Kindle Spotlight -- Automatic Woman

Today we have Nathan Yocum's steampunk novel Automatic Woman.

The story centers around Jacob "Jolly" Fellows, a cockney thug who works in London for Bow Street Firm, a Pinkerton-type organization. Jolly's jobs range from investigative work to bounty-hunting. One day he gets sent to talk with one Dr. Saxon. Saxon has built an automaton ballerina and it has gone missing. Jolly takes his statement and leaves. He returns later to Saxon's theater to find the titular automatic woman crushing the life out of the poor doctor. Jolly manages to beat her until she stops functioning, but he passes out from injuries he sustained in the fight. He awakens later to find himself arrested for Saxon's murder. The coppers don't buy his story, and it looks like he'll hang for the crime. However, mysterious benefactors pay his bail on the condition he retrieve (steal) the homicidal automaton from the evidence locker and turn it over to them so they can study it and find out how it works. He complies, but in doing so he unwittingly becomes a pawn in a battle between criminal masterminds. He must navigate a veritable minefield populated by historical and literary figures such as Charles Darwin, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle and mad Russian Rasputin. Does Jolly have what it takes to make it out of this alive and protect those he cares about?

Sadly, I must report the review copy I was given by Nathan Yocum is rife with poor editing. At numerous points he fails to add a space after periods, leading to flawed sentences. I don't know if the copy he's selling on Amazon suffers from this, but I urge caution when buying it.

Now, ordinarily I wouldn't recommend stories that suffer from a lack of editing. However, in this case I will do so because the plot is just that good. The narrative features compelling characters and the kind of villains you love to hate. Yocum also does a good job of conveying Jolly's simple-yet-honest nature. He's really a lovable oaf despite his lack of class. And, most importantly, the book becomes a page-turner towards the end and provides a satisfying conclusion to the story.

Bottom line: If you can look past the typos, you'll find a quality story. Just remember to sample it before handing over the money for it.

http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Woman-Nathan-Yocum-ebook/dp/B008TI6YRI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394403477&sr=1-1&keywords=Automatic+Woman

Kindle Spotlight -- Hope and the Clever Man

Today we have the steampunk fantasy novel Hope and the Clever Man by Mike Reeves-McMillan. We wouldn't want to keep the gnomes waiting, so here we go.

The protagonist is a girl named Hope at Merrybourne who lives at Merrybourne manor in the region of Koskant. When she was eight years old she displayed a talent for magic, so her father arranged for her to be tutored in the magical arts. This goes on until it comes time for her to choose a college to attend. She gains a scholarship to the University of Illene. She joins their magic program, and does very well until a certain incident almost derails her stay there. You see, she dates a young man named Faithful, and all seems well. Unfortunately, she catches him in bed with another girl. Hope puts a curse on his boy-parts which will activate unless he stays true to his name. The two women leave and quickly strike up a friendship. The other girl's name is Briar and she's going for a law degree.

Upon graduation, Hope and Briar get a flat together. Briar becomes a lawyer, and Hope goes to work for the Realmgold (basically the president of Koskant). She becomes an assistant to scruffy "clever man" Dignified, the Realmgold's chief inventor. Together they create the Koskant equivalent of Skype: Magic mirrors that enable people to chat with one another over long distances. The mirrors are a huge hit, and Hope and Dignified receive commendations for them.

Meanwhile, Briar befriends the gnomes that work with Hope and Dignified. As a seeker of justice, she cannot turn a blind eye to the gnomes' working conditions. You see, they're basically slaves to the dwarven people. Briar sets out to convince the Realmgold to grant them equality under the law. However, this move has serious repercussions. Can Hope, Briar, the gnomes and the clever man weather this storm and still make it to their airhorse race (yes, they invent airhorses)?

Hope and the Clever Man is an entertaining and very well-written story. I was quite impressed by the lack of typos within the narrative. It's considerably more polished than a lot of books I read, and I commend Reeves-McMillan for that. In addition, the story is refreshingly unpredictable; I honestly didn't know what was going to happen from one scene to the next. And the fact it doesn't have an obvious antagonist is a plus. The heroes of this story go to battle against social and legal evils rather than a baddie with shallow world-domination plans.

However, I should point out there's a brief sub-plot involving an attempted assault on Hope by a stranger in the middle of the night. It goes nowhere and I feel it could have been left out without causing any problems.

Still, this is a quality story that I have no trouble recommending.

http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Clever-Man-Gryphon-Clerks-ebook/dp/B00GWRPJVA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393821355&sr=1-1&keywords=Hope+and+the+clever+man

Kindle Spotlight -- The Silvered

Today we have Tanya Huff's vaguely steampunk novel The Silvered.

Taking place in a fictional 19th-century world, the plot starts us off in the country of Aydori. Young Mirian Maylin's parents want her to marry into the Pack--Aydori's ruling class of werewolves. The Pack traditionally only marries Mage-pack--female magic users. Nevertheless, Mirian's mother is hopeful she'll make the cut; marrying Pack would ensure status and prosperity for their family.

Sadly, these simple dreams don't last long. The Kresentian Empire soon invades Aydori. Officially they want to expand their borders, but in reality the fighting is a cover for Captain Reiter and his squad of loyal soldiers. They're sent in to capture the leaders of the Mage-pack whose husbands are fighting on the front lines. The emperor's Soothsayers have given him a prophecy, you see: "When wild and mage together come, one in six or six in one, Empires rise or empires fall, the unborn child begins it all." They take this to mean six pregnant mages must be secured and brought back to the Empire, because one's future child holds the Empire's fate in its unborn hands.

The mission goes smoothly enough, and Reiter and his men take possession of the members of the Mage-pack as they travel by carriage by suppressing their magic via golden hair nets. However, there are only five mages and not the six they were ordered to capture. Mirian then happens along with her parents and the soldiers mistake her for the sixth mage. They manage to capture her but Tomas, the last surviving member of the Pack (the others were killed in an artillery strike) rescues her. They then chase after the soldiers in a desperate bid to rescue the women of the Mage-pack. Along the way, Mirian discovers both her latent magical powers and her feelings for Tomas.

The Silvered is a well-written novel. It has compelling characters and Tanya Huff is skilled with prose. Unfortunately, the story takes a while to pick up speed, only getting really good about 2/3 of the way through. The scenes with Mirian and Tomas chasing the soldiers drag on and on, and it felt like they were never going to get anywhere. I think if Huff had removed or shortened certain scenes, that would have gone a long way to perfecting the story.

But once the plot reached full speed, I didn't want to put it down. If you ask me, the measure of a good book is if you'd like to read the sequel, and in this case, I can say I would. Here's hoping there will be one.

http://www.amazon.com/Silvered-Tanya-Huff/dp/0756408067/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392783799&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Silvered

Movie Review -- Robocop

Today we have the remake of the 1987 movie Robocop, this time starring Joel Kinnaman. Updated to appeal to modern sensibilities, does the reboot cut it?

Like the original, this new version takes place in futuristic Detroit. Average cop Alex Murphy (Kinnaman instead of Peter Weller) and his partner Lewis (Michael K. Williams instead of Nancy Allen) are investigating guns stolen from the police department. Their search leads them to bad guy Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow). During a shoot-out, Lewis is wounded and sent to a hospital. Determined to finish the job, Vallon has Murphy car-bombed. Things look dire at this point. Fortunately, OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) sees an opportunity to introduce Americans to the future of law enforcement. He convinces scientist Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) to remake Murphy as an ass-kicking cyborg. Unlike the original, they try to keep his humanity intact in the process. However, this new Robocop is still very defiant, continually fighting his programming. In addition to fighting crime, he also sets out to avenge his own murder. But when he starts threatening OmniCorp interests, they'll go to any length to stop him.

Robocop is a fun popcorn movie,but that's about it. If it didn't have the Robocop license, it'd just be another sci-fi movie. Whereas the original was an intensely violent satire of American culture, the remake doesn't really have a voice. And while the new cyborg policeman is sleek and agile, he reminds me too much of another slick robo-hero. With the Iron Man movies still fresh in our minds, it's hard to get excited over an imitator like the new Robocop. Also, a big part of the original was Murphy's struggle to regain his humanity, something the remake just doesn't deliver on.

But lest you think it's all bad, there are some good points to this film. There are more varieties of machines than in the original (even if the ED-209s aren't nearly as menacing), including androids and deadly military drones. The CG is also cool, and I like the fact the soundtrack features Basil Poledouris' awesome Robocop theme.

Bottom line: It's not a bad movie by any means, but it can't compete with the original. Nostalgia is a force to be reckoned with.

"Dead or alive, you are coming with me."

Agent Hunt

I've decided to look for a literary agent. I've been shopping The Game Called Revolution to various agencies. I've sent out 12 queries so far. If anyone knows of any agents I should query, please let me know.

Movie Review -- I, Frankenstein

Today we have the new supernatural action movie I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart. Based on the graphic novel, it has now hit the big screen. It is also from the people who brought us the Underworld movies which I was a huge fan of back in the day.

The story stays surprisingly faithful to Mary Shelley's original novel, up to a certain point. Dr. Frankenstein creates his monster (Eckhart), then abandons it, and the monster gets revenge by killing Frankenstein's wife. The doctor chases him through the arctic but dies from exposure to the elements.

The plot of the movie picks up right after these events. The monster decides to give his creator a proper burial, but as he is doing so he is attacked by a mysterious group of malevolent beings. Nearby gargoyles come to life and save him. They take him to their base at the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and explain that he has just been dragged into a war between demons and the Gargoyle Order which is made up of angels who take the form of gargoyles (naturally). Their queen, Leonore (Miranda Otto), takes pity on him and asks for his help in protecting mankind from the bad guys. She also gives him the name Adam. Adam, however, wants nothing to do with their struggle and heads off to the most remote corners of the earth in the hopes that the demons won't bother him there.

Centuries later, the demons finally catch up with him. Realizing there is no refuge from them, he decides to take the fight to them. He heads back to Paris and proceeds to "ascend" them, sending them down to Hell. The gargoyles notice this and are angry that he is recklessly engaging the demons out in public and endangering humans lives. They bring him to the cathedral to confront him on this. Soon the demon prince Naberius (the ever sinister Bill Nighy) gets wind of this and sends his minions to attack the cathedral in order to capture Adam. Naberius wants to use Adam to bolster his forces and make them unbeatable. Will the good guys triumph over evil, or will it be hell on earth? For that matter, just who are the good guys?

I like this movie to a certain extent. It has stylish visuals and plenty of cool moments. On the other hand, the demons are pretty generic. I could swear I've seen them in countless other movies. The gargoyles are more creative, but still nothing to write home about. And Eckhart's performance, while not bad, is nowhere near as good as it was in The Dark Knight. Then again, that's a pretty high standard to maintain.

The music is another high point of this film. It features a gothic orchestral score and hard rock songs. It's a step above what I usually hear in movies. I actually downloaded the ending theme on iTunes just now while writing this review.

Bottom line: If you go to see this movie, you'll be entertained. Just don't expect anything groundbreaking.

The Clone Assassin review

This week I decided to review The Clone Assassin by Steven L. Kent. The book opens with a trio of devastating strikes against the Enlisted Man’s Empire, a government formed by the clone soldiers of the Unified Authority which had ruled human space, after they revolted against the Authority which had exiled them to cover its own failings in the face of an alien attack which destroyed over 90 percent of the human settled worlds. These are shortly followed by an attack on Wayson Harris, the main character of the series and one of the leaders of the clones. The first part of the book is focused on efforts to recover from the attacks and discover the fate of Harris. Later parts expand to include a urban battle in Washington DC, a rescue mission for an ally of Harris who had encountered Authority forces while investigating the attack on Harris which itself turns into a full scale battle, and a one man mission into one of the Authority’s command centers.

I give the book a 6.5 out of 10. Most of the battle scenes are entertaining but some aspects stretch believability even in a fictional setting like aerial gunships that take a hundred rockets from the same basic technology base to bring down.  Also while some of the plot twists are entertaining there is a major one which I feel was revealed far too early. I’ve re-read that part of the book four times and still don’t see how revealing the twist at the point in the story where it's exposed adds anything to the story. In fact, the twist doesn't really have any noticeable impact I can see on the story until the last few pages of the book and I feel saving it until then would have made the ending of the novel much more surprising. 

Revisiting the Classics -- Valis

Today we have the 1981 Philip K. Dick novel Valis. It's one hell of a strange trip.

The story is told from the point of view of Dick himself (who breaks the fourth wall by referencing his earlier works). He's here to tell us about his friend Horselover Fat (yes, that is his name). I liken him to Forrest Gump if Gump was on a constant acid trip. Fat has had it pretty rough the past few years. His wife left him and took their son; his friend Gloria committed suicide despite his best attempts to stop her; he himself got hooked on drugs, attempted suicide--but failed--and got sent to a mental institution. There he was bullied into not trying to kill himself anymore. Once he got out, he found himself broke and basically alone. And that's when things get weird.

See, Fat claims to have had profound revelations beamed into his head via a pink laser from a divine creator that he calls Zebra.This suddenly makes Far very spiritual, and he spends a considerable amount of time discussing theology with his friends. He even writes page after page of his exegesis in which he records his metaphysical ramblings. Here is one such example:

Entry #14 from the tractate: The universe is information and we are stationary in it, not three-dimensional and not in space or time. The information fed to us we hypostatize into the phenomenal world.

Fat believes--among other things--that there are two Gods, a rational one and an irrational one. The irrational one seems to have the most influence on our universe since our universe is irrational.

He also has a hero complex. In between writing his exegesis, he does his best to assist his friend Sherri who has cancer. This leads to nothing but trouble for our protagonist who has plenty of trouble to begin with. His good-natured antics are continually spurned by the women in his life. Can this guy ever get it together and lead a normal existence?

Eventually, the sci-fi element does come into play. Fat and co. see a movie called Valis. The bizarro plot centers around a mysterious satellite with the acronym VALIS (Vast Active Living Intelligence System). Many elements of the story mirror Fat's experiences, and the gang comes to believe this is no coincidence. They get in touch with the film's creators and are introduced to a world they could have never imagined, a world where the wildest ideas are possible, yet nothing is what it seems. Now they must face difficult questions. Who or what is God? What is reality? What is time? Can they trust the people giving them the answers to these questions?

Valis is based on real events in Dick's life, and the novel is supposedly his way of trying to make sense of it all. Like Horselover Fat, he had either stumbled onto advanced knowledge or he was simply going insane. This book was written during the last years of Dick's life, and his (apparently) deteriorating mental state is evident throughout. It's much more out there than, say, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Reading the story, I got the sense Dick hadn't completely lost his mind. He knew what he was writing about, even if he wasn't entirely certain about it.

The narrative manages to merge diverse religions, from Christianity to Judaism to Gnosticism and everything in between. Dick covers all the bases. I'd be lying if I said I understood all of it, but I did catch glimpses of profound ideas throughout the story. Whether or not the characters themselves have lost touch with reality (if, indeed, reality every truly existed) I can't say. But I can say Valis is a wild ride that will really make you think. Everyone should give it a read.

http://www.amazon.com/Valis-S-F-MASTERWORKS-Philip-Dick-ebook/dp/B005LVQZ98/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389828931&sr=1-1&keywords=Valis

Cool Kickstarter Project -- Afterlife: Episode 1

Today I'd like to tell you about another Kickstarter project I've started backing. It's a graphic novel by Sander Offenberg and Hugo Kejzer called Afterlife: Episode 1. From the project homepage:

"What if you get the news no one ever wants to hear:

You are terminally ill - there is nothing we can do for you.

While trying to prepare yourself for your final goodbyes, you get an unexpected chance at surviving: 

You may move to a secret underground facility where you'll get experimental treatment that may return you to health... 

But there is a considerable downside: you will never be allowed to return to the 'real world'.

You will never see your family, your friends and lovers again.

They will think you are dead.

Afterlife is about a group of people who have made this decision.

They will have to come to terms with the loss of everything they ever knew or cared about.

They must find new purpose and they will have to learn to deal with the idea of literally being buried alive in this 'perfect place' called Novamed...

And as if that is not enough, their new world turns out to be anything but peaceful. Inhabitants must face impossible dilemmas: terrifying threats from corrupted doctors, frighteningly unstable co-inhabitants and other unexpected dangers.

As this once idealistic world begins to unravel, more and more people are looking to achieve the impossible: to find a way out."

The story is intriguing, and the art so far looks pretty slick. I encourage everyone to check out Afterlife: Episode 1.

For more information, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1946387629/afterlife-episode-1

Darkship Renegades review

This week I decided to review Darkship Renegades by Sarah A. Hoyt. The novel starts with the two main characters, husband and wife Kit and Thena, returning to the hidden asteroid colony Eden after a mission to harvest power cells from Power Trees over Earth went wrong. Kit finds himself accused of treason because he landed on Earth to seek treatment for a radiation poisoned Thena. They also find themselves targeted by Eden’s energy board which is using a shortage of power cells to seize control of the colony by setting up a power rationing system then declaring that those opposed to them are using more power than they are allotted. Kit, Thena, Doc, and Zen, a mentor to Kit, and his sister respectively are sent to Earth to find the secret to growing new Powertrees. En route they have to deal with a sabotaged vessel, and Kit developing multiple personalities due to an emergency medical technology leading to the personality of the man he was cloned from arising in him. And should they succeed they will still have to deal with the energy board.

I give the book a 7 out of 10. I wish we had seen more of the rebellion on earth which was sparked in the previous book instead of just having it mentioned a few times and seeing one operation that’s part of it. The book really could have used more action sequences and this would have been a great way to add them. 

Kindle Spotlight -- Shackleton Crater

Today we have a novella by Jody Rawley: Shackleton Crater. Without further ado, let's get into it.

Taking place in the present, the story concerns a group of astronauts given a perilous mission. You see, the Chinese are about to establish a base on the moon. This would force the international community to acknowledge the big rock as theirs. Unwilling to let China take the whole moon for themselves, the President orders our protagonists to haul prefab structures there and beat the easterners at their own game. Chosen to lead the mission is Caird, a former professor with some wild ideas. When it comes to actual space travel, he's as green as they come, and his crew of seasoned explorers don't know if they can trust him. 

Their fears are proven to be well-founded when they arrive at the moon and all hell breaks loose. An accident causes part of the crew--along with Caird--to crash in the ominous Shackleton Crater. This place is deep and dark, and things look bleak for our intrepid heroes. Fortunately, they manage to salvage enough of their ship's supplies to survive. They dig a small cave in the crater's wall and seal it up. Then they set fire to the frozen oxygen ('cause it's really cold in there), giving them both heat and air to breathe. This keeps them alive, but they still have to find a way out of the crater, reunite with the rest of the crew, and establish their own base to thwart the Chinese. The odds are against them, so do they even have the slightest hope of succeeding? A huge curve ball towards the end may just make the question moot.

I liked Shackleton Crater. The story is compelling and full of the kind of cool survival space drama (such as Apollo 13) I enjoy. I'm really not sure if all the things the characters in the story manage to do are even possible, but nor do I particularly care. Ultimately, it's a story about hope and working together to survive ridiculous odds, and I think that's something we can all get on board with.

However, there is a double-edged sword to this story. I can tell an impressive amount of research went into it. All kinds of details and technical jargon make their presence felt throughout the narrative. I always like a well-researched story. On the other hand, the multitude of astronaut and NASA lingo may turn off some readers. A healthy knowledge of these things is recommended, though not required. I was able to go along with the story regardless.

In conclusion: Shackleton Crater is a gripping, well-researched tale, and well worth it at 99 cents.

http://www.amazon.com/Shackleton-Crater-Jody-Rawley-ebook/dp/B00H1VKJZ2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388704653&sr=1-1&keywords=shackleton+crater