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[macromicrocosm]

Book Review: Girl of Light by Elana Gomel

Sapha Burnell wrote a review of Elana Gomel’s Girl of Light, check the review out on Goodreads, and come join us in celebrating Elana’s new book!

Girl of Light by Elana Gomel My rating: 5 of 5 stars As chilling as a deep unending winter. A mind-warp on the monstrosity of belief taken too far, wrapped around a war story told in a young woman's voice. As powerful as the bullets fired from a nagant. Girl of Light features the teenaged Svetlana, a studious girl who dreams of becoming a battlefield nurse to aide in MotherLand's war against Wulfstan. She trusts the Voice, a strange series of sounds which emanate from MotherLand's mirrors, and dictates what to do about the monsters which everyone needs to watch out for. All evil becomes known, as the rot inside a person's soul transforms them into oboroten, or other monstrous forms. They weren't pure enough, they weren't light enough. This novel is the epitome of horror and fantasy, a dark look into fanaticism and belief. Elana creates powerful and human characters, who claw and fight both with the monsters in MotherLand, and the impending onslaught of Wulfstan's nefarious march. This will be a classic. View all my reviews

[macromicrocosm]

#MMCMonday Prompt 27

A blue pillow atop a clothed lap. Wind hitting windows. A crackling fire.

As always, you have until 11:00 pm (PST) on Friday to submit your short story, poem or artwork based on this prompt. The winner will be announced on Monday, and receive a 1 year digital subscription to MacroMicroCosm Literary & Art Journal and a 1/8th page full colour advertisement space in MMC’s next issue to promote your work. ($300 value)

Submit by using the #MMCMonday tag on Twitter, or emailing literary [at] vraeydamedia [dot] ca with the Subject Line: MMCMonday Prompt #27.

[macromicrocosm]

#MMCMonday Prompt 26

Forest green covered in white. Biting cold on ungloved fingers. Muffled voices.

As always, you have until 11:00 pm (PST) on Friday to submit your short story, poem or artwork based on this prompt. The winner will be announced on Monday, and receive a 1 year digital subscription to MacroMicroCosm Literary & Art Journal and a 1/8th page full colour advertisement space in MMC’s next issue to promote your work. ($300 value)

Submit by using the #MMCMonday tag on Twitter, or emailing literary [at] vraeydamedia [dot] ca with the Subject Line: MMCMonday Prompt #26.

[macromicrocosm]

Vostok Launch Livestream

There hasn’t been a winter like this in years. The streets of Poznań, Poland become covered with snow. The river Warta freezes over.

Terrorists attack a city, but it barely registers in the lives of thirtyish pub-goers. Weronika is in love with her best friend Wu, who has just told her about his new boyfriend, Staszek. Olka, a few years older than the rest, is haunted by a past trauma. Zuza is the secretive type — you never know what’s on her mind. There’s also Kuba, a playboy who decides to start a relationship, but the moment things get serious, he panics.

Someone breaks into a military museum and steals a 19th-century war scythe. A few nights later, the first victim ends up disembowelled under a bridge. It’s Ania, Kuba’s love interest. She was partying at Wu’s place mere hours before she died.

Soon more murders take place, followed by more terrorist attacks. A man with an Antarctica-shaped tattoo watches the friends’ every step. Does he have anything to do with the murders? Or the attacks? Are the two connected?

Cracks start to show on the realistic façade when Kuba mentions a place called Vostok City. It’s not long before the façade crumbles, and it becomes clear there’s much more to Poznań than meets the eye.

On the surface, Vostok is a murder story with a literary bent. Dig deeper, and it will reveal itself as science fiction that only pretends to play by the rules of realism.

Join Łukasz and Lis in celebrating the virtual book launch of Vostok on Discord & YouTube! Shout out about the book launch on social media with #vostoknovellaunch #vraeydaliterary and be entered to win a merch giveaway.

To follow along on the readings, please click the link below.

[macromicrocosm]

NEON Lieben Virtual Launch Party

You are invited…

Sunday, August 22 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PDT

What do a shapeshifting tree, a surfboard & dragon have in common? Ask the Android Queen.

To the virtual launch of Sapha Burnell’s cyberpunk masterpiece NEON Lieben. We would have loved to do an in-person launch, but made the decision the more socially responsible choice was to push forward with a digital, virtual launch.

Sapha will be in our MacroMicroCosm Discord Server, with the Vræyda Team to read from NEON Lieben, answer Q&A questions (get your questions in now on the comments section below, or on Twitter @macromicrocosm or @usurperkings.

This will be your last chance to buy exclusive NEON Lieben limited edition launch merch. So, we hope you’ll join us on our Discord Server, and/or Sapha’s Twitch for the live show.

For those who can’t make it, we’ll be putting the livestream up on YouTube.

About NEON Lieben

2085. Dr. Karnak & Baiko’s beloved android Lieben is in danger of becoming the Conglomerate’s first artificial slave. With the assassin Tara’s sights on Baiko, she steals the secret to Lieben’s artificial intelligence and runs to the Idless, anti-label anarchists, who believe Lieben is the key to free the world from corporate control. Will Baiko get to Lieben in time, or will Tara? 2155. Accidentally awakened gene-spliced bio-machine Aderastos wades to shore in Ucluelet, BC to the hum of the Mater Machine Lieben’s Hymn Electric. Harmless Lt. Max Allard is tasked to drag him back to the Ithavoll, before Lieben claims ‘it’ for her own, and Aderastos’ fellow Assets are destroyed. AI meets gene-splicers, when the Idless & the Conglom fight to define Lieben and thus, the world. Seven decades later, Aderastos sets the human race against its’ next stage in evolution, if he can survive long enough to rescue his fellows, and Max. Two interconnected storylines intersect. Will Lieben help, or hinder? ‘Come at your leisure. My love is free. My abundance is yours.’

[macromicrocosm]

Novel Review: Automatic Reload by Ferrett Steinmetz

Hei Hei and Welcome to MacroMicroCosm Literary Review…

Novel: Automatic Reload Author: Ferrett Steinmetz Publisher: TOR Books (2020) Rating: 4/5 Stars

Today we are diving cautious as a paranoid quadruple amputee cyborg into the cyberpunk romantic kill zone known as Ferrett Steinmetz’s Automatic Reload published in 2020 by Tor Books. Strap into something, prepare your payloads and it’s time to dive in.

I borrowed Automatic Reload’s audiobook from my municipal library’s Libby app, and will be critiquing the audiobook narration by Tim Campbell via Macmillan Audio with Steinmetz’ prose. Tim Campbell’s narration hit my auditory nerves with the same grit as a Private Eye in my spouse’s beloved old radio shows. Instantaneously, I was brought back to The Shadow, and Red Panda Adventures. Mat’s internal narration was made vivid with Campbell’s grit. All goes as expected for a guttural masculine-led audiobook… until Campbell narrates female characters. The grit and gruff voice of our narrator and protagonist Mat (whose name I missed completely for the first few hours of audio storytelling), shifted to a nasal ‘quasi-feminine whine’ each a tad different for the few feminine characters in the novel. While off-putting to hear limp feminine audio, it didn’t stop me from listening to the entire audiobook. I wish Macmillan Audio hired two voice actors, that Sylvia and Trish especially were voiced by a woman. I don’t envy Campbell’s options with Sylvia’s voice, especially in the beginning, Sylvia is a panic-attacked whimpering victim and Mat the rough but conscience-bound redeemer. Maybe it’s a pet peeve of mine, when listening to audiobook narration with too ‘breathy’ a character voice, or too much differentiation between a narrator’s timbre and the various dialogue, but it threw me out of Automatic Reload’s prose a few times and elicited many a rant among our MacroMicroCosm discord server on the nature of respecting female characters by allowing them a more natural voice, and not a whining nasal whimper. It’s unfortunate, because Tim Campbell had the perfect voice for Mat’s rough narration. All in, this was the only issue with the audiobook version of Automatic Reload.

On to Steinmetz’s prose. While entertaining, and a fun way of portraying neuro-divergent characters, Automatic Reload is not making it into my top cyberpunk novels. As it was billed to be a cyberpunk romance, the choice to spend a vast third if not half of the novel in a first-person narrator-protagonist dry technological readout of the various guns, cybernetically augmented prostheses and associated weapons-come-defence programs felt stale as a slice of bread on the kitchen counter in summertime. Maybe engineering isn’t my thing, I know of several friends who would love such attention given to the weaponry, and recommended Automatic Reload to all of them, but a good hour into the prose and all I knew of Mat was the amount of weaponry he possessed on his specialized limbs, that he was attempting to halt a kidnapping, and he was paralyzed with the incapacity to kill. A decent bedrock for a PTSD scarred main character, Mat’s inability to take life becomes a mainstay of the manuscript. This is not in itself a negative. It makes for intriguing prose, and shows his caring, ethical side.

But I could not help feeling Mat’s selfish delusions within the first few chapters. His first-person narration of saving the teenaged girl became more about saving the people, who caused her fear and harm at her expense. When I taught self defence in a university and martial art academy setting, one of the first lessons (especially to the female students) was a defender has the right to go home. The attacker has every opportunity to stop harming you, and them refusing to let go is them allowing you to defend your right to survive unharmed as possible. In the introductory arc, Mat rescues a girl from kidnappers, who are prepared to kill her. Regardless of how noble Mat was in his attempts of causing less harm, I could not stop thinking of the harm he was causing to the poor girl frightened out of her mind, with a knife against her neck. Steinmetz goes so far as to have the girl bleed from a superficial slice to the throat, before our ‘wounded hero’ intervenes in a kinetic fashion.

Mat is not a hero, his paranoia at preventing harm does not make him precisely good. It does, however, make him a fascinating study of an injured veteran compensating for the horrors of war. He reminds me of Perseus, played by Sam Worthington in the 2010 released Clash of the Titans, where Perseus discovers his demi-godhood and struggles to go about his mission as a normal man, not a god. As if his spectacular powers were to be feared or forgotten in self-hatred rather than used to others’ advantages. Even when companions on his voyage begin to die, Perseus sticks to his selfish morals and refuses his inner power until it is all but too late. Just as Perseus could have saved multiple companion’s lives had he accepted his power, so too Mat could have saved the girl from trauma (injection of ‘anti PTSD drugs’ notwithstanding) if he hadn’t attempted to wait the kidnappers out as long as he did, until a last second where she looks into his faceplate and knows she is about to die.

As protagonists go, Mat is an insecure, selfish moralist with his own set of obsessive edits, who passes it off as a sheriff’s bravado in the wild world of body hacking. When his contact and seemingly only friend Trish (whom I loved) gets him a job worth millions, Mat dives in to prevent collateral damage only after she cajoles his ethics, and that is noble. But this is where the novel takes its’ turn. I won’t be going into spoilers much here, but from the moment Mat meets assassin-damsel in distress Sylvia, I could see where the novel’s plot was going, and for the most part I was 9 for 10.

Sylvia’s panic and anxiety disorder took centre stage, as Mat tumbled with her assassin-programmed artificial body, and the other body-hackers who were looking to bring her back and finish their job. The bonding between the two (through ‘old timey cinema) was ultimately endearing but fairly stock, between the constant verbal output of every single technological gadget Mat had on hand, or modified to work, or picked to replace old limbs, or because we were at another moment, where Mat needed to drone on about the tech as if to remind us that we were, in fact, in a cyberpunk setting.

My major criticism of the prose isn’t Mat’s struggle with harm reduction, but the sheer amount of technological data Steinmetz pushed into the manuscript, until I felt like half the novel was a sci-fi reader’s guide to emotionless guns, cybernetic components and threat awareness programming. At a fairly early point in the prose, the tech talk got so redundant if I hadn’t been listening on audiobook in my car, I’d skip pages. Yes, I can see this was a coping mechanism for Mat, and the best way Steinmetz had to frame the science fiction setting in a novel completely from the protagonist’s inner monologue (a literal ’subvocal recording’ as we discover), but it threw me. Automatic Reload lacked a balance between the cold cover of Mat’s obsessions and the emotionally gorgeous story of two wounded people falling in love… while being chased by psycho body-hacking killers.

It’s unfortunate, because the relationship development between Mat and Sylvia is agonizingly sweet. Their ability to both freak out and help each other, the peppering of laughter to break the tension of their run with death were all wonderfully done. Trish, Mat’s business contact and friend is the stand alone best character of the novel. Sassy, strong and incapable of selfish intentions, Trish gives Automatic Reload the backbone it needs to evolve both Mat and Sylvia and drive the plot forward, even through the constant re-hashing of the setting as Mat experienced it. I cared about Trish more than I cared about Mat or Sylvia, beyond their growing connection. The enemies, while trope-ish, were believable in their immensity, and brought me to the feel of a 1980’s action flick with Van Damme, or Norris at the fore… if their female lead happened to be more powerful than the Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok.

Steinmetz’s plot in Automatic Reload is visible miles before the chapter headings, and that is unproblematic, if you’re looking for an easy, entertaining read similar to that 1980’s action flick. I won’t say the climax didn’t take a twist, it did, but even when the twist occurred, I again called what would remain of the plot. If you want a cyberpunk weapon’s heavy cute-couple novel to relax with, this will certainly do it for you. Aside from its’ flaws, Automatic Reload has a vulnerability and joy to its escapism, the clinging growth of a relationship in two freaked out, lonely people.

Mat does grow through his moments with Sylvia, but especially with Trish’s advice. If you like to know the technological readout of every warrior’s equipment, watched the Matrix and Maltese Falcon, and enjoy a good gritty radio-show, with romantic plot-line, Automatic Reload is for you. I give it four out of five stars, and imagine the ideal reader would be of the masculine or tech-minded variety who is woke enough to handle a gritty romance with more bullets than people, a transgender best friend, and heroes whose anxiety and PTSD cause as many problems as they eventually, and inevitably, solve.

For those who want something to listen to of a similar feel, I thoroughly advise listening to the Red Panda Adventures.

[macromicrocosm]

MMC Monday Author Interviews: Call for Authors

Hei Hei and welcome to MacroMicroCosm Literary Review…

We are diving back into MacroMicroCosm Literary Review’s podcast and MMC Online tri-weekly posting schedule, for the oncoming Autumnal season. The Vræyda Team cannot wait to start recording podcast episodes, and text-based interviews for authors on book tours, promotions of books, or because you’re kicking around. We’re seeking interviews with authors in the Speculative Fiction spheres, so sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary fantasy, magic realism, and LGBTQA-inclusive lit, poetry, etc. As long as you’re not YA, erotica, political, non-fiction or gore, we want to celebrate your work.

If you get passionate to answer questions, like…

Does Writing energize or exhaust you? What are common traps for aspiring writers? Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want? Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? What’s your favourite under-appreciated novel?

We want to hear from you!

If you are an author and want to schedule in an interview, please hit us up below! Tell us about you (in 50 words or less), your book (in 50 words or less) and a member of our team will get back to you. An interview with MMC is not a guarantee of a review. MMC reserves the right to accept or decline offers, and looks more favourably on books published by traditional press, small press, indie press, or self-published with proof of professionalism.

MMC does not interview authors of non-fiction, historical drama, romance, political thrillers, children’s lit, YA or horror in our MMCMONDAY series.

[macromicrocosm]

NEON Lieben Book Trailer #1

NEON Lieben is almost upon us, and the cyberpunk adventures of Aderastos, Lieben, Baiko and Ego of the Idless are days from reality. Let’s celebrate with Sapha and make this launch a success!

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Praise for NEON Lieben from RL Arenz III

She will rip your heart out, but then give you chest compressions and chocolates.

What she manages to do is tiptoe you on that line of emotional, gut wrenching scenes that can bring you to the brink of hysteria. And with a sentence from a character she offers that breath of humour that pulls you back from the brink.

Then dropkicks you over the ledge when you thought you were safe. An insane, diabolical, kick-ass rollercoaster.

RL Arenz III…

… is the author of Aegis, a superheroic adventure. Some heroes shatter. Few rebuild. Watch Kyle “Aegis” Ross rebuild his fractured shield, before the evil in the shadows takes hold of each broken piece in Aegis.

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Launch: NEON Lieben by Sapha Burnell

AI meets genetic engineering, when the Idless, a collective of anti-label anarchists, attempt to free Dr. Karnak’s android Lieben from the Conglomerate. 70 years later, gene-spliced super soldier AD-001 sees humans for the first time. A spiral of origins chase Lieben’s ghost in this sci-fi adventure...

Join the online release of Sapha’s newest sci-fi novel NEON Lieben in a celebratory livestream on Twitch and Discord!

Make sure to subscribe to Sapha’s Twitch channel prior to the event for free access to:

a live interview about NEON Lieben

a reading from the novel

live giveaways of merch & the novel

special guests

[macromicrocosm]

MMC Recovering Villains: What's in it?

So, the new issue of MacroMicroCosm is out, what’s inside? RL Arenz III gives us quick synopses of each entry in MacroMicroCosm Recovering Villains.

Editorial: Send in the Clown(Prince of Crime)s by Lis Goryniuk-Ratajczak

Synopsis

What is a villain? Lis Goryniuk-Ratajczak asks the question in the introductory Send in the Clown (Prince of Crime)s as the devil's advocate. A villain is not necessarily evil but, instead, a point of view foreign to our own morality. Alternative customs, strange beliefs, unique societal hierarchies, and opposing religious faiths create a chasm that can be bridged with open minds willing to cross the great divide. Evil is real, but rarely experienced. Division can be the basis of greater understanding between humanity's nations if we are brave enough to sojourn through dangerous separation to unify through our commonality.

Short Fiction: What Doesn’t Fall Apart Gets Broken by Leah Holbrook Sackett

Synopsis

What Doesn't Fall Apart Gets Broken is Leah Holbrook Sackett's colourful soliloquy on the internalization of the soul being reflected externally. And the steps we take to hide the wounds behind a perfect facade that cloaks the inner turmoil from external representation. At the core is a choice to share our torn soul or the decision to hide our wounds behind a mask of indifference.

Serial Fiction: Mouth of the River Part 2 by Elyssa Campbell

Synopsis

Issue 3 (MMC Anti-Heroics) introduced us to Elyssa Campbell's creation, Thomas, in the first part of Mouth of the River. By the end we, the readers, realized the duality of the young protagonist who was realized as a singular being. In part 2 we are offered a glimpse at the halves who form the entity known as Thomas, experiencing both views and tasting the integration process of two into one.

Short Fiction: Like Screams from Deep Space by Gregory J. Glanz

Synopsis

Ridley Scott's classic, Alien, delivered a tagline that promised new terror. "In space, no one can hear you scream." A horrific promise which was delivered. Like Screams From Deep Space, by Gregory J. Glanz, nonchalantly introduces a rebuttal to the idea that silence, an inhuman threat, and a solitary state of being are the holy trinity of horror. With ease, Glanz argues each point through new filters. When sound rolls in waves of crescendo or trickles each drop with a tempo felt, as the mirror is placed before the protagonist to reveal a human antagonist more terrifying than fiction, and solace isn't found within a group but in the labyrinth of discarded memories. The unspoken question of our identity entwined in the story with the characters begets silent reflection. Who are we? And what defines us?

Serial Fiction: Aegis: Redemption by RL Arenz III

Synopsis

Aegis: Redemption is the swan song for Kyle Ross by R.L. Arenz III. The bookend for the 4-part story returns Aegis to the readers with a cragged, weathered exterior. Scars cover Kyle, both externally and internally. We find ourselves asking, "is it too late for redemption? And if not, what is the price for absolution?

Poetry: To Bury a Curious Girl by Amirah al Wassif

Synopsis

To Bury a Curious Girl is the last of Amirah al Wassif’s poems to be published in Volume 6. It is the swansong of a girl in an oppressive environment fighting for her ability to expand her future, and punches with an impact the world needs to see.

Art: Between the Rocks by Dariusz Janczewski

Black and white photograph. Mineral and florae. Come see.

Art: Framed by Cement by Dariusz Janczewski

Black and white photograph. Architectural and brave.

Interested? Recovering Villains is available in Print & Digital.

[macromicrocosm]

Film Review by RL: Love and Monsters

Love and Monsters (2020)

Rating: 4/5

Director: Michael Matthews Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Jessica Henwick, Michael Rooker, Ariana Greenblatt (No Spoilers, only Trailer mentions)

This movie should not have worked.  CGI creatures. A hero’s journey. Fighting for love. Evolving from a child to a man. All these stories, plots, and themes have been done so often, I’ve become desensitized to  the repetitive character arcs. Additionally, the story begins slowly. Again, this movie should have failed.

But it didn’t. The CGI was clean while the script was neither overbearing in monotonous dialogue nor regressed into slapstick comedy. What makes this particular film standout is the talented cast.  Dylan O’Brien is no stranger to comedy, which is on display. Harking back to his “Teen Wolf” days, he showcases perfect timing, the ability to make the character likable, and convinces the viewers he really is in way over his head.  So how does an actor begin a bumbling character which grows from inept to semi proficient? I shall direct you to another genre which Dylan O’Brien has played. Reluctant hero that becomes a leader in the “Maze Runner” trilogy and his performance in “American Assassin” proves his capability to be the leading man who is quite comfortable with action. Which only adds to the depth. Rooker and Greenblatt are great as they fill their supporting roles with equal humor and seriousness.  The best part of the film is the fact that they were not afraid to take it slow. In doing so, we learn about this world right alongside the main character. They weren’t afraid of utilizing a character type who would easily fit into a sidekick role. And they were not afraid to make you laugh. Then make you cry. Then make you root for the unlikely hero. And introducing the supporting cast without ever forgetting or deviating from the main character’s story.  The film delivers with emotion, action, and faith in the actors/actresses. Love and Monsters is a refreshing look at tropes as old as time, yet pulls us in by inviting the audience to be part of the journey.

R.L. Arenz III is a contributing editor to MacroMicroCosm single dad, and the author of a superhero sci-fi novel Aegis. While some heroes shatter, Kyle Ross shatters and rebuilds in Aegis, amongst a future full of high tech, superhero teams, and spiders. An astounding amount of spiders. Meet him on our discord server… if you dare.

[macromicrocosm]

Aegis

by R.L. Arenz III

Not all shields are unbreakable. Some shatter.

All 16 year old Kyle Ross ever wanted to be was a superhero, one of the Warriors. Any injury healed faster, each fight made him stronger, and every wound was never replicated. Like the mythological shield of the gods, Kyle became Aegis, a shield against evil.

Journey with Kyle 'Aegis' Ross through triumph and failure, with allies against super powered foes, and the emotional upheaval of love and loss. A journey's discovery of who he is, and who he wants to be, against the backdrop of fantastical battles as every step brings him closer to a destiny he isn't aware of. A fate his enemy already knows.

Join Aegis as he laces up his boots for adventure and answers the age old question: what is a hero?

ISBN 978-1-988034-13-3 / 978-988034-12-6 Editions Paperback, eBook (Kindle, Kobo, Nook) Publication Date December 2020

R.L. Arenz III crashes onto the literary scene with a character-driven super-heroic sci-fi adventure. Aegis is relevant. A masculine hero both emotionally available and strong. Kyle Ross weathers loss, destruction and his own conscience to push through damage with his boots on. To conquer not only the draconic evil which threatens from the shadows, but his own inner pain.

Not all shields are unbreakable. Some shatter. Time for Aegis to reforge. Originally based on short stories written for MacroMicroCosm Lit Journal, R.L. Arenz III expanded his world in time for Winter 2020.

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Goodreads reviews for Aegis

Reviews from Goodreads.com

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Unapologetic Villainy: An Author Apology

"In our stories is a mirror for our greater sense of belief, regardless of whether that belief is particularly religious, or where it falls on the political spectrum. Authors need to demonstrate why terrible ills are wrong, to defeat  the evils which penetrate our world. "  -- Sapha Burnell

An Excerpt of the Article by Sapha Burnell

Heroes require villains. Stories require adversity to function. Outside a 'Western' model of hollywood storytelling, the tales wafted and weft move from one chaotic position to order, or order to chaos. Something has to happen, even if the antagonist is the sense of place, or an ideal struggled against. Or that damned tardy Goddot. 

But what do we do, when the villains are too detrimental to write? Or our heroes turn darker than a shade of Batman's cowl? After a reality check (does the villain need to be that harsh?, is this sensationalist without due cause?), and a reminder of both an author's sovereignty over their creative process and responsibility to connect with and validate a part of the human condition, the question remains; what value does writing a villain so far removed from one's own moral centre have? 

I stand with my fellow authors, who believe  fiction guides culture. In our stories is a mirror for our greater sense of belief, regardless of whether that belief is particularly religious, or where it falls on the political spectrum. Authors need to demonstrate why terrible ills are wrong, to defeat  the evils which penetrate our world. 

The crux point to Son of Abel is Caleb Mauthisen’s search for the Mark of Cain realized, when his ex Delilah takes him to a man of pure evil. In order for my fledgeling 2015 self to fathom what sort of man could have the ultimate evil mark within my mythological universe, I pictured the most evil person on the planet…

Read the rest on…

[macromicrocosm]

Press Release: Hayden Moore signs with Vræyda Literary

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

American author Hayden Moore signs on to publish brilliantly imaginative epic fantasy novel Sky Tracer with Vraeyda Literary.

February 1, 2021. New York based author & short story virtuoso Hayden Moore is the newest author to create an epic fungal fantasy for Canadian-based small press Vraeyda Literary. Moore’s upcoming epic fantasy novel Sky Tracer features a fungus-based worldscape and empowering female leads. Vræyda Literary CEO Lis Goryniuk-Ratajczak states, “We are infinitely proud to promote and midwife this work of fiction into the zeitgeist where it belongs. Hayden has a singular talent for bringing real humanity to the page, surrounded by a world as far removed from ours as the world wide web is removed from Elizabethan London.”

About Sky Tracer:

In the eternal darkness of the fungal realm of Ūmfalla, two women from different worlds form an unlikely bond and use their newfound powers to try and topple an empire.

In Ümfalla, only those with dark-bright eyes can see the way. A Wanderer with a forgotten past and a mechanical-arm named, MĒNA, is one of those few. When she rescues a woman named, RUTHY, who has fallen from Sky Tracer—an abysmal machine that transports stolen children over the dark land to be sacrificed—she is thrust into a fight against the warrior Reapers and magical Weirs for the very existence of the realm. The world-tree of the sunlit realm of Avernus looms large over the Spore Cloud that shrouds Ümfalla in eternal darkness. Through secrets and deception, RUTHY reveals that she is actually ARETHŪSA, the new Ruler of Avernus who can speak through the mycelium beneath the earth and directly to the Goddess who sleeps within the world-tree.

Similar Books: THE FIFTH SEASON (N.K. Jemisin), SHIP OF MAGIC (Robin Hobb), KUSHIEL’S DART (Jacqueline Carey)

About Hayden Moore:

Hayden Moore was born in Georgia in 1981. He studied at the University of Tennessee and has lived in New York City for the past thirteen years. In the past half-year, he has been published forty-two times for his short stories, including publications such as: Corner Bar Magazine, Metonym Literary Journal, Drunk Monkey Literary Journal, Fictional Cafe, Modern Literature, Calliope, Wood Coin Magazine, Wink Magazine, Verdad Magazine, Wilderness House Literary, Blue Moon Literary and Art Review, Deep Overstock Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Oddville Press, Dream Noir, The Scriblerus, Prachya Review, JOHAHmagazine, La Piccioletta Barca, Quail Bell, The Green Light, Astral Waters, Literary Heist, Pif Magazine, Flatbush Review, Wingless Dreamer, Anaphora Literary Press, SAC, Gone Lawn, Flying Ketchup Press, Pour Vida, The Closed Eye Open, Fudoki Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, High Shelf Press, NYSAI Press and Gypsum Sound Tales. He lives with his wife, dog and cat on the waters of Jamaica Bay in Far Rockaway, NY.

About Vræyda Literary:

Vræyda Literary focuses on the fantastic, within the lens of Speculative or Science Fiction. Stories bathed in escapist wonder and a few good brawls. A Vræyda Literary work brings emotionally available characters and a sense of hope through the most visceral of circumstances. The current portfolio includes Aegis by R.L. Arenz III, a superheroic novel where Kyle Ross discovers how many times a person can get back up for the right cause. Son of Abel by Sapha Burnell, a contemporary fantasy where the Judge of Mystics defies a centuries old truce, and his leprechaun bestie gets lost on a Vancouver bus trying to set things right. And the powerful best-selling memoir Can You Hear the Angels Sing? by Rev. Prof. Seth Ayettey, a Ghanaian dignitary and professor, who continues to call for forgiveness and peace to prevail in a complex world.

For more information about Vraeyda Literary please contact Lis at literary@vraeydamedia.ca.

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Film Review by RL: Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Rating: 2/5 Director: Patty Jenkins Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, Kristen Wiig

In this review there will be no spoilers for 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984 (WW84). But there will be spoilers for Wonder Woman (2017), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Justice League (2017), and the official trailer for WW84 (2020).  To know where WW84 went wrong, we should examine the successful previous appearances by Gal Gadot’s Dianna.  Wonder Woman and BvS introduced a character that evolved over the course of the films. From idealistic naiveté to acceptance of grim consequences grounded in the reality of war. Or from a jaded self exiled despondence to making the choice to rise and stand guard for the innocent. In both these films we watch as Dianna acknowledges a truth (incidentally covered in the previous article of MacroMicroCosm, for sale on here , yes a shameless plug), choosing to be a bystander is a choice which allows evil to roam free.  While WW84 does have a central theme it grows murky and oddly empty. The weight of the theme loses its gravitas with lackluster emotional investment. Along with this, the journey of the hero does not resonate with the audience, while following a superhero trope that is overused and performed both better and worse in other movies.  In previous appearances, Dianna interacts with supporting characters that could easily be described as two dimensional. But the cast are able to convey enough charisma into their roles to become memorable.  WW84 has five characters you will remember with the rest being filler that escape your recollection the moment their character is no longer on screen.  In the end WW84 fails to deliver on the fun ride the trailer promised, breaks continuity for the ‘later’ films, introduces plot devices and macguffins that are meaningless, attempts to re-ignite chemistry unsuccessfully, and makes the same mistakes with its villains as all the others have. The only possible saving grace is the performance of Pedro Pascal who was unable to deliver a truly masterful villain because of the alterations to the comic book character. 

If you get the urge to watch a Wonder Woman film, choose the first. Or even BvS and the Justice League.

R.L. Arenz III is a contributing editor to MacroMicroCosm single dad, and the author of a superhero sci-fi novel Aegis. While some heroes shatter, Kyle Ross shatters and rebuilds in Aegis, amongst a future full of high tech, superhero teams, and spiders. An astounding amount of spiders. Meet him on our discord server… if you dare.

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NEON Lieben: Lieben Saga #1 (Pre-Order)

Release Date: Spring 2021

Canadian Author Sapha Burnell’s first science fiction novel, and first in the Lieben Saga.

A biological machine washes up on the shore of Uclulet’s Carolina Channel.

A grieving engineer builds a machine to halt death.

The Mater Maskiner’s rise is imminent.

All Hail the Android Queen.