) (2009)

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A-Forthcoming-Wizard-150841-d4902f8679c2f83a8362

A lot of the books I read remind me of issues that I regularly think about. A Forthcoming Wizard (and An Unexpected Apprentice) reminded me of the many times I have wondered about the concept of racism and the idea of “perfect/ideal”.

Back in the days the Shining Ones took it upon themselves to experiment with the knowledge they had acquired. Like all good scientist they asked themselves the question “I wonder what would happen if …”. Unlike the really good scientists, the Shining Ones forgot to ask themselves the next important question “If I do this, how will it impact …?”. The Shining Ones just went ahead and did what they wanted in the name of furthering their own knowledge often deceiving themselves as to the level of nobility of their choices. Oh, what tangled webs we weave. At one point some of them looked beyond themselves and saw that perhaps they had gone too far in satisfying their curiosity. All of them except Knemet finally came to see that there comes a point in one’s life when one has to acknowledge the consequences of one’s actions.

Is Knemet evil? Maybe amoral would be a better word for it. He doesn’t do things because they are bad. He just does whatever is needed to expedite his wishes. Knemet just wants the Compendium/the Great Book so he can destroy it, thereby ending what he considers his dreary life. But as we already saw in An Unexpected Apprentice, destroying the Compendium will destroy the world. He could care less, and that is why The Great Book must be kept from him.

In my review of An Unexpected Apprentice I posited the hypothesis that the Scholardom could be considered the “bad guy” of the story of Tildi Summerbee. I believe I retract that hypothesis. They base their actions on a certain set of traditions, values, and knowledge. Some of those actions are definitely in the category “bad” in that the actions are incredibly racist. But most of the Scholardom (at least the ones we meet) are teachable. Once they see that their own theories about purity were wrong/misguided, the Knights of Scholardom are willing to try and change.

Tildi continues with her growing pains. Challenging our own traditions and myths hurts. At least I know it did for me. Tildi managed that awful task of asking herself if what she thought was the “right way” might possibly be wrong or just one of many ways. Doing so changes the way she is perceived by others but more importantly how she perceives herself. Her friends both help and hinder her in this process.

The ending of the Tildi Summerbee saga is predictable and almost Disney-like. I think that will be a comfort for the younger audience.

Reviews:

My review of An Unexpected Apprentice

Adventure, Fantasy

McNally, M. Edward: The Sable City (Norothian Cycle I) (2011)

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The Sable City
Cover art by Edward M. McNally

The Sable City is a winner. It is full of humour, tension and action. You know, it is strange how placing a few words on a piece of paper (e-book in this case) can bring such joy to a person like myself.

At the beginning of “The Sable City there was an episode that convinced me that this was a novel for me:

“Matilda Lanai was among them, though at the time Block knew her vaguely by face but not name. Of about typical height for a young Miilarkian woman, she was however paired against a fellow Block recognized and even knew by name as Kauna, a full-blooded Islander with a creamed-coffee complexion and a mass of black hair to his waist. While of only moderate size for a water buffalo, Kauna was an excessively large human. Block had known enough Island men of the type to suspect that later in life the big fellow ran the risk of turning astonishingly fat, but at nineteen years of age he was a chiselled mountain of a man. Stolid in nature, but capable of accidental bursts of breathtaking power.

That hot day last Fourth Month, Matilda Lanai had found herself on the business end of just such a burst.

Block’s attention had been elsewhere, but everyone in the room heard Kauna cry “Tilda!” in sudden alarm. The dwarf turned and saw the big man frozen with one knee on the mat and his arms fully extended, watching wide-eyed as the bare feet of his sparring partner kicked the air. This did nothing to prevent her sailing out head-first through an open cargo door, and dropping out of sight. Four stories up.

Block was on the other side of the room, and well past his sprinting days. As he crossed to the cargo door the dwarf had time to think at least she went out on the water-side, but then he also had time to wonder just how far the timber cart path extended out around that base of the building the hand pier-like over the water. Pretty far, he reckoned.

As everyone converged the one apprentice who had been next to the open doorway gaped, then cheered. She alone had seen Tilda clear the wooden edge of the pier forty feet below by the narrowest of margins. One more inch, as the girl laughingly told the crow later, and Tilda would have lost nose, nipples, and kneecaps.

….

Her classmates cheered, but the young woman with the sodden mop of black hair plastered to her face and shoulders did not look up. Nor did she flop gasping onto her back, as Block expected. Instead, she paused on all fours for only a moment. Then she was up, and running, along the warehouse and around the corner toward the nearest door giving backing inside. She left a trail of wet footprints slapped across the hard wood her nose had missed by a hairsbreadth.

The apprentices blinked after her, then looked around at each other. Their eyes finally settled on Kauna, who had stood up straight but not yet taken a step closer to the doorway out of which he had pitched his classmate.

“She’s all right?” the big Islander finally stammered at everyone, but one man with Varanchian-blond hair answered.

“You are going to find out in about two minutes.”

….

Matilda Lanai was of the mixed-stock know in the Islands as “Ship People.” Lighter in complexion than a Full Blood but with features typical of an Islander, with a rounded chin, broad mouth, and flashing eyes of a brown so deep the occasionally looked black. The looked that way now as she skidded to a halt, swiped her clinging hair out of her face and over her shoulder, and locked her narrowed eyes on Kauna’s wide-open ones. Tilda’s chest heaved and she stood with her feet apart, silent except for her breath and the drops of water pattering the floorboards. She held her hands loose at her sides, arms toned by boundless youth and a hard year of Guild training.

…

Kauna looked at the silt, then back at Tilda, then around at his classmates. They now stood father away from Kauna than was Tilda, for the young Guilders-in-training had been drifting away steadily since she appeared, with nary a squeak from the floor.

The big Islander nodded once, twice, then straightened to his full lofty height. He gave Tilda a short bow. Kauna turned, took two long strides into a dead run, and launched himself out through the open door with a great whoop, arcing majestically out over the pier and falling feet first into the water below.”

Map Sable CityAnd that was how Captain Block found his travelling companion. Captain Block himself is a dwarf of the traditional fantasy type. His loyalty lies with house Deskata, one of the merchant families of Miilark. When the last living leader of the merchant family asks him to bring back their sole blood-line heir (who just happens to have been exiled), he and Tilda go off to the continent to find the proverbial “needle in the haystack” and end up having to follow the mercenary Dugan around to find the lost Islander.

Most of the story is told from Tilda’s point of view and much of it deals with personal and physical journeys.  Getting to know Tilda has been fun. She shows us that she is capable of changing her attitudes while holding on to her values. Perhaps being trained as an assassin (among other things) has given her an extra appreciation for the sacredness of life that I know I do not have. Her love for Captain Block shines through. Perhaps he is some kind of father figure to her while away from home. Block also lets his love for Tilda shine through his gruffness. Being centuries old has made it necessary to keep a certain distance to the people he encounters, but Tilda seems to be able to reach through to him and give him back a part of his life that he had not known that he was missing.

I liked Duggan and the lessons he brought into Tilda and Block’s lives. His ability to annoy and charm the two of them is admirable. He might not be the rapscallion he tries to convince them of but there is certainly a ruthlessness there that his mercenary life has left with him.

But The Sable City is not only about the trio. Other people turn up, as is only proper during a quest that ends up in a fabled city supposedly full of treasure.

Axman Zebulon Baj Nif ends up being saved by a Samurai, Uriako Shikashe, and a Far Western healer, Amatesu, from certain death after they had attacked his unit to find him. They bring him with them so he might be a translator for their mistress – Nesha-Tari. This quartet end up adding another member in Phineas of the wizard circle. They are all going to the Sable City along with a couple of other characters who end up being gorgeous Brother Kendall Heggenauer and Father Luis Coralle of the Brothers of Jobe along with the daughter of a duke. Finally, there are dragons, mercenaries and a likeable demon by the name of Lord Dalin.

The Sable City is the kind of fantasy that has its roots back to the days of The Odyssey. As such it is a recipe for writing that has stood the test of time. It is strange that I keep on reading new novels in this genre considering how many of them I have read. But I never seem to tire of them – as long as the author writes well.

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Reviews:

  • File Size: 899 KB
  • Print Length: 478 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: BNL Enterprises; 1 edition (February 25, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004PLNNLS
Fantasy, Mystery, Short story/novella, Thriller

Bull, Emma/Bear, Elizabeth/Monette, Sarah/Shetterly, Will: Shadow Unit I (2007-2011)

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Shadow Unit 1
Cover design and photo by Kyle Cassidy

In 2007 Emma Bull and Will Shetterly got together and laid the groundwork for what would become the website Shadow Unit. A series bible was created and authors were contacted, which is how Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette got onboard the whole thing. Then they drew in Amanda Downum as art director and Stephen Shipman as technical director. The series bible was amended and improved. Finally Leah Bobet and Holly Black joined the writing team (along with Stephen and Amanda) while Kyle Cassidy had fun with the covers.

Shadow Unit I includes the first four stories from season 1:

The rest of the episodes from season 1, 2, 3 and 4 are available on shadowunit.org. As you will notice the last story available was released December 16, 2012. I recommend that you read the stories in order.

I was introduced to the phenomenon of the Shadow Unit through the above published novel. It is impossible for me to write a review without seeking out more information about the novel. This time I had a plethora of information to choose from, kindly served up by the instigators of the phenomenon. And what a fun phenomenon Shadow Unit is.

The whole group of creators at Shadow Unit are awesome for making such a large body of work available to readers and nutters all over the world for free. They wouldn’t mind donations as it is we, the readers, who are keeping the concept going, and what a fun concept and group of investigators this is.

The Anomalous Crimes Task Force (“Shadow Unit”) consists of: Stephen Reyes (boss), Esther Falkner (vp), Solomon Todd, Nicolette Lau, Daniel Brady, Hafidha Gates, Charles Vilette, Daphne Worth and Madeline Frost. Whenever inexplicable crimes are committed the task force is called upon to help find the criminals.

I recommend you use the website as your starting point and read the stories. They are of the action/thriller/mystery/horrorish kind with strange powers and strange bodies all over the place. The group itself is filled with people of all kinds – anything from the seemingly insecure to the broody ones. If you have read stuff by the above authors before, you know you are probably going to find a venue of enjoyment.

Have fun!

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  • File Size: 459 KB
  • Print Length: 216 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publisher: CatYelling; 1 edition (May 24, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0052LFTOO

Use public libraries

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