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Book Review: The Crimson Vault

The Crimson Vault is the second book in the Traveler’s Gate Trilogy by Will Wight. I added this one to my summer Audible playlist, shortly after listening to the first book in the series earlier in the year. I’ve been pretty busy lately, and it took me a while to finally get to it, but I’m glad I did. I liked the story Wight told in House of Blades, and I was glad to revisit his world and the characters in it.

I felt Wight did a good job world building with the first book in the series. He created a unique system of magic based on territories that serve as a source of power for the Travelers and as their home. However, we didn’t get a lot of backstory about the territories. Wight saved that for The Crimson Vault, at least for theterritories for Valinhall, Enosh, and Damasca. For those three, he gives us a good shot of politics and history that set up the overall conflict the world is dealing with. I particularly liked the backstory on Valinhall, although I wouldn’t want to live there.

My thoughts on Wight’s characters haven’t changed much. The majority of them are unique and interesting, and none of the main characters are cookie cutter types. Simon is still a young guy, but he grows up some, becoming both more of a badass and more mature than in the first book. Alin is still a jerk. In fact, he becomes an even bigger and more dangerous jerk by the end of the story, although he’s one of those characters who wants to do good and actually thinks he is. I get the feeling he is like Anakin Skywalker on the verge of becoming Darth Vader.  One comment I had about the first book was that I wanted to read more about Kai. In that regard, Wight didn’t disappoint. Kai is still a creepy weirdo, but by far my favorite character in the series.

I rate The Crimson Vault a solid four stars. It felt a lot darker than the first book. Maybe that’s because more people died in it, but Wight still kept it fun and sometimes humorous. As with the audiobook version of the first book, he did a decent job narrating this one as well. The third one isn’t on Audible, but someday when I get through my backlog of unread books, I’ll probably continue on to the final book in the trilogy.

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Book Review: Military Veterans in Creative Careers

Military Veterans in Creative Careers by Justin Sloan is the third book in the Creative Mentor series, which also includes Creative Writing Career and Creative Writing Career 2. Very similar in format to the first two books, this volume is packed with interviews that give advice on writing, acting, directing and producing, video games, and more. However, this time, all of the people interviewed are military veterans from the Army, Navy, Marines, or Air Force.

Part One of Military Veterans in Creative Careers covers writing for both books and the screen. It features interviews from numerous veterans working as authors, poets, screenwriters, and managing editors. As a new writer myself, this was obviously my favorite section of the book. I found listening to how other veterans have achieved success as writers to be very motivating.

Parts Two, Three, and Four cover acting, directing and producing, and video games. Part Five, titled Other Related Programs, includes several interviews with veterans working in fields that don’t quite fit in the other categories. Personally, I was originally interested in this book because of the interviews with military veteran writers. However, I found the other interviews to be just as good, especially those with the actors. Christine Clayburg, in particular, has led an interesting and diverse life. 

I rate Military Veterans in Creative Careers five stars. I enjoyed the first two books in the Creative Mentor series, but this one was my favorite. I recommend this book if you are a veteran looking at a career in any creative field, but non-veterans can find value in it as well. I find its always inspiring to hear other veterans tell stories of achieving career success after their service with the military ends.

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Father's Day and Star Wars

So a while ago, Wanda and I had a discussion about which of the first seven Star Wars films is the better Father's Day movie. If we cut the list down to just the movies that deal with father/son relationships, we have The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Force Awakens.

Obviously The Force Awakens is a no go. No father wants to watch something on Father's Day that is going to make him start watching his six all the time as his children get bigger and more defiant. Maybe letting Junior get a black belt in Karate and teaching little Missy to hit 300 meter targets with her pink AR-15 weren't such good ideas after all.

Wanda thought Return of the Jedi was the best choice. Vader and Son finally bury the hatchet, have a touchy-feely unmasking momoment, and together they defeat the Emperor. However, as a father I see it differently. Luke not only refused to go into the family business, he totally destroyed his father's very successful career. Vader worked hard to get to his position as the second most feared man in the galaxy. You have to kill a lot of rebels and choke hundreds of Imperial Officers to make it that far. And Luke took that away from poor Lord Vader and got him killed in the process.

In my opinion, and since it's my opinion it's actually a fact, The Empire Strikes Back is the best Father's Day Star Wars movie. Vader is at the height of his power. His BFF is the Emperor and we get to see him force choke inept Imperial Officers left and right. He has a plan to bring his long lost son into the family business so together they can "rule the galaxy as father and son." What father doesn't have that at the top of his bucket list? Luke puts a slight damper on his plans and refuses, but this is where Vader's fatherhood and light saber skills really shine. The caring, yet firm, Sith daddy is forced to cut off his son's hand. Some may call this child abuse. I call it tough love. Vader and Luke have a great father/son movement at the end. Vader on the bridge of his Star Destroyer. Luke in the hold of the Millennium Falcon clutching his handless arm. We see Vader's patience as a father as he realizes it will take a little more time to bring his son on board with his plans. And we see Luke realizing that as much as it's wise to not upset a wookie while playing holographic chess, it's also equally wise to not piss off your father.

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Growing up a STAR TREK nerd.

I’ve been a Star Trek fan since the beginning. Well, maybe not since the very beginning of the show. It started in 1966, and I wasn’t born until 1969. I can’t say I was a fan since the beginning of my life either, but by the time I was around five, I was a Star Trek fan.

I’ve seen all three seasons of The Original Series, two seasons of The Animated Series, seven seasons of The Next Generation, seven seasons of Deep Space Nine, seven seasons of Voyager, and the first two seasons of Enterprise.

In 2004, when the Army sent me to vacation in Afghanistan, I spent a good deal of my down time during watching Star Trek. During the 12 months I was there, I started from the beginning and began watching every series over. I got through 20 seasons from the different series before I ran out of time and had to finish when I returned home.

I've also watched all of The Original Series and The Next Generation movies, but I stopped with the second re-boot movie. Those things are crap!

I come by it honestly, my father was a big Star Trek fan back in the day. To this day, he still likes a lot of science fiction. I’m sure thats what got me started. I can remember us watching Space 1999, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, and Logan’s Run together. I enjoyed them all, but none compared to Star Trek. We didn’t have Netflix back then, but we had syndication, and by the early 1970s, Star Trek had become exponentially more popular than during it’s original three year run.

While my dad really liked Mr. Spock, as a kid, I was always a fan of Captain James T. Kirk. What American kid wouldn’t be? He was the captain. He was tough. He always got the girl. He had some awesome fight moves, like the double fist hammer strike or the famous kirk chop. He was never afraid of anything. To this day, Kirk (the William Shatner version) is still my favorite Star Trek character.

Before there was Star Wars and all of the cool toys that came with it, I had Star Trek toys. The best ones I had were the Mego action figures. I didn’t have all of them, but I know I had Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the Gorn. My sister had Uhura, and I think I may have had the Romulan too, but that might not be right. I have a feeling that I just wanted it so bad, that I think I remember having it. Since a captain always needs his ship, my parents also bought me the Enterprise Playset, which was a pretty cool toy at the time. 

My dad also built and painted model kits of the Enterprise, Klingon Battle Cruiser, and Romulan War Bird. I can remember trying to help him with the Klingon ship and getting yelled at for grabbing pieces with my potato chip greased fingers. For a while the ships hung from the ceiling in my room with fishing line. I remember just wanting to take them down and play with them, which I think is how they ended up getting destroyed.

I had other toys as well. I had Star Trek comic books that weren’t really that great, but I really liked the Star Trek Power Records book & record sets. I listened to the Passage to Moauv and Crier in the Emptiness countless times. Both were written by Alan Dean Foster who would later write Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, one of the first Star Wars expanded universe books, which I also owned as a kid.

Once dad also built a mock up of the enterprise bridge in our basement. In reality, it was just a bunch of old short wave radio components sitting on a desk with a couple of chairs, but I thought it was pretty cool.

When I was in kindergarten, my mother made me a Star Trek shirt like Captain Kirk wore. She took an iron-on knee patch, cut it into the shape of the Starfleet insignia, and put it on a shirt. This was way before nerds started creating their own television and movie quality costumes, so I can confidently say that I probably started all of this cosplay stuff.

In 1979 when Star Trek the Motion Picture came out, of course, we went to see it. I was so excited. After the theme music played and the film rolled straight into an awesome Klingon attack against the mysterious space cloud, I just knew this film was going to be great. Everyone in the freaking theater thought that! The special effects were awesome. The Klingons looked way cooler. To this day, the music from the Klingon attack makes we want to grab a rifle and lead an invasion force. Unfortunately, everything was downhill from there, at least with the plot. The movie would have made a great two part television episode, but it sucked as a space movie. After the battle with the Klingons, the best part of the movie was my dad yelling at a couple of kids that were running around the theater. Apparently they were the spawn of idiot parents who didn’t think anyone would mind.

In June of 1982, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn was released in theaters. It still tops the list of my favorite science fiction movies. That summer I was vacationing along the east coast with my Aunt Cathy, Uncle Frank, and Cousin Joe. We watched it in Richmond, Virginia, and, it was everything that the first movie wasn’t. It had a great story, great drama, great action, and even some good humor. At the end when Mr. Spock dies, sacrificing himself to save the Enterprise, my 12 year old self shed a few tears. However, I’m sure my sissy cousin cried more. I have probably seen The Wrath of Kahn well over 100 times, but I still love watching it. It was at that time, and still is the best Star Trek movie ever made. It had just the right balance of action and story that those new re-boot movies don’t have.

I like Star Trek because it’s thinking man’s science fiction. They don’t just blast their way out of every situation. They use their brains too, even if that means using made up techno babble while they do it. With Star Trek starting as a television show, before being made into movies, you also get some great character development and story arcs that are very hard to do on the big screen. Sure the only difference in the aliens is in crinkled pattern of their foreheads, but at least they aren’t trying to blow up a Death Star in every other movie. 

The Original Series is still my favorite Star Trek, though I think some of the later series were written better. Part of that is nostalgia for my childhood. Part is because Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are awesome characters, and they make a great team. But mostly, it’s because of the great memories I have of watching the show with my father. It’s really his fault that I am such a nerd.

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Book Review: The Lucid: Episode Two

The Lucid: Episode Two by Nick Tacker and Kevin Tumlinson is the next installment in the episodic science fiction series that follows Adam Bolland, a manager at a water treatment facility, as he fights to save his family and stop whoever is responsible for contaminating the nation’s water supply. 

Episode Two seemed a lot faster paced than the first book in the series. Contributing to the perceived increase was the shifting of scenes between the past and present, and there was also a significantly greater amount of action. However, it was also half the length of Episode One.

I can’t say too much without giving anything away, but the several flashback scenes helped to give flesh to the protagonist Adam, and they served to build reader compassion for him when bad things started happening, or should I say continued to happen, since bad things had been happening since the start of Episode One. 

While Adam gets some good treatment, antagonist David does little more than help advance the plot. It is a short book, so that’s understandable, but as I said with my review of the first one, I think he is a really interesting bad guy. I hope he gets a little more of the spotlight in Episode Three.

That’s about all I can say without ruining the book for you. I give The Lucid: Episode Two a rating of four stars. It’s fast and short, but it does a good job advancing the story-line and keeping you interested. As with the first one, Episode Two kind of ends with a cliff hanger and leaves you wanting to read the next installment.

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Book Review: Creative Writing Career 2

Creative Writing Career 2 is the followup to Justin Sloan’s first book in the series, simply titled, as you guessed, Creative Writing Career. However, this time Stephan Bugaj joins Sloan to bring us more advice and interviews with people working in various creative fields, writing books, comics, video games, and screenwriting. Bugaj has experiences working at places like Pixar and Telltale Games, so it’s easy to see why he’s a good fit.

Creative Writing Career 2 is available in Kindle, paperback, and Audible formats. For books of this type, I like to listen to the Audiobook while I’m running, working around the house, or mowing the lawn, but I usually end up picking up the Kindle or paperback version as well. As I’ve said before, it makes it easier if I want to go back and reference something or reread a section of the book.

In Part One of the book, the authors dole out writing advice on a variety of topics. They discuss the writing process, rules of writing, episodic and one-shot content, and they talk about the different types of working relationships you can have, and should pursue, in the writing industry. The section on notes was my favorite. Sloan and Bugaj gave good advice on both giving critique notes and receiving them from others.

In Part Two, writing books and comics is covered. They spend a few pages talking about traditional and self-publishing, but the majority of the section is a collection of interviews of published authors. As an unpublished writer myself, this was obviously my favorite part of the book. 

Parts Three and Four cover writing for video games and screenwriting. While I’m not as interested in either of these two writing outlets, you never know when or what type of opportunities could present themselves, so I think it’s important to know a little about each. And I did find it interesting to learn about the different paths the interviewed game and screenwriters followed to establish their careers.

I rate Creative Writing Career 2 four stars. If you liked the first book, this one is more of the same. You don’t even have to read the first one to get something out of this one. It is a stand alone volume. However, I recommend you read or listen to both books if you are just starting out as a writer and aspire to make a living writing creatively in any capacity.

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Book Review: The Lucid: Episode One

The Lucid is an episodic series by science fiction authors Nick Thacker and Kevin Tumlinson. There are currently three published episodes with the first installment aptly named The Lucid: Episode One.

I’ve never read anything by Nick Thacker before, so I can’t comment on his previous work, but he has the kind of name that makes me think of a military special operations soldier. Sergeant Nick Thacker has a tough guy ring to it. Kind of like Stephen Hunter’s Bob Lee Swagger.

On the other hand, I have read several of Kevin Tumlinson’s books. I’ve found that he writes intelligent science fiction stories that have engaging plots and well developed characters, so I wasn’t surprised that I liked The Lucid.

As expected with the episodic format, Episode One is a pretty short read. Episodes two and three are no different, with the second one being the shortest. Nevertheless, Thacker and Tumlinson pull you into the story pretty quickly. 

In Episode One we learn that Adam, a manager at a water treatment facility, has deduced something is being added to the nation’s water supply in order to “suppress” the population. After enlisting the help of a friend, he steals several vials of the chemicals and attempts to escape with his family. There is an excellent scene involving his wife and daughter where Adam finds out just how much they have been affected by the chemicals. 

As much as I liked the good guy protagonist Adam, I think the antagonist, David, is even more interesting. He truly cares about no one at all, but Thacker and Tumlinson make it easy to see how he got to that point. With the current trend towards anti-heroes and blurred lines of good and evil, it’s nice to have clear cut good guys and bad guys for a change. 

I rate The Lucid: Episode One five stars. There is a lot going on in this story, despite it’s short length. It’s listed under post-apocalyptic science fiction, but I can see definitely elements of the thriller and horror genres in it as well. It’s a great start to the series, and I look forward to the next episode.

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Book Review: Fast Fiction

To a new writer, the thought of writing 50,000 words in one month for NaNoWriMo can seem an impossible task. I never thought it was possible myself, at least not for a part time writer. However, Denise Jaden thinks it’s not only possible, but she also wrote a book to help writers of all skill levels accomplish this seemingly impossible task. In Fast Fiction, she shows us how to outline and write a first-draft novel in thirty days, regardless of whether we do it during NaNoWriMo or not.

Now, I’ve never written 50,000 words in a month before. Not even after participating in CampNaNoWriMo last month, but Fast Fiction makes it seem a lot easier than I thought. Parts of the book are designed to be read before, during, and after you write your novel.

Part One: Before the Draft is meant to be read the month prior to NaNoWriMo, or whatever month you plan to write your novel in. There are chapters on plot and the three-act structure, creating characters, themes, setting, writing scenes, and putting it all together. The intent of part one is to prepare you to write, and if you do everything she prescribes, you’ll start NaNoWriMo with a good outline and foundation, which will keep you from having those “I have no idea what to write next” days.

Part Two: During the Draft is meant to be read throughout the month as your write your novel. There are 30 separate two-three page chapters that are intended to be read at the start of your writing session each day. I thought they were a great way to get my mind straight before I started knocking out my daily word count. The small chapters provide both inspiration to keep you motivated during the month as well as giving small tasks to focus on as you write the day’s passage.

Part Three: After the Draft is the shortest section of the book. In it, Jaden gives us some brief thoughts on what to focus on during the revision process. She also provides a list of other books and resources.

I ordered Fast Fiction about two weeks before the start of April’s CampNaNoWriMo, so I was a little behind the power curve already, but I prepared as much as I could, following Jaden’s instructions. As I’m a fairly new writer, my goal was also set a lot lower than 50,000 words. However, I followed along during the month, reading each daily chapter as intended. I wasn’t always far enough along in my story to apply the guidance from the day’s passage, but it still helped keep me motivated and on track. When the month was over, I had written 25% more than I originally planned, but 10,000 words is a far cry from 50,000. Still, it was a great experience for me.

I rate Fast Fiction four stars. It’s a good read for anyone considering their first NaNoWriMo or for a new writer who needs help figuring out the basics and wants a little guidance and motivation. It’s a book that is intended to be reread, which is why my copy will be sitting on my desk next to the keyboard for a while.  I plan to do the full blown NaNoWriMo in November and another Camp in July. I may not be ready to write 50,000 in one month yet, but Jaden has shown me that it’s only a matter of perseverance and time before I get there.

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Book Review: House of Blades

House of Blades is the first book in the Traveler’s Gate Trilogy by Will Wight. Iburned an audible credit on it last fall after a recommendation by Justin Sloan. I started listening to it right away, but once winter hits my audiobook consumption severely decreases. Over the warmer months I listen to a lot of them when I’m running trails or mowing my acre and half yard, but having temporarily stopped listening when it got cold, it took me a while to get back to it. However, I finally finished the book, and I’m glad I did.

Wight does a great job world building. He has created one of the more unique magic systems that I’ve read about. I think his concept of Travelers that draw magical powers from their own otherworldly Territories is both original and open to countless possibilities. Traveler’s Gate is just a trilogy as I write this, but Wight gave himself an easy in if he ever wants to dive back into this world, which I’m sure will happen since he plans on living for at least another two hundred years.

Wight does a good job building interesting and likable characters. My favorite was the protagonist Simon, as I’m sure most would agree. I really enjoyed his hero’s journey from shy inept teenager to badass Valenhall Traveler. I liked the other boy Traveler, Alan, much less, but every book needs an asshole I guess. Wight even does a good job building sympathy at times for the bad guys. That is, except for Alan. He may or may not be a bad guy, but I got no love for him. The only other thing I’ll add about the characters is, I would have liked to read a little more about Simon’s mentor, Kai, and the sentient dolls. Next to Simon, they are the most interesting characters in the book.

It’s unusual for an author to narrate his own audiobook in the fantasy genre, but this is exactly what Will Wight did. Very quickly, I could tell that he wasn’t a professional narrator, but overall I think he did a good job. Rather than feeling I was listening to an audiobook, it felt as if I was sitting down with Wight, and he was just telling me a story. I was impressed that an author would even attempt his own narration. 

I rate House of Blades a solid four stars. It’s a lot lighter than some of the other fantasy books I’ve read this year. Wight keeps it fun and even humorous at times. I’ve already added book 2 The Crimson Vault to my listen-to list of audiobooks for the summer, and I hope that he also brings the third book to audible. He has written two other series as well, which is pretty amazing for a sentient penguin, full moon or not. His author page on Amazon reveals some other interesting facts about him.

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My First Camp NaNoWriMo

This month I participated in my first Camp NaNoWriMo. I set a fairly modest 7,500 word goal, which averages out to 250 words per day. While that may not seem like much, it’s pretty huge for me. It’s over twice as big as anything else I’ve ever written. I wasn’t too concerned with doing more than 250 words daily, but I wanted to make sure I wrote every single day.

So how did I do? Well, my goal may have been modest, but I killed it. I hit 7,500 words on April 23rd and just keep going. When I finished this morning, I was at 10,168 words. My highest day for the month was 535 words, and I only missed hitting 250 once. Most importantly, I wrote every single day.

To prepare, in March, I spent some time looking through old files and notebooks trying to figure out what to write about. I decided to expand one of my short stories into a full novel. Tentatively titled The Brother’s Sword, it’ll be the first book in what I hope is my own military fantasy series. After figuring out what to write, I then spent the last half of March world building and creating an outline. 

The closer I got to April 1st, the more I realized I hadn’t figured out nearly as much as I wanted. I always figured things would be easy with fantasy, because you could just make up everything as you went. In practice, I found it wasn’t that easy. I’m the kind of guy who likes to plan everything down to the smallest detail. Creating a whole world means there are lots of details. 

When the 1st rolled around, I didn’t feel quite ready to start, but I did it anyway. I got up early and just started mashing keys. I continued world building all month, but now that it's over, I still have a lot to figure out. I’m not really worried though. The story isn’t close to being finished, and I figure I’ll fix everything in the first or second revisions.

Like most part-time writers, I’m pretty busy. My full-time job takes a lot of my time and energy. It also requires me to be in shape, so I spend a lot of time working out and running. My wife is wonderfully understanding, but I’m also the father of a four year old little boy. One of my most important responsibilities is playing trains and Star Wars. Well, I guess I can’t complain about that.

To make it work, I got up early every morning and wrote for an hour or two. Afterwards, I’d go for a run, if that was on my schedule, or head to work. Usually, early meant 5:00 a.m., but depending on the day, sometimes it was 4:00 a.m. Twenty years in the Army made me an early riser, so it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Keeping the same schedule on weekends, meant I was also up before the sun every day.

I feel pretty good that I “won” my first Camp NaNoWriMo, but I feel even better that I started my novel. The original short story will become a chapter in the book, so my total word count so far is 12,066 words. I think it’ll end up being around 60,000 for the whole thing, but I’m in new territory here, so I don’t really know. I’m taking the next two days to review my outline and work out a few things, but I plan to keep the early morning writing sessions. The more I write, the faster I’ll get. At my current rate, I’ll finish in September, but I hope to get there sooner. I’m also doing the July Camp NaNoWriMo, however my word count goal is going to be a lot higher than 7,500 words this time.

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Book Review: Creative Writing Career

Last summer, I listened to the audiobook version of Creative Writing Career by Justin Sloan. I had been listening to the CWC Podcast for a couple months by then and had read Sloan’s first fantasy book Land of Gods, so I already knew a little about his background. I knew that he had worked as a writer for Telltale Games and had done some screenwriting as well, but it was his experience getting started writing fantasy novels that I most interested in.

In Creative Writing Career, Sloan writes about methods that can be used to build a successful writing career. He doesn’t get deep into the mechanics of writing itself. He leaves that to the many other writing books out there, but he offers recommendations on which ones to read, to learn everything from learning prose and structure to writing for television or video games.

In the first part of the book, Sloan writes about positioning yourself to become a full-time writer. He talks about staying focused and finding inspiration as well as getting an education on writing craft. Whether it’s through formal college courses in the classroom setting or online, joining a writing group, or self-study, there are many options available to anyone who wants to improve as a writer. 

About half of the book contains interviews with other writers who talk about how they got started and what recommendations they have for anyone seeking a successful writing career. Some of them are authors of novels, but Sloan also interviews screenwriters, video game writers, and non-fiction authors. Most of them have experience in multiple writing fields. While I really just want to write novels, I still found a lot of value from the other interviews.

Creative Writing Career is the second book on writing that I’ve read or listened to since I decided to become a writer myself. After I first listened to it, I thought it was good, but didn’t feel I knew enough about creative writing or had read enough on the topic to give a valid review. 

So I waited. I read several other books, and I took an Introduction to Creative Writing course through SNHU. One of the things I found was that, although I enjoy listening to audiobooks, it’s good to own hardcopies of any that you might want to reference later on. So, I ordered the paperback version of Creative Writing Career. I like to reference it sometimes when I’m having a hard time writing, and I’ve probably reread most of the book that way.

I rate Creative Writing Career five stars. It was really useful for me when I started developing my own career plan to become an author. I still have a long way to go, but I get inspired from learning about others who have done the same.

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Book Review: The Dark Knights

Remember the old Arthurian legend where the Knight’s of the Round Table became vampires and were enslaved by Merlin. Of course you don’t. No one does, because that story have never been told before. That is until now. Renowned author and United States Marine, Justin Sloan, has unearthed lost tomes of unknown origin, that one can only speculate were penned by Geoffrey of Monmouth, himself.

The Dark Knights: A King Arthur Vampire Fantasy is a short story by Justin Sloan that offers a different and unique spin on Britain’s famous mythical king. Enslaved as vampires, Arthur and his knights are forced to serve as pawns of the evil Merlin. When Arthur decides they’ve had enough, he attempts to break the sorcerer’s hold over them only to find…

It’s a short story, so I’m not going to go on forever. I give The Dark Knights five stars. I’ve always been a King Arthur fan, and this is a new and unique take on an old legend. The story was a lot of fun. I hope that Sloan expands it into a complete novel.

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Book Review: bird by bird

I received Anne Lamott’s bird by bird as a gift for Christmas last year. I had read her essay on Shitty First Drafts, so I was pretty excited to get the book that it was excerpted from. Since I write extremely shitty first drafts, the essay had struck a note with me. I expected that to continue with the book, but that didn’t happen.

Lamott did hold my attention for the first third of bird by bird. She gets very personal about how she got started as a writer and talks about her thoughts on character, plot, and dialogue. However, things got muddy after that, and I often had a hard time finding much of value. The book is subtitled Some Instructions on Writing and Life, so I expected her to get personal. However, the entire work was so full of depressing and sarcastic ramblings that I failed to find many “instructions on writing,” and I didn’t find much on “and life” that was useful either.

I had to fight through the last two-thirds of the book. There was still the occasional humorousanecdote that caused me to laugh, but overall it wasn’t for me. A lot of people really liked bird by bird. According to Amazon, over 85% of readers gave it 4 or 5 stars. I guess I’m one of the weirdos in the minority here. I’m sure Anne Lamott is a great literary writer, but for me this book was full of the incessant ramblings of someone who thinks being sarcastic and angry, passes as being clever. I rate bird by bird three stars.

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Book Review: 30-Day Author

Last summer when I decided that I wanted to give writing a shot, I did what I do whenever I get interested in something new. I found a few podcasts to kick start the learning process. One of the first shows that I listened to was the Wordslinger Podcast, hosted by Kevin Tumlinson. The more I listened, the more I learned about writing. I soon decided that I also needed to start reading about the craft of writing, so I ordered Kevin’s book 30-Day Author. Actually, I first bought it in kindle format, before purchasing a paperback version a few months later, so I could more easily flip through it as a reference later on.

So how is the book?

The first thing that I want to say is that 30-Day Author is short. It’s only 77 pages, but that’s ok. In fact, I think that’s why I like it so much as the first book on writing that I’ve read. It was a fast read, that gave me just enough to get me motivated to start writing. Part 1 focuses on developing a daily writing habit. Kevin dedicates chapters that recommend the use of daily blogs and journals, as well as email newsletter lists. He preaches that regardless of how much you write, writers need to get their butts in the chair and write every single day. 

The second half gives a quick over view of the process to actually write a book in 30 days and includes some tips on what to do once the writing is finished. In chapter 7, Kevin shows how writing 50,000 words is not as hard as it sounds, once you break it down into manageable chunks.  Reading it had me thinking about what I used to tell myself when I started training for my first marathon. How do I train to run 26.2 miles? By starting with running 1 mile first.

I give 30-Day Author four stars. If you’re a novice to writing and have hopes of seeing you name on the cover of a book someday, it’s a great place to get a quick education and the motivation to get you started. My only real complaint is that there’s no table of contents, so I had to use a few sticky tabs to mark the chapters I may want to refer back to in the future. 

Did I develop a daily writing habit? Not exactly, at least not when it comes to creative writing. However, I did get motivated, and I did get started. My best month so far has only been 17 days of writing, but this month I’m doing my first Camp Nanowrimo. I probably won’t finish my novel by the end of the month, but come hell or high water, I will write every day.

[outernerd-blog]

Book Reivew: Justice is Calling

Justice is Calling is the first book in the Reclaiming Honor series by authors Justin Sloan and Michael Anderle. It’s the first book the two have collaborated on, and it’s set in Anderle’s ultra popular Kurtherian Gambit universe. I’ve read a few of Sloan’s other series before, but nothing from Anderle, though I’ve seen him raved about on Twitter. I knew he wrote about vampires, so I just wasn’t interested.

In a post apocalyptic world, the vampire heroine Valerie escapes from her blood thirsty (pun intended) father and brother, flees Europe and crosses the Atlantic to America. Unlike, most vampires, she has a strong sense of honor and sets out to serve justice where ever it’s needed. New York hosts it’s own group of diabolical bad guys, so Valerie builds an army of were-creatures, vampires, and humans. Together, they free the city just in time for her brothers arrival and the inevitable fight to come.

“What, I’d be the Queen of the Damned? I don’t think so.” 

To tell the truth, I burned out on vampires, and the like, a long time ago. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, I read the Anne Rice books. I enjoyed them at the time, but by the fifth one I was done. I got bored with them, and after a while the whole idea of vampires seemed pretty ridiculous. Apparently, not many other people felt that way. Over the past 30 years, vampires have become extremely popular, and they’ve brought along were-wolves for the ride. However, regardless of how sparkly the vampire and how ripped the were-wolf’s abs were, I was still not interested. 

 Being a big fan of Sloan’s Falls of Redemption series and knowing that Anderle must being doing something right because all of his 15 or 16 TKG (The Kurtherian Gambit) books have hundreds of reviews each and nothing less than four and half stars on Amazon, I thought I would give Justice is Calling a shot. So really, it’s because I loved reading about the Mawtu that I decided to pick up a vampire book again. 

So, if I don’t like reading about vampires and were-wolves, then what did I like about the book? That’s a good question, and the answer is that I liked reading about the vampires and the were-wolves, and the were-bears, pumas, whatever. Anderle came up with a good sci-fi origin story for them, but I don’t want to spoil it here, and I can’t remember if it was explained in this book or if I heard it on a podcast. 

"That's not sticking. You want to give me a nickname, go with something like King of Death or Mighty One." 

There was a good balance of plot and character development with just the right about of action. Sloan and Anderle harmed a lot of bad guys in the making of this story, and I never felt it dragged on or got slow. However, it seemed balanced with both character development and world building. By the end of the story, they leave you with four to five characters that you really want to read more about. Also, in addition to tidbits of TKG lore that were planted throughout the book, the authors also set the groundwork for this new setting.

The story takes place about 150 years after Anderle’s solo books. There are plenty of references to things that happened in those earlier books, but I don’t feel not having read them hurt my enjoyment in any way. The story is pretty solid and stands well on it’s own. 

I’m a fan of post apocalyptic fiction and have read everything from zombie invasions to true prepper fiction. Justice is Calling is different because it’s set so much farther into the future. Well, it’s also got the vampires and were-wolf things, but is that any different from having zombies? When the story first starts in France, it seems very post nuclear war, but when Valerie gets to America, it takes on a Blade Runner vibe that I really liked. 

“Rather, I believe, that justice is calling for this fight to occur. Who am I to take justice away from those who need it?” 

I rate Justice is Calling five out of five stars. It’s hugely entertaining, funny at times, full of violent action without being overly graphic, and a lot of fun. However, I’ve reached a point where I’m invested in more series than I can keep up with, and now, in addition to the next two Reclaiming Honor books, I also want to go back and start reading Anderle’s original TKG books. I know, it’s a terrible problem to have, but at least there are only 15 or 16 of them.

[outernerd-blog]

Book Review: Strange Medicine

The book Strange Medicine by Mike Russel is a collection of eight short stories that are unlike anything I’ve read before. Well, I can’t be so sure of that I guess. I have read quite a lot over the years, but suffice to say that it’s unlike anything that I can remember reading. If I have read something like Strange Medicine before, it was so long ago that I can’t remember doing so. Anyway, on with the review.

Strange Medicine is a title that really fits this book. On Amazon, it’s listed under science fiction and fantasy, but I’m not so sure that is the best way to describe it. After reading the first couple stories, I tried describing the book to my wife. The words I used were weirdo fiction. The stories are indeed strange and weird, but they raptly keep my interest, despite their short length. I’m not going to comment on every story here, but I’ll touch on a few of them.

“To entertain the possibility that such nonsense has meaning is a weakness that leaves oneself open to attack.”

The first story, Flock, featured a character with one of the best names I’ve ever read in a book, Anthony Tobias Bradshaw. It’s the kind of name that sticks around in your head long after you finished the story and have gone on to other things. Kind of like the Thomas the Train theme song that you keep hearing all day, because your four year old tied you up and forced you to watch the show. Anthony Tobias Bradshaw. The author’s use of the name, Anthony Tobias Bradshaw, in place of almost all pronouns was a little odd at first, but the more I read, the more I found that as a style it truly works for the story. I was still scratching my head at the end, but by then I’d figured out the rest of the book was going to leave me doing that as well.

The shortest short story in Strange Medicine, but also the funniest, was Telephone. Basically, it was just a series of six phone conversations between the characters Dan and Mandy. I caught myself laughing repeatedly the first time I read it. Afterwards, I read out loud to my wife just to see the WTF look on her face. This was probably the least strange story in the book, but it was the most ridiculous.

“No you idiot I was talking to the telephone!”

Mr. Dennis and the Universe was creepily sad. It made me think about parents with disabled children and how the rest of the world can be so cold, insensitive, and just plain hateful at times. Yet the disabled child, just like any other child, is loved by their parents and becomes their entire universe. To me, this was the darkest of the stories. It left me feeling a little morose, but it was my favorite story in the book.

The last story Shish was a fitting final chapter. It was a bit silly, and as you would expect, it was a pretty strange story. It’s kind of a love story, and it’s perfect for people who like fish. However, now I keep finding myself looking at my right shoulder, expecting to see something.

I rate Strange Medicine four stars. It’s not the type of book that I usually read. It’s all short stories for one, but each one is also so bizarre that I could never figure out where the plot was going until it ended. Actually, most of the time I don’t think I figured it out there either. However, the bite sized format was perfect for such unusual stories. I still think it’s weirdo fiction, but Strange Medicine offered a unique experience and refreshing break from the usual fantasy and science fiction books that I read.

[outernerd-blog]

Book Review: The Destroyer Book 2

After reading the first in the series, I could not wait to get into Michael-Scott Earle’s The Destroyer Book 2, especially with it’s completely unique title. Still told in first person from the perspective of two different characters, this time its from Kaiyer and Nadea’s points of view. As with the first book, Kaiyer’s story jumps from ancient past to the present every few chapters as well. While this POV shift, bothered me at first with book one, I had no issues this time. It continues to work well, and I would have been disappointed if the author had changed the format.

The armies of the Ancients have conquered the country of Nia, and the King is dead, replaced on the throne by an Elven puppet ruler, his own son. Kaiyer returns to the city and, with the help of Greykin, breaks in to the castle to save his friends. Unknown to him, Nadea has taken on the mantle of leadership over the exiled forces of Nia and plans a return as well. Kaiyer continues to struggle to remember his past, despite the pain that comes with his returning memories.

“What do you think about just going down there, killing as many as we can, and then calling it a day? I’m sick of running Brother. Let’s be done with this. It is a good day to die. We gave it our all.” 

In this book we learn a lot more about Kaiyer’s early life, and Earle answered almost all of the questions I had after reading the first book. I really liked the chapters on Kaiyer’s past, especially toward the end of the book when he makes a quite shocking revelation. As with the first book, friendship is a strong theme throughout this one. However, the friendships of Kaiyer’s past, while enjoyable to read about, are rather somber and convey a growing feeling that not all is going to end well.

“I needed to help them with the rescue attempt. Then I needed to get back to Jessmei. Then I needed to figure out a way to kill all these fucking Elven assholes.” 

Another aspect that I enjoyed, was finding out more about the Elven woman, Iolarathe. As memories of her continue to haunt Kaiyer, both in the past and present timelines, we learn more about her feelings for him and her desire to make amends. By the end of the book, I found myself sympathizing with her at least a little bit.

To my dismay, the one thing I didn’t like from book one got turned up a notch. There was even more graphic sex this time around. It’s not that I don’t like sex. I’m a big fan of both sex and naked ladies, but with the amount of graphic description that the author uses, the sex scenes were way out of proportion for a book of this type. They were much too long and pulled the focus of the book from the main plot. They just seemed out of place, and I found myself skipping ahead to get on with the story. Maybe I’m just old and crusty. I’m sure with the 50 shades of something craze, there are readers that all the graphic sex would resonate with.

“I preferred violently ending my enemies. It was less maintenance, and you didn’t have to worry about them seeking revenge.”

I rate The Destroyer Book 2 four out of five stars. It’s a good action packed sequel to the first book, and it continues with awesome fights and battles. Earle has created great characters, and he continues to evolve and develop them over the course of both books. Other than killing off poor Paug in the first book, the only significant detractor for me was, as I’ve already said, the graphic sex. It’s still a good book, and I already have third on my to-read list.