Carl Sagan's Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe (Archangel Project) by C. Gockel

Carl Sagan's Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe by C. Gockel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a neat short story that is, I believe, a prequel to a science fiction series. The story shows two intelligent species living near each other, largely without much knowledge that the other is intelligent (and/or questioning that they might be).

The story opens with a character named something like Hsissh sliding down a hill. Injured. Dying. Then aliens appear and start poking at Hsissh with sticks and the like. Another alien appears and protects and saves Hissah. The reader already knows, of course, that Hsissh is not human, and the 'aliens' poking at him (or saving him) are human (the story description lets readers in on what's going on, and the story itself - if that description had been skipped, pick up on things quite rapidly). This story, you see, is from the viewpoint of a several thousand year old alien. On a planet that is not earth.

Quite neat and at times touching to watch the interaction between Hsissh and one of the humans - the one who protected him, Noa.

A very well done showing of two completely different cultures/species interacting.

Rating: 3.88

August 31 2017




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Truth Behind the Mask by Lesley Davis

Truth Behind the Mask by Lesley Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I’ve forgotten why that might or might not be important.

I’m not certain how I did it, but I seem to have managed to read the only, well no, one of the few stand-alone books the author has released. All the rest appear to be in one or another series. Vaguely annoying since this one seemed quite interesting and I wish to read more.

Right so -
The Writing
- this book is written in a certain way that the/a reader has to understand before they enter. Or at least pick up on quickly. Otherwise they might . . . not take it well. For the book, you see, is written in a kind of melodramatic, over-the-top way. Which is understandable, in its way, when you add in the part wherein this is a superhero book – and, while it is true not all superhero comics/films/tv shows are told in that style, but enough of them are for it to be something of a ‘trademark’ of the genre. And, so, yes, this book follows something of that style. This is the twenty-third superhero prose book that I’ve read (as in, everything is these wiggly words without any illustrations, as opposed to the something like 245 superhero comics I’ve read – gah, I just noticed that I accidentally included some of those superhero prose books on my superhero shelf so . . . something less than 245 superhero comics/graphic novels). Superhero prose books tend to have kind of goofy/over the top plots/dialogue. This one has more of a goofy/over the top dialogue/writing style while the plot has a certain more sanity to it.

The
Characters
- We were not directly told – an astute reader can pick this up . . . well, a reviewer after the fact attempting to work the math can spot that 19 years before the start of this book, the main character’s mother and father – the Osbornes (restaurant owners . . . and Sentinels (well, one was a Sentinel, other was a Sighted) – the people who act in a superhero like way in the city) were killed by the Phoenix gang. Two daughters were nearby (one being the main character). One was close to 18 (Melina), the other closer to . . . um, 4 (Pagen). The 18 year old had been dating a 20 year old named Rogue at the time of the assassination, had been for two years. Their relationship was pushed when the attack occurred – for Rogue moved in with Melina to help raise and be a guardian for Pagen.

The story opens (baring flashbacks), as noted, roughly 19 years later (though I got that from reading that Pagen was 4 at the time of the attack, and is now 23). Pagen is now working as a security specialist (or whatever title they gave her – she evaluates and installs security systems), and, secretly, a Sentinel (masked superheroes, though I do not think that specific word is ever used; the bad guys seem to like to call the Sentinels ‘freaks’, while the Sentinel’s call themselves vigilantes). Her sister Melina, 37, also works for the security company and as a Sighted (the watcher type who hangs back and watches lots of camera screens, and handles communication and stuff – easiest to just say that the Sighted operate basically like ‘Oracle’ did/does in the Batman universe, though you’d need to know that character . . .). Rogue fills the last spot in the trio – she’s 39 and, a Sentinel, Melina’s partner, Pagen’s mentor, and parent-figure.

The story mostly follows a specific path – Sentinel’s watch and guard the city of Chastilian, and there have been attacks occurring in the city by a new gang. One that leaves a mark linking it back to that Phoenix gang who had taken out the Osbornes. It couldn’t be Phoenix himself, since the reader learns early on that Phoenix was taken out of the ‘game’.

Meanwhile Pagen has bumped up against a specific woman. And before I continue down that path I forgot one specific thing – Pagen/Melina/Rogue are all something like 6’5’’ (well, maybe closer to 6 feet 3 inches). I mention that because the ‘specific woman’ that Pagen bumped into – at a job site – is Erith. Described as having very red hair, pale skin, kind of boney and malnourished looking, and about 5 feet flat (give or take 3 inches). I mention this ‘bumping into’, because both almost instantly grow attached to the other. Erith being that woman’s name. Erith Bailey (hopefully I have that last name right). Erith’s kind of like an excited puppy whenever Pagen turns up.

That paleness is important – because it is very obvious that Erith is being abused. Which becomes another plot line to follow – Pagen attempts to help her but is unsure how – beyond being outside her window at night. Sentinels ‘do not involve themselves with domestic disturbance situations, the police handle those’. Still . . . Pagen can’t let things stand as is. And, so, that plot line is followed.

Notes that got turned into babbling words:
(view spoiler)[Erith – 22 year old office worker at the car dealership that Pagen is sent to evaluate and install a security system at. Abused.

Pagen Osborne – 23 (Ronchetti Security – home and office is a light house). Security worker (installer of security equipment) and Sentinel. 4 when her parents were killed. Deaf.

Melina Osborne – Pagen’s sister, and a ‘Sighted’. 18 when her parents died and she became guardian to her sister. Age 37 at the start of this story.

Rogue – Melina’s partner and a Sentinel. 20 when the Osborne parents died. 39 at the start of this story.

City – Chastilian (hide spoiler)]

Fun, exciting book. If I went the route of digging into things, as in – what fandom does this remind me of and therefore what could this be a fanfiction of – I’d note the Batman universe connections – the Oracle part; and while Batman likes swinging around on wires and the like, and it could very well be the model being used here, it really seemed more like I was picturing a bunch of Spider-women (Spiderman) swinging through the city. Oh, and the big villain guy reminded me of the Joker. If I had to think of someone for him to remind me of.

Pushed, I’d probably rate this somewhere around 4.4.

November 29 2016




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The Flaw in Logic by S.Y. Thompson

The Flaw in Logic
by S.Y. Thompson
Pages: 279
Date: August 15 2016
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing
Series:

Review
Rating: 3.5
Read: August 29 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Sapphire Books Publishing in return for a fair review.*

I do not exactly understand the cover. Right, sorry, shouldn’t lead off with that.*

Imagine, if you will, a Conan the Barbarian type, but in a science fiction setting. Now make Conan female. That is not exactly accurate, but it is both the vibe of the book and of the book cover. (I would have gone with Xena in space, but it really did have more of a Conan vibe than Xena; maybe because there were more princesses in Conan’s stories – something). Okay, I do not know the Conan story well enough to continue this idea, so let’s move on before I embarrass myself.

There’s a criminal who has fled from the Amalgam space and landed on a ‘primitive’ planet – one where everyone but the rulers are ignorant of both the nature of the universe, and their own origins (as in: 1) there are other planets out there that have life on them, human life; 2) they are not native to the planet (though that one I’m less sure about as it comes up during the book that there are ‘stories’ and ‘legends’ about the ‘bad air’ and how lots died and stuff, so they might actually know they are not natives).

That criminal has landed on that planet with stolen materials from the Amalgam (I’m not actually 100% sure what the ‘Amalgam’ actually is, I think it is the name of the alliance of planets, though I could be wrong, I know it isn’t the name of a planet). A group of bounty hunters are sent out to track down this bad guy and recover him. Two things of note of this specific individual before moving on to the hunters – 1) the guy was a colonel in the military (and therefore, presumably, has some military know-how); 2) is related, brother, to a ‘Senator’).

The bounty hunters are lead by Commander R’cey Hawke (pronounced ‘Hawk’ like the bird; heh, no, I meant pronounced ‘R.C.’ like the cola (the R’cey part), though I kept reading it, for whatever reason, as ‘Racy’). There’s a bunch of young hot, strong, gifted, etc. etc., under Hawke’s command, but none of them matter beyond being people to grieve over – since they all die within moments of being introduced to the story. All but Hawke. So – imagine, if you will, a ship broken into tiny pieces on a ‘primitive’ world with 4 dead bodies, and one severally damaged one reclining near them. We shall leave Hawke here for now.

The other main point of view/impetus to the story is a young woman named Princess Thalia Dumont (I’m reminded of people whose parents name them things like ‘Major’, or ‘Sergeant’, then things get confusing if they actually go into the military, and end up having conversations like ‘Private Major! Clean your shoes!’ – wait, Princess isn’t a name but a title. I’m being vaguely weird in this review. No idea why).

Let’s start that part again.

The other main point of view is a young woman named Thalia Dumont, a princess of a specific kingdom on the planet (there are several, presumably). We first meet Thalia as she sneaks out of her room/castle and visits with an assassin, for she plans to assassinate her father, King Lotar. Great way to meet someone, eh? Heh. Well, apparently Lotar is this super evil guy who is acting like a tyrant, destroying the people under heavy taxes, death and imprisonment.

One thing leads to another and this assassin, instead of killing the king, puts him into a deep deadly coma. Now Princess Thalia must rush out on a quest to find someone to help save the king (who, now it turns out, had actually been operating under the influence of someone else, and hadn’t actually been naturally evil. Just forced evil). I’m being indirect here as I wished to set some things up before I got to the fantasy part of the science fantasy tag. For the ‘evil’ influence is a literal evil spell/curse placed upon the king. And the quest for ‘someone to help’ is for a ‘powerful sorcerer who can try to help lift the curse’. For, you see, the people of this planet can do that. Magic. And stuff.

So, Thalia heads off on her quest with four soldiers and told that if she went a specific direction she might run into someone who could help. In a ‘if you don’t do this and get their help, your task will be a failure’ kind of ‘go that direction’ type of helpful hint.

And so they do – Thalia and her four companions. Head in a specific direction. Where-upon they find . . . demons. Well, recall if you will that most of the people on the planet are unaware of the true nature of the universe and the part wherein there are other humans out there on other planets. Doesn’t help that R’cey is wearing a power suit that morphs and hides her appearance.

One thing leads to another and Thalia’s quest party expands by one, with the addition of R’cey. And then the really long trek continues and unfolds.

The book is only 279 pages but it feels longer. Stuff happens. Then more stuff. Then when I think everything is ready to be wrapped up even more stuff happens. I know why the ending had to be the way it was – because of the nature of the situation the author put everyone into (‘primitive’ planet, only leaders know truth, hard for an off-worlder and a princess to have a relationship under these circumstances; roadblocks to a happy situation put in place; something needed to be done to ‘remove’ these roadblocks without completely undermining the whole point of having this be a ‘primitive’ planet’ with a ‘high-tech bounty hunter’ running around on it; in that sense the ending worked; in another I kind of felt like I was in the ending of fantasy films like Lord of the Rings, which had, like, an hour of extra filming that were just ‘climaxes’ over and over again – but not really).

I feel like making some reference to another book I read this year with ‘magic’ in a science fiction setting that involved lesbians and power suits, and a quest and stuff (well, running around in swampy/jungle-y areas), but can’t think of a way to make that comment. So I won’t. I’m referring here to Paladins of the Storm

Right, okay then. Interesting enough book. A little long feeling. A book I’d say would be something around a 3.48 to 3.63 star book. Not sure I’d specifically wish to read another book in this specific story universe, but I’ll definitely read another book by this author. I’m even currently eyeing one.

* - I'm probably just over thinking things and/or not noticing the correct things.

August 30 2016

Enchanted Soles, edited by Sasha L. Miller

Enchanted Soles
by Sasha L. Miller (Editor), A.D. Truax (Contributor), Archer Kay Leah (Contributor), Katey Hawthorne(Contributor), A.M. Valenza (Contributor), Corinna Finley (Contributor)
Pages: 304
Date: July 6 2016
Publisher: Less Than Three Ress
Series: N/A

Review
Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0
Read: June 3 to July 10 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Less Than Three Press in exchange for an honest review.

A collection of five short stories connected to the concept of 'enchanted soles', or magical shoes.

Three Nights by A.D. Truax
'Three Nights' magical shoes involve sandals. Specifically new sandals acquired by a man named Synder to replace his old fallen apart sandals.

There's a vague underlying current of humor in this story. Though maybe that's just me. I mean, i found this here to be vaguely tinged with humor:

"Synder, what's happened?" called his mother, who always seemed to know when he'd broken or ruined something. Perhaps a talent that came with her gift of spellweaving, or a natural intuition about her son.

And then other bits here and there were quite humorous. I might have even giggled once or twice (like a mother telling her son that he works to hard - well that scene, not specifically that comment; I just can't be more elaborate without spoiler-y stuff).

The village area was nicely described. There's apparently some Indian (as in Indian subcontinent) connection to this story, judging by the inclusion of Indian words (and names - specifically the words appear to have a connection to Hindi). Which my Kindle, oddly, had no trouble translating (well, the first two or nine, the rest refused to be translated; I still don't know why a woman was described as wearing bile, since the word before it was untranslatable (well, it said choli meant bile; and ghagra, the word before it, was untranslatable (hmm, okay, kindle said choli meant bile and couldn't translate ghagra, Google says that ghagra means skirt, and choli means brasserie - mistranslating brasserie as bile is odd). Though I knew what most meant before double checking.

Right so - story starts with Synder noticing that one of his shoes is broken. He kicks off the 'good' shoe and gets ready to wander into the fields that need . . . whatever he was going to do in the fields, without anything on his feet. His mother noticed and tossed money at him to buy some shoes. Synder was reluctant but left.

As would be expected in a book with the title of 'Enchanted Soles', shoes in this world can and a lot of times do have enchantments embedded into them. Mostly of the kind to help keep them lasting longer - a kind of 'anti-wear and tear' enchantment. There are still shoes without enchantments, though, which is good because that's what Synder wants. Since those with enchantments tend to just cost too much money.

But then he bumps into some shoes going for a really good price for their quality. The reason for the discount? They are enchanted. And no one knows what the enchantment might be. So . . . never worn shoes made from the materials they were made from? Synder buys them.

What will the shoes do? Cause him to take a step and his next would be ten thousand leagues away? Burst into flames? Hold up really well? Synder doesn't know before putting them on.

Hmm. I was going to leave it as a bit of a tease, what may or may not have happened. But then that means it's basically impossible to comment on the rest of the story. Like parties at mahals, and dancing, and parties, and meeting three different people, one of whom was apparently a woman wearing just a skirt and bra (or bile; though I'm fairly certain that there's a mistake in the translation somewhere; especially since my Kindle translated paan as if the word was actually pain). Or the bit of unexpected and unplanned romance that broke out.

I suppose there are a few things I can note even if I was intentionally attempting to stop with the questions. Snyder is, at the very least, not overly alarmed to find himself in the arms of another man; though that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t have minded being in the arms of a woman (as in, he might be bisexual). And the man in Snyder’s arms appears to be, at the very least, bisexual – based on the information given.

The story is/was an interesting neat little glimpse into a tale involving a magical fantasy like setting involving Indian words, clothing, and food. And, likely, people. I liked it well enough. And, to a certain extent, I probably especially like the part about the shortness of the story (not that it was that short, 23% of a 304 page book is roughly 70 pages). Specifically because of how stubborn one of the two main characters turned out to be. Full length novel involving this character would probably have frustrated me beyond endurance. Perhaps.

So, hmms, I tentatively state that I’d rate this story somewhere around . . . hmms. 4.3463 stars.

Dame Fortune by Corinna Finley
A three part poly story. Um, no, that isn't the right way to word that. A poly story that involves three people.

Saidah meets a witch named Betry. The witch gives her a gift, a coupon, to Dame Fortune's store. Saidah's shoes break and she's in need of new shoes. One thing leads to another and she finds herself inside Dame Fortune's shop, whereupon she uses the coupon for new shoes.

Magical shoes. Saidah puts the shoes on. They are comfortable. They are nice. She whispers to herself something about taking her to love and . . . . she winds up in some closed off street. She drools over the man she finds there. One thing again leads to another and Saidah and Gavriel - the man she found in that closed off street, find themselves at Betry's place. The three hatch a plan to save Gavriel, and warn the Queen that the Mayor is corrupt.

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. This story.

This is not the first poly story that I've read. Though I believe it is the first that involved all parties loving each other (the other great poly story that I read and loved involved a women and two men - the woman was forced to chose between them and couldn't; the men had been great friends before this situation developed, though not in love - romantic love, with each other). So this one involves a woman (S) in love with a woman (B) and in love with a man (C); B is in love with S and C; C is in love with S and B. Mutal love all around! Yay! heh, sorry.

A rather magical story it was. So magical it took me exactly a month to read it. But, meh. heh. I kind of got confused a month ago when I was reading the LGBT short story collection book and found a woman who had been dating a man named Ethan, and asked her shoes to take her to true love and found herself . . . next to another man. I hadn't been looking for a MF romance. So . . . I paused my reading. And finally got around to resuming just now.

Sad, I know. I should have finished both the story and this book a month ago. mmphs. Well, I've finished this story now, at least. So, what did I think? What would I rate this specific story here? This roughly 57.76 page story? (it took, about, 19% of the book's length, book is 304 pages, so 57.76 page story). Well, I'd give it a rating of 4.44.

Hopefully it will not take me three more months to finish the last three short stories in this book

Heart, Lace, and Soul by Archer Kay Leah
Despite the placement of this story in the book, I accidentally read it fourth. No idea how it came about that I ended up skipping it. Especially since I seem to have gone from the ending of one story to the beginning of another without hitting this story here.

They, whoever they are, say good things about stories that make you 'feel'. Well, this one made me feel like I wanted to beat my book reader to death and then tear it into tiny pieces. So . . . there's that. No idea really, but 'once upon a time' and 'princess' kept repeating in this story. And . . . it drove me batty. Made me rage, weirdly.

Story is about a maladjusted mental health worker (gee, how original) who uses special magical shoes to help 'read' other people. Reading them activates the microchips in the characters brain which allows them to read them even further, in that they now can read their digital files and know all about them.

She meets a guy she can't read. She's both flustered that she can't read him, and realizing that she's finding out things like little gifts of surprise that she would have learned immediately otherwise. And stuff.

I'd rate this one 2 out of 5 stars.

Aelfwear by Katey Hawthorne
I may or may not have accidentally skipped a story somewhere along the way. No matter, I'll get to it. So, read another story, and without it taking me a month to do it this time.

So this one is kind of a mix of modern technology and fantasy. Elves that make shoes. Using computers to display their wears. Etc. This specific story stars one of those elves, Frida, who works for Aelfwear - they make shoes (which I think I've already conveyed).

A man she and her sister dated (at the same time) has become engaged, and the sister is sad. The woman set to marry that man came in for some shoes. One thing leads to another and it turns out that she doesn't want to marry Morgan (the man). But is being forced into it by her parents. If she doesn't do it, she'll be disinherited. But if she can get the man to break things off, then she'll be, somewhat, off the hook. She starts on a plan with Frida to bring about this break in the engagement. Meanwhile the two become closer and flirt.

Interesting enough story. Passed the time well enough. I'd probably rate it somewhere around 3.9 to 4.15.

Into the Hollowed Veil by A.M. Valenza
Another triad romance. This one involving two of the three who actually are or are close to being asexual. If I understand terms correctly, the woman in the story is or possibly is demisexual. While the main character, the one whose point of view we follow, appears to be more asexual. Dare, the other man in the triad, appears to be open to being bisexual.

Interesting story. Wasn't sure how the last story would go and went in with an open mind. Thereupon I almost immediately thought that I'd end up giving a super low rating, maybe even 1 star. Then things grew on me. Long and short, this is a super weird story that takes a little time to get anywhere, but is quite interesting. In the end I'd rate it 4.31 stars.

Overall
An interesting collection of short stories. In the end I think everything I have shelves for in terms of LGBT got hit. Except for the coming out one and the nonfiction one. Since this is fiction, checking that one off would have bene hard to do, eh? Well, so. We had homosexuals, bisexuals, lesbians, asexuals, some version of polyamourous people (both of which ended up in triad romances - romances involving three people; technically since one involves asexuals . . . . well, let's not think too hard about word choices).

Let me see, I rated the first them: 1) 4.3463, 2) 4.44, 3) 2, 4) 4.025, 5) 4.31. For a combined average of rating of 3.82426.

July 10 2016

Paladins of the Storm Lord by Barbara Ann Wright

Paladins of the Storm Lord
by Barbara Ann Wright
Pages: 314
Date: May 17 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series:

Review
Rating: 3.30
Read: May 5 to 9 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

This is my sixth book by this author. First science fantasy. I’ve previously read a four book a fantasy series and a 1 book, stand-a-lone, historical fantasy book. I realize that this book here falls into the science fiction category, but I think of it as science fantasy. What with the mysterious powers that are not science based, and the dryad like aliens.

I mentioned in either one of my updates or in a thread that this book has a similarity, in a loose way, with David Weber’s Safehold series. I do not wish to go too far down this path, but in short Safehold is about: a colony ship arrives at a planet. Something different than planned occurs and the colonist, who had been frozen, are awoken on the planet without any knowledge of their past and thrust upon them is this ‘religion’ that both puts the ships crew as gods, and includes things like ‘technology cannot go above a certain level’ in the rules. Then hundreds of years later an android is awoken – she has the memories of her time as a human female crewmember. She’s going to go out amongst the ‘peoples’ and stuff. Not exactly the same as the story here. Not by a long shot, not really, but that series and this book reminded me of each other.

Here, this book, – a colony ship arrives at a planet – it isn’t the planet they had been aiming for, and something mysterious happened to both put them off course and to give the crewmembers ‘god-like’ abilities. The colonists, who had been frozen, are sent down to the planet. They’ve either been given, or made up themselves (though I think it was given), that the crew members were gods. Though they were allowed to retain memory of their prior existence, and knowledge that the ‘gods’ had been humans at some point. To be fair, the crew members do have god-like abilities. Petty gods, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Tech base is kept at a relatively lowish level, but not due to any religious rules (or need to hide from vicious aliens (the real reason to keep the tech base low in Safehold). No, the tech base is limited to the situation – the planet isn’t the one the colony ship was aiming for, and most of their supplies are already on the planet – that other planet. And the planet they did land on apparently is low on metals. So they know about technology, they just don’t have the means to enable a higher level of technology.

So. That’s the foundation. A colony ship was heading to a new colony world. Something mysterious happened and the ship arrived at the wrong planet. No word is mentioned as to whether or not the ship was stuck there. Or had communication issues. Or anything. Heck, there’s even mention that the colonists had hoped for rescue, so the lack of a word or two mentioning that the ship didn’t have more power, or the communication gear was fried, or something, was vaguely annoying.

Distracted myself there. Sorry. Ship arrived. Crew awake as if from sleep, but look around – they were supposed to have been on duty. They are on the bridge. Many are dead. One, named Dillon, has a raging headache. Duo, is missing an eye. Lazlo is wandering around trying to help – he isn’t the doctor, just someone called upon in an emergency. The doctor is dead. Lessan – the navigator, another person who had woken up, is horrified, jerking around, looking for live people. Marlowe and Christian are also wandering around, and speaking oddly. Lessan decides to go wake up the captain, Dillon – for unclear reasons, wants her to stop. Grabs at her, she tries to pull free, he increases his desire to keep her from leaving, and she’s electrocuted. The crew, as mentioned, has these mystery powers now. Unexpectedly. And, as seen, from the first moment the reader meets him, Dillon is a massive asshole.

So, next chapter – two hundred years later, colonists are wandering around doing stuff colonist like.

This is where I’d say something like ‘the main character is’ or ‘the main characters are’ but . . . there are none. I know that the book description specifically mentions two – Lieutenant Cordelia ‘Delia’ Ross and the Storm Lord (that being Dillon), but neither has the main point of view. Both have point of views, and are important to the story-line, but neither are the main point of view. As mentioned, there is none.

Here’s also where I’d put down the point of views, except, there’s like 20 of them (not really, but a ton of them). There’s Cordelia, Captain Carmichael, Liam Carmichael, Dillon, Lazlo, Lydia (I think that’s the prophet one’s name), Horace, Nettle, Usk (the old drushka point of view (drushka being what I’ve been calling the dryad aliens), B46 (the ‘boggins’ queen), etc (I can’t recall now if Paul Ross, Shiv, Flood, and others also have point of views or not).

So, I can’t really give a list of main characters, because there isn’t really a main character. Nor can I do a list of POV’s, as there are just so many of them. So, let me just boil things down. The colonists live near a swamp in a place called Gale (the main humans in this story, not all humans on this planet). They share the few remaining armor they have left (suits of armor), while others wear ‘leathers’. They patrol around the town, and in the nearby swamp. The ‘paladins’ are the local security/town guards. The town and paladins ‘worship’ the god known as ‘Storm Lord’ – he who helps control the weather – moving rain, clouds, etc. Which Dillon, as Storm Lord, does in fact do.

In the swamp are two intelligent or proto-intelligent species. One of which is actually broken apart into two factions – one that wishes to wipe out the humans (old drushka), and one that does not (drushka). The proto-intelligent species, boggins, is at a level wherein they can use sticks they find on the ground as spears, and have a certain low cunning – they’ve been ‘augmented’ though to a level of true intelligence (a level they might have reached on their own if they had had the opportunity and lots of time). The old drushka still have a ‘wipe out the humans’ mentality, though they haven’t done anything to advance that mentality in a good long while; at the same time they don’t like how the whole drushka has been split and wish to join everyone back up again. The boggins are running around trying to figure out what to do with this new intelligence, though they know that one of the things they wish to do is wipe out the humans and the drushka.

There is a solid story here. It’s readable, it’s interesting, and it intrigues me enough to pull me along. There’s a slight problem, though. With minor exceptions, like a few of the yangui’s (sp?) – the augmented humans, Nettles and Shiv, I kind of despise everyone.

Of the original crew: Dillon’s insane with lots of power. A real asshole. The other ‘god like’ crew members, except for Duo and Lazlo, are mostly unknown to the reader – might even be some great people in there, or more assholes, not given enough to know. Duo’s another insane one with lots of power, but doesn’t get a lot of ‘screen’ time (or pages). Lazlo’s a weak-ass coward who has spent the last 250 years lusting after Dillon and doing his bidding, which includes some seriously evil shit, despite the fact that Dillon is just friendly to Lazlo because Lazlo has this ability to heal.

Of those on the planet: Captain Carmichael is described in a way that lends one to believe she’s super competent and really good at her job. Though when she actually tries to do anything, she is shown to be kind of incompetent and lacking in abilities – no idea what that’s about. Long and short, she’s an incompetent dick with a veneer of competence and respect. Liam Carmichael, son of Captain Carmichael, is a drunk and a skirt-chaser who is largely incompetent. Lieutenant Cordelia Ross is friends with Liam, and shows a lot more competence than many others in this story. She’s also, though, a drunk and a skirt-chaser with a lot of bigotry (see: her reaction to seeing ‘Sun and Moon’ people in the town) and arrogance mixed in.

Of those who are drushka (and why is that always lower case in the book?): Nettles is competent and good at what she does. Shiv acts impulsive and immature, but she’s likable despite these handicaps. None of the drushka, though, has enough pages to get a firm handle on their characters.

Of those with point of views who I haven’t mentioned above: some I do not know why they are in the book. They have no real presence, beyond a couple scenes here and there. No, not why they are in the book, why they have point of views. Lydia, the prophet, appears to be there to . . . um . . show what a prophet is like. And have yet another person be sorry for in regards to close ones deaths.

Romance
Almost forgot this one here. There's a bit of romance going on in this book. It drives several of the characters actions so I can't say that it is not of importance. But this isn't a capital R romance. It just is a book that includes romance. drushka and humans. Gods and humans. Humans and humans. Straight, lesbian, and gay relationships. More straight than any other kind. Not counting one-night-stand type deals, there is 2 lesbian, '2' gay (I might not otherwise count Dillon and Lazlo, but Dillon has controlled Lazlo for 250 years because of Lazlo's lust for him, even if there isn't anything more than a manipulative relationship here), and 2 straight. I'm being purposely vague. Though I'm not sure why. Story opens with three relationships in place (well, once the prologue is over) - Lazlo and Dillon (gay), Paul Ross and Reach (straight), and Lydia and Freddie (lesbian). Three more 'develop' over the course of the book.

Overall
Bah. Enough of that. Let's do the overall thingie. There is a good solid story here. There are just too many people telling it. And most of them are not people I want to have anything to do with. Even so, I was planning on giving this book a rating near 3.5 to 3.8 stars – closer to 3.8. Since that is ‘close enough’ to 4 stars, I was going to mark the book as 4 stars. Since there’s no way to mark the book as being 3.5 stars. I was hovering on the edge, though and . . . . something that occurred very near the end pushed me in the opposite direction. In the end, I cannot give a rating higher than 3.3 stars – still a good solid rating. And without half stars, that gets marked down as a 3 everywhere that lacks half stars (GoodReads, Netgalley) and 3.5 everywhere that has half stars (LibraryThing, if I still posted there, Leafmarks – similarly if I still posted there), and 3.3 on my blog.

May 9 2016

Beneath the Waves by Ali Vali

Beneath the Waves
by Ali Vali
Pages: 264
Date: May 17 2016
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.67 out of 5.0
Read: May 2 to 3 2016

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

My first book by this author, and second work (previously read a short story).

I admit that I was first drawn to this book because of the cover. There are ruins under the sea, and divers swimming around. I love exploration and discovery stories, though I seem to rarely read them. This one looked interesting. Then I read the book description and realized that the book wasn’t exactly what I’d expect. Don’t worry, once I started reading, the book turned out to be even more different than expected.

Point of Views
There are four points of views:
(1) Vivien Palmer, (2) Kai Merlin, (3) Galen & Hadley Merlin, and (4) Steve Hawksworth.

Characters
Kai Merlin is the daughter of Galen Merlin & Hadley Marcus East Merlin and designated heir to her mother’s . . . um . . . queendom under the sea. You know, Atlantis. The book opens with her newly graduated from the academy and on assignment (which is confusing because there’s also a longish history of her wandering specific spots ‘up above the waves’ doing good things, like Peace Corps, and finding water). Her assignment, chosen by her herself, takes her to the Gulf of Mexico.
Of importance: Isla Hessen and Talin Sander (members of her team), Ivan and Ram (sharks), Galen Merlin & Hadley Marus East Merlin (mother and mother), Sibyl Merlin (grandmother), Brook & Mari (grandmothers)

Vivien Palmer is the daughter of Winston and Cornelia Palmer and designated as heir to the control of Palmer oil (I forget now the name of their company). The parents exert a lot of pressure on Vivien to do their bidding, and to marry a man (specifically Steve Hawksworth). Vivien would prefer to spend her time exploring beneath the waves. Which she does every chance she gets. Before the start of this book, Vivien worked as the supervising engineer (or whatever her title was) on Triton, an oil platform nearly completion and ‘turn on’.
Of importance: Frankie Palmer (brother), Winston Palmer (father), Cornelia Palmer (mother),

Galen & Hadley Merlin: Galen is queen, Hadley is her consort. Kai is their sole child.
Of importance: Sibyl Merlin (Galen’s mother), Kai, Clarice (Galen’s sister), Brook & Mari (Hadley’s mothers)

Steve Hawksworth is a senior vice president in the Palmer oil company, and designated husband to Vivien Palmer. At least Winston Palmer has designated him as such.
Of importance: Tanice Themis (his assistant), Jonathan Hawksworth

Franklin ‘Frankie’ Winston Palmer V is Vivien’s brother, and skilled with contracts. He is wheel-chair bound.
Of importance: Vivien, parents.

Winston Palmer head of Palmer Oil, father of Vivien and Frankie Palmer. Husband of Cornelia Palmer. A hard charging oil man who has strong opinions and doesn’t like people going against his wishes (which includes ignoring the fact that his daughter is a lesbian, and that she’d prefer to do something else with her life than work for Palmer Oil).
Of importance: Palmer people.

Cornelia Palmer is Winston’s wife and has backed him for the last few years, but by the time of this book, has ‘awoken’ to the idea that she might have pushed her kids away.
Of importance: Palmers

Plot
The book follows several points of view to convey the story. Boiled down – a new oil platform is nearing completion – it’s an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico that Vivien has worked hard on. Both to get it approved, to meet regulators stringent oversight (with BP’s Deepwater horizon oil spill in the background), and her own desire to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

As the book opens, though, Vivien is being forced back to the fold, to the corner office of Palmer Oil. Where she, and presumably Frankie, will be groomed to take over the company. Also, her parents keep thrusting a man named Steve Hawksworth at her with the intention that she would marry him. Despite the fact that Vivien is a lesbian and her parents know this fact. And, to add to the pressures, someone has been put in Vivien’s place on the Triton oil platform – Kai Merlin.

So Vivien proceeds through the book with this pressure on her, while at the same time trying to keep up her explorations of the underwater areas of earth. Plus, a close up examination of this ‘Kai’ person who has been thrust into her old role. She, Vivien, is suspicious by nature, and this certainly is suspicious.

Meanwhile Kai has arrived with the assignment in the Gulf Coast area to try to, as much as possible, help enhance the environmental safe guards.

Galen and Hadley, since they also have a POV, are tasked with the mission of watching things unfold while working as leaders of their people, and having vaguely inappropriate public sex.

Steve, also a POV, is on a quest to take over Palmer Oil by any means necessary. Plan A involves marrying Vivien and pushing her to the side to take the reins of Palmer.

I’m purposely leaving out a lot. Mostly because this is a review not a plot summary. Just a few things left to note regarding the plot - there are some the fantasy-like elements in the story, – the magical shells that connect Franklin to Vivien, and both to Kai; the ‘magical’ abilities of Kai with underwater thingies, like sharks. And there are science fiction elements – the advanced technology of Kai's people, and the part where they aren’t actually humans but aliens. (this spoiler is one that is probably one that gets mentioned immediately, but I forget now if it is the case, so spoiler tag used).

Overall
I've found, from my extensive reading of Vali, I joke with myself, that I find that there is something of a fog/haze between me and the characters. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but I noticed it in both works I've read by Vali. A certain distance between me, the reader, and them, the characters. There's a good chance that that is a reason I had less luck with the short story I read by her than with this book. Because I did like this book more than the short story. Then again, the book and the short story were/are in different genres. That might have played a part as well.

There is an interesting and good story here. It wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, but it still was good. And there were scenes, traces, of what I had hoped for in this book - the exploration/discovery that was hinted at with the picture of ruins underwater and divers. No, this was mostly a different story than exploring for ruins.

For those who care about such things - there is graphic depictions of sexual encounters in this book, more than one, and involving more than one couple.

I enjoyed the book and would read another in this 'universe' if a sequel would appear. One lasting thought, though - part of my disconnect between expectations and the reality of the book is in how the book is described. Things are hinted at, but not well enough to indicate that that this is, while also being a lesbian romance, it is also a work of science fiction (though I know of at least one author who felt the need to write a blog post pointing out that their book wasn't science fiction but a romance (despite the fact that it was, you know, science fiction) because of readers), and, to a certain extent, a fantasy (in the "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."(Arthur C. Clarke) way - there is at least three or four elements that are more in the realm of fantasy than science fiction, but could be conceivably be placed in the realm of science fiction with adequate explanations - which weren't given for those specific elements). Also, considering how well books that involve Atlantis sell, it's vaguely confusing that that specific aspect isn't mentioned in the book description.

It's not the book itself, but the book description. I mean, much of the stuff 'hidden' from the reader before they open the book, is basically revealed immediately upon opening the book. There are a few twists and turns, that I have not included in my review, but the fact that the book involves two people from different cultures, one of whom is from a culture that lives 'beneath the sea' of an advanced technological base is learned immediately by the reader.

It's true that there is a note in the book description that would indicate that there is something 'different' about Merlin's people. But I had read it more like those people from the Mummy movie who had spent eons as guardians of sacred stuff. Which is an incorrect read of the facts found within the book. Found immediately, I mean.

Right, so, overall I rather enjoyed the book and would not hesitate to rate it somewhere north of 4 stars, and likely somewhere around 4.67.

May 3 2016

Everafter by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam

Everafter
by Nell Stark & Trinity Tam
Pages: 230
Date: October 1 2009
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Everafter (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 14 to 15 2016
My first book with this duo, and 3rd book overall with Stark at the controls (and zeroth with Tam as a solo author).

Hmm. I came here to write about something that I was going to take a certain issue with. But I can’t now. As the issue involved pre-knowledge I thought gleaned from the book description. I guess I got the information from the reviews? No matter – the point I was going to make is that I learned a certain something before beginning the book and this ‘certain something’ distracted me for a certain length of the book. I knew going in several things. (1) the book was split in half, with one main character taking half, and the other taking over the second half of the book; and – don’t read this one unless you’ve read the book (at least from personal experience having this information prior to reading was a distraction) - (2) the one who isn’t a vampire turns into a werepanther. I spent a little too much time in the beginning parts of the book drumming my fingers, waiting for this to occur – that, as I’ve indicated, distracted me from what was going on.

Okay then – this book goes a certain direction I’ve seen several times, though it is, in its way, a less populated path. This is more science fantasy than out and out fantasy; and, to a certain extent, if the creatures involved didn’t reside so deeply in horror or fantasy, I’d probably just call this science fiction. Because, while fantasy creatures are involved, there is a very science-fiction-y explanation for the critters.

I’ve forgotten now what exactly was said, but one is a virus (shifters), while the other is a . . . bacteria? I’ve forgotten now. Ah yes, bacteria (vampires). The explanation for what’s occurring with shifters isn’t as detailed, I absorbed the information that a virus was involved; while the explanation for vampires was quite medical jargon-y. See, there’s this bacteria that invades the body – it attacks a person’s red blood cells, goes inside of them, and explodes them – feeding off the blood. If the infected person gets blood from others, then they can continue to live – potentially forever, though they’ll become more and more similar in nature to the pop culture version of vampires (well, the kind that gets annoyed at the sun, because of the exploding and stuff); while if they ‘feed’ off of a ‘true love’ (not sure ‘true’ was actually there) then they’ll ‘keep their soul’ (see, this whole ‘soul’, ‘true love’, etc. is all magically bullshit, so, fantasy, so not science fiction) – therefore they can continue going outside in sunlight – though the impact of the sun’s rays is still stronger on them than on ‘regular’ humans. (note: I didn’t really think about it until I wrote this paragraph, but, technically, they could be getting this ‘outside blood’ through transfusions of one kind or another – but that’s never even mentioned – probably because of the discussion that occurred when a glass of blood was offered – it would sustain, but isn’t as ‘good’ as getting it directly from the source (more magic-y bullshit).

All of this to say (not really, but it was one of the points): no, this isn’t science fiction, and so a person is left with ‘horror’, ‘fantasy’, ‘science fantasy’ (and then which subgenre it falls into below that). There is a horror element – something of a ‘boogy-man’ ‘rogue’ vampire is going viciously attacking people and turning them into vampires; both of the lead characters have horrifying nightmares, etc. This has some of the elements of horror, but I would not necessarily put it in horror. There are ‘paranormal creatures’ so fantasy, right? But then there’s all that medical jargon, and explanations and . . . stuff . . .. Let’s just go with Science Fantasy and move on, eh?

So, picture this – it’s a Tuesday, there’s this young woman with a very special night planned. The apartment is decorated just so. Preparations for a lovely meal are in the works. A very special ring has been secured. And the love of that young woman’s life will show up in about 15 to 30 minutes. But! Champagne! Valentine ‘Val’ Darrow hurries out to acquire some. She’s distracted by happy thoughts. She vaguely spots a creepy looking dude smoking nearby as she’s heading into a liquor store. She dumps a pile of coins and paper onto the store counter and informs them that she wishes the best champagne that pile of money will secure her. She exits. Still distracted. Walks down the street. All aglow with what the night will bring. Thoughts of this and that and . . . are those footsteps behind her? Are they getting closer? Val moves quicker. The footsteps behind her move quicker. She spots a well lighted area ahead of her – that’s her goal. Running now. Almost there. Pushed into an alley and savagely beaten, knifed, then loaded into a car and driven to Canal Street and dumped (by the way, this takes place in New York; did I not mention that yet?). And so the book begins – seemingly starting with two becoming one, but diverted by a creature out of horror.

The book then proceeds to follow Val as she attempts to figure out what happened to her, and what this means to her. She learns a few things, dodges a few things, and spends an inordinate amount of time hunting her killer. See, there’s this mystery angle going on in this book as well. Meanwhile her girlfriend/lover/almost fiancée follows along for the ride.

Until roughly the mid-point when the story shifts and it’s now Alexa Newland in control of things (or, in other words, things shift to her point of view). It’s difficult to go much into her territory as it’d probably all be spoiler-y. I’ll just leave it as I liked Alexa’s point of view more than Val’s, though I also needed Val’s because if I had just had Alexa’s – Val’s whimpery/depressing/etc. attitude was easier to take, somewhat, with the further knowledge gleaned from being in Val’s head.

Long and short of it – good enjoyable book. I’ve seen at least one review indicating that the next book is even better than this one, and I was interested in reading that one any way; but I think it might be a little while before I tackle it. So – I recommend this book. Especially to those who like fantasy, and science basis’s for fantasy creatures (like might be found in Mira Grants Parasitology series).

March 17 2016

Destiny Abounds by Annathesa Nikola Darksbane & Shei Darksbane

Destiny Abounds
by Annathesa Nikola Darksbane & Shei Darksbane
Pages: 342
Date: September 10 2015
Publisher: Darksbane Books
Series: Starlight Saga (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.45 out of 5.0
Read: February 17 to 18 2016

To start with – if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had already read, and enjoyed, every other book written by this pair of authors (not including a short story, which I haven’t read yet), I probably wouldn’t have given this book here a third chance. Yes, third. First doesn’t really count – it was just a causal like look over the book after completing the second book by this pair. Second one though – that one counts, it does. Since I started, and then fled the book. I just . . .. Well, that was longish ago. Third time was this time so I’ll just relay that one.

To a large extent, it probably would have been better if the book had started with any other character instead of the captains. I hadn’t actually realized it until stumbling through it and getting to other points of view, but the first, the captain’s point of view is that way on purpose. It’s off putting and annoying as hell though. Part of the reason why I didn’t immediately ‘get it’ is all the ‘errors’. Like the repeated use of words and phrases in, the supposedly, ‘non-point of view’ section. As in times when the phrase ‘it was’ was repeated. ‘The dog it was it was very large.’ (not an exact quote) or times when the word ‘the’ was oddly used. Mostly, though, it was the very unnaturally disjointed flow of the captains sections. I literally had to read the first page about 12 times just to figure out what the bloody hell was being said. It wasn’t that it involved difficult words, or the like, it was just so bloody weirdly worded. Took me getting to other points of view and seeing how smoothly, for the most part, those sections were, then getting back to the captains and again encountering the rough disjointedness of the captains to finally realize that her sections were that way on purpose. Once I realized that, everything began to become easier to read.

Right, so. I probably would have noticed, hmm . . I’m fairly certain I would have noticed . . . the similarities between this book and ‘Firefly’ (the 2002 show that was on Fox briefly). Well, at least vaguely. For the most part, only one of the characters has something of a 1 for 1 match. All the rest are vague. To a large extent, from the little given on the TV show, and in this book, Inara Serra (the ‘companion’ on the show), and Kalah Sirrah appear to be roughly similar characters. The rest, as noted, are mostly pushing puzzle pieces around, and pounded some pieces where they probably don’t really go.

Also on the ship, Branwen Hawke, Captain of Destiny Abounds, has some rough similarities with Captain Mal Reynolds of Firefly. Well, both had military backgrounds that both were trying to put behind them. Both captains of a starship. And . . . that’s basically it in similarities. Not really similar, eh? Oh, and both using ships uncommon – though the Firefly was a cargo ship much outdated to the time Captain Mal flew it, while the Destiny Abounds being a rather technologically advanced spaceship.

Prisoner 286 has some vague similarities to a combination of two Firefly characters - Jayne Cobb/River Tam character. 286 has some super advanced fighting skills that seem kind of magical, somewhat like River, has some vaguely anti-social tendencies somewhat like River (though more how, at times, River might suddenly go from looking like she’s sleeping to running around ripping things apart); but also has the ‘doesn’t give a shit’ vibe that Cobb has, is as talkative as Cobb is, and is something of a bully like Cobb.

I was thinking Zimi must match up with Dr. Simon Tam, from Firefly, but then I thought more about it and thought that I might just be going for ‘medic on Destiny Abounds’ and ‘doctor on Firefly’ as basis. Like several others, Zimi appears to be a combined character. Fitting some of Shepherd Books gibberish and . . . gibberish into her character, combined with the medical part from Dr. Simon Tam (though Simon was a top medical professional, while Zimi is more self-taught –still, Zimi is much more skilled than you’d expect for someone basically self-taught), and the fighting skills of Simon (somewhat ineffectual (at least during one fight), desiring to do the right thing but might accidentally shoot one of the crew while trying to shoot an invader; so unlike Shepherd Book, who gave off the vibe of a pacifist type, but actually had been a skilled intelligence officer at some point).

The pilot of Destiny Abounds, Merlo, has an obvious match-up with the pilot on Firefly, Wash. Merlo, though, seems a lot more military than Wash (though both had/have military training). I’d been thinking that Merlo might be some combo of Zoe Washburne and Wash Washburne, though only because Merlo seems to want to find the military option in every situation, while Zoe was always ready for the military option, though not necessarily leading with it. Truth be told, other than having military training and being super good at piloting, there really isn’t that good of a match between Merlo and Wash (or Zoe). I mean, Wash liters stuff like dinosaurs figurines all over the place, while Merlo has no use for debris. They are barely similar. Just job title.

Also, somewhat obviously, the engineers on both ships vaguely match up. Vaguely. Kaylee is kind of socially awkward while being a brilliant engineer, like Mr. Leonard. But Mr. Leonard seemed scared of his own shadow, while Kaylee seemed to be more of the socially awkward, rather roll around in grease fixing things than bouncing around a party type.

And, right. Quite frankly, there’s a big chance I’d not have tried to ‘smush’ the two things together. This book and Firefly, if I hadn’t seen it in reviews. Hell, I could probably attempt to ‘mush’ any old show with the book. Like, say, Stargate. Branwen is kind of like Jack O’Neill – military veteran, kind of sits back watching the others do their thing, but ready to step in at a moment’s notice to take command. And, um, Merlo . . . um . . is kind of like the early brash Major Carter before she got seasoned. And . . . um . . . Mr. Leonard is like Sgt. Harriman, there to keep things running, but is on the side, watching – Mr. Leonard because he’s really really shy and fragile like, and Gary Jones because he’s a bit player with a few lines of dialogue (though in 112 episodes) …. Yeah, okay, I can’t match up Stargate with this book. Hehe.

Well, got distracted there with my little Firefly diversion. There are at least 5 points of view shared in this book. The main ones are Branwen Hawke, Merlo, Kala Sirrah Nazai, and Prisoner 286. The fifth involves a few times that Mr. Leonard gets to pop his head up glance around, meerkat-like. Hmms. There’s only one other passenger/crew member – Zimi Praff. I can’t recall if Zimi has any time taking over things.

The plot, to a large extent, seems designed to show how each crew member ended up aboard the Destiny Abounds starship, including how the ship itself got its name (it opens the book nameless). At first the ship consisted of Branwen as captain and Mr. Leonard as engineer. However they ended up on or with the ship is not mentioned.

Branwen Hawke is the captain but doesn’t really know much about technology. Apparently really old, but she dodges the age question as well as she can. Everyone else, unless I’m forgetting something, get described as being ‘young’ – many seeming to be described as being around 17 years of age or thereabouts (not sure why the book ended up being overrun with kids, but . . . whatever; though these are mostly observations made by other people gazing upon the characters, not internal thoughts or overt conversation – the young age, I mean). Mr. Leonard, as mentioned, is the engineer. He gives off a vaguely ‘I’m actually a robot pretending to be a human’ vibe, but the hints that are dropped probably leads me in a different direction. There is a super advanced civilization mentioned in the book on a planet. No one lives in this civilization except for children and either an A.I. or with A.I.’s. The artificial intelligent critters guide and protect the children. There is a relatively high likelihood, as expressed in the book, that the children are children because they had been regressed – had been adults but they themselves did something to themselves to move them back to the age of children – because of how fun it is to be a child with no responsibility, etc.. Well, the hints that are dropped seemed to indicate that Mr. Leonard might be somehow connected to that civilization. I might be reading into things, though so . . .. Either a kid who wanted to ‘play’ and explore – and therefore allowed himself to grow to adult size, or an A.I. from this civilization.

Very quickly the ship adds a pilot – Merlo. Quickly as in almost immediately after the book opens. Merlo is a young woman who has spent most of her live being trained to be a pilot and is therefore super advanced in piloting. She has also been trained in military matters. Most other training, unless related to piloting, has either not occurred, or been of lesser importance. Mostly not occurred.

The three member crew bump around the ‘clusters’ carrying things here and there until they reach a specific planet. On this planet they need to deliver some medicine. While delivering the medicine they are attacked. Injuries occur, etc. etc. (I don’t want to give everything away here), and they end up being worked on by a medic. Named Zimi Praff. Shortly thereafter Zimi joins the crew.

Meanwhile, as the ship has bounced around, Prisoner 286 and Sirrah have been having their own story unfold (as in, they are traveling down the same story path, while the ship crew is on a separate path). Eventually 286 & Sirrah’s paths cross that of Destiny Abounds and they board as passengers. Because Destiny Abounds is super quick.

And so, once everyone is on board the ship darts around speedily doing the business required by Kala Sirrah. Much time in space occurs. Some on planet. Battles occur, some relatively massive. All planet side (a comment is made by Merlo while gazing upon, the as yet named Destiny Abounds, about how it looked like (a) a super advanced ship, (b) that had no obvious weapons; since that comment was made by Merlo who had no clue about that ship, or its capabilities, the question about whether or not the ship actually had weapons or not is still up in the air – weirdly).

Enjoyable book. Sucked me in, spit me out, and now I write this, whatever this is, here. Just like the other series I’ve read by this author pair, books and short stories are already named and mentioned to be releasing soon. Soon was last year. Something occurred which adversely impacted their writing plans, so I’ve no idea if this first book in a series will actually end up being an orphan book. Three books and two short stories all got released in 2015 – normally I’d not make comments like I made except for the fact that they had made this website that seemed to be tracking their work and putting up blog posts. Everything kind of froze, though, with no new information, and the progress bar on the writing locked at a certain number (19%?) for something like six or so months.

Regardless, I look forward to further adventures in this series and in the Dakota Shepherd series.

February 18 2016

Wonder City Stories by Jude McLaughlin

Wonder City Stories
by Jude McLaughlin
Pages: 299
Published Date: November 29 2015
Publisher: Self
Series: Wonder City Stories

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Read: January 24 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review.*

My first book by this author.

This is one of those books that I randomly ran across, wasn’t sure exactly what it was about, but it looked interesting enough, so I tried it. I mention that because by the 1/3rd mark, or maybe half way mark, I still wasn’t sure what exactly I was reading. A slice of life/coming of age/ending years/mixture of this and that. What I did find, though, that it wasn’t a Romance (capital R romance), though there are/were romances that occurred within the pages.

Characters
Before I dive into the many and varied cast of characters, I’d like to point out two things: (1) this book is a ensemble type of story, a cast of various characters, with no one character being the main (though one has a greater impact on the plot than others); (2) take a look at the cover, you see four people on it – there are, in fact, four point of views in this book (Megan Amazon, Nereid, Suzanne, Ira). Though those four points of view are not the only important people, or even the most important people in the book; they just happen to be the ‘point of view’ that some of the story leaks through.

The character that acts something like a domino effect, or her appearance in the city acts like . . . I’ve lost this already. Heh.

Megan Amazon is the first point of view encountered in the book, and the one that leads to much else that occurs. She’s just short of 8 feet tall, by about ½ inch, though she’s referred to at various times as being a 9 footer. The book opens with her just arriving in Wonder City with her huge backpack and her vague plans to get away from her ex, and intermix with other paras. Her first move, upon arrival, is to go up to one of the two tallest buildings in the city and leap off.

Well her story ended quickly, then there’s . . . heh, no, this be a Superhero Prose novel. Her leap off the building was neither a suicide attempt, nor take off for someone who can fly. Because she can’t fly. She’s something of a plummeter, though (at the top the people up there are asked if they are jumpers or flyers; she says she’s a jumper, later says she is more of a plummeter).

While falling she spots a woman nonchalantly walking right in Megan’s arrival zone. Megan starts screaming. Eventually, Megan impacts the ground. First she’s happy to determine that there does not appear to be anyone under her (though she’s not sure how that occurred). Second she’s happy that she isn’t injured. In certain pain, but not injured. That woman? That would be Nereid.

Before moving on – Megan Amazon is the daughter of ‘The Amazon’ (yes that comes up a lot in the book), is roughly 8 feet tall, is invulnerable (not indestructible; she kind of gets injured a lot), is something of a player and is pansexual (at one point she noted that she liked men, women, AI’s, cyborgs, aliens . . . ). Has an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Her age, if given it flew over my head, is not stated. I’d say that she’s roughly 23 to 26 years of age. Is, because that also plays a minor part in the story, biracial (though she doesn’t know who her father is, so doesn’t know what mix she is).

I’d do a ‘through Megan we meet’ type of paragraph, but she kind of meets everyone so it’s kind of a difficult paragraph.

Nereid is a young woman who is both attending college and is a member of a superhero team. She’s somewhere between 19 and 23, I assume. Like Megan, Nereid is also ‘Spandex Spawn’. That’s a term that comes up in the book for someone who is the off-spring of superheroes. Unlike Megan, Nereid followed her parents into the ‘Spandex set’. She’s a member of the Young Cosmics. A group that appears to be known in the superhero community, rightly or not, as a ‘Queer’ group (oh, and the group that is filled with spandex spawn). They are also a bunch of assholes, dicks, and bullies, with some exceptions including Nereid, so don’t take that ‘Queer’ thing as something like a badge of honor.

Nereid has the ability to teleport, but only if she believes her life is in danger. She kind of gets soaking wet when that occurs, when she teleports. Also she appears to have some ability to control water. Her sexual orientation, and yes it matters to the story, is somewhat up in the air. Apparently bisexual, though she has, up to this point (beginning of book), not exactly accepted the fact that she might actually like women. Nereid is also one of the four points of view.

Through Nereid the reader meets the other members of Young Cosmics, specifically and importantly the cyborg Citizen Pain (I think that’s his name), and Brainchild (Sophie).

Suzanne is the daughter-in-law of Ira, and the wife of Ira’s son Josh. Seemingly moments after Suzanne mentioned to Josh that she wanted a divorce, he slips into a coma. She’s been trapped next to his side for the last ten hellish years. She’s roughly . . . 35 to 45.

Ira is an older fella of roughly 70 to 80 years of age. He is a retired superhero who works at a local Y (I’ve forgotten what the letter are, YMPA? YPA? Basically a YMCA for paranormals). He pins for his missing wife, Tin Lizzie, though no one knows who that might be. Apparently there was this time loop type of situation that messed with things. Now he has two ex-wives and his love of his life, Tin Lizzie, no longer exists. Meanwhile his son is trapped in a coma. Oh, and he is somewhat blind, and because he has a certain invulnerability, his cataracts can’t be treated. Life is swell, eh?

Point of view characters are not the only ones who are important in this story. Many others appear, some more important than some of the point of view characters.

Simon Canis is the son of Professor Canis, superhero scientist type, and works in a coffee shop. Simon, his mother, and his siblings are something like werewolves, though that word is never used. More like shifters who can shift into wolf/puppy/dog like creatures on all fours. So Simon is also of the spandex spawn set. Though scoffs at the idea of . . . um . . . pulling on spandex himself? Something like that.

His friend, from before the start of the book, is Nereid. Once the action in the book gets going, he develops a new friendship with Megan Amazon. And later meets a much older lady whose name is something like Suzanne.

I do not know his age range. One thing is important in the story, to the overall plot, though I’m not sure how to note it. I’m not sure if it’s something that would be spoiler-y or not. Hmms. Simon, as Megan puts it, is queer. He is also a man who appears to like women. Though there’s at least one scene where he flirts with men. Also, some people, well at least one, have trouble using the he pronoun when referring to him.

Plot
Right. I almost did this in the character section then stopped myself. Okay then – Everything seems to occur because Megan Amazon happened to arrive in the city. Everything appears to be oddly interlinked. This book is like a fictional blueprint for the importance of networking.

Megan arrives in the city, goes up to the top of a high building, leaps off, lands almost on Nereid. Nereid, feeling guilty for being there, begs Megan to allow her to buy her coffee. Megan somewhat reluctantly agrees. At the coffee shop she meets another character of importance, one Simon Canis (I think that’s his last name). Simon and Megan will become friends/date. Simon is already friends with Nereid. Through Nereid, Megan gets directions to the Y. Immediately upon arrival at the Y she meets an older fella named Ira. Ira, when it comes up, directs Megan to a specific diner owned and operated by Flo and Ebbe (parents of Nereid, though that isn’t known to Megan at the time). When it comes up, Flo directs Megan towards her first job. Through that job she meets Tzemit(sp?) who she then introduces to Simon’s mother for a potential lab job. When things get mafia-like, Megan looks for another job. And another place to live. Simon directs Megan to a specific place to live (this actually occurred sometime before the new job issue came up). Through living there Megan meets the foreman of a construction company, Jack Hammer (where-upon she meets the CEO, Ultimate, who just happens to be the surrogate parent (that might not be the correct phrase) to Brainchild, who is on the same young heroes team Nereid is on (the link on the two is important). Um. My brain kind of froze over. Suzanne gets linked in through Simon (and Ira, what with being Ira’s daughter-in-law).

So, right. There is a lot of interlinking going on here. And I haven’t even linked in G and some others yet. Just know that there are others linked in.

So, the plot is basically: in an effort to get away from a really bad situation involving an abusive stalker ex, Megan heads to Wonder City. There are several reasons why she went there specifically. One, the one she tells others, involves how her mother used to live there. The one she tells still others, and kind of means more, is that it is something like therapy, to surround herself with other paras – who she kind of fears and distrusts.

While in Wonder City, Megan bumps into several other people who she does not actually interact with as much as I kind of expected. She first bumps into Nereid. Nereid is a member of a superhero team called Young Cosmics[sp?]. Her story, with that team, and somewhat in general (romance, life, etc), flows through her point of view.

Megan also bumps into Ira. Ira is a retired superhero with a son in a coma. His story, the story of an old fella in the last years of his life, is told through his point of view.

The fourth point of view is that of Suzanne. Her story, of being trapped in a ten year hellish existence next to a man she kind of hates, though is trapped in a coma, so she can’t extract herself without burning bridges she doesn’t want to burn, is told through her point of view.

Romance
This is not a romance book, though romance occurs in it. A certain amount. Some seen, some unseen but mentioned. When I went into the book thinking this might be a romance book, I suspected the two people who meet in the beginning of the book would have a much closer connection than they did. Nereid, though, is more of a stepping stone for Megan to meet others. They appear to end up as barely acquaintances.

Let’s see, there’s . . . well, I can’t even really say anything without going into spoiler territory, so let’s just say that there are people, they may or may not hook up, and stuff.

Scenery/Location
At times I had kind of a strong impression of this city and its surroundings, especially when architect G was showing Megan around the city. Both the ugly buildings, and her favorite part of the city. Mostly, though, I didn’t exactly have a huge strong impression of everything. Heck, there are times when people are in cars going to or from places and it’d take me a moment to realize that I knew where they were going/leaving (like, several times people head to a manor, or away from a manor, took me a moment to realize that they were talking about the place Megan lived).

Overall
I rather liked this book. A lot of moving pieces which took awhile to come together, but there actually was a rather interesting interlinked underlying plot-line that was going on. I’d probably rate it somewhere around 4.5 stars out of 5.0. There is nothing inherently ‘bad’ or wrong with it that I can point to; nor do I have a feeling that there is something I can’t point to. In a way, I think the biggest negative is also one of the biggest positives – how busy it is, how many people are weaving in and out of the story. Both a positive and a negative, that.

January 25 2016

Miss Midnight Versus the Diabolical League of Perverts by Amanda Clover

Miss Midnight Versus the Diabolical League of Perverts
by Amanda Clover
Pages: 53
Date: June 1 2014
Publisher: Author
Series: Metro City Heroines

Review
Rating: 1.5 out of 5.0
Read: May 22 2015

Gah. A superhero who becomes aroused when she is attacked by a rapist, by the thought of raping him. By . . gah. ewwww. The idea of "getting even" or "crushing rapists balls" isn't, necessarily the eww/gah/ick part, it's the obvious arousal, dripping arousal of the superhero as she attacks the rapist.

So, the superhero is Miss Midnight, aka Beth Bernard. Nothing strange about those names. But her roommate is . . . Cookie Fundue? hmms.

Over the top action. Odd bursts of sex.

Villainess Love by Lexi Archer

Villainess Love by Lexi Archer
Pages: 260
Date: January 16 2015
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Read: May 21 2015

I didn't actually realize immediately, that this was an erotic superhero story. I should have, I know. What with other works by the author, the cover, the "steamy lesbian" bit in the description. Still, I didn't notice. Was coming off reading several superhero books (prose and graphic novel) and just saw this one and picked it up to read.

It's an interesting enough story. Apparently it's a "they didn't appreciate me, so I'll be a mad scientist" type story. Though this time the mad scientist is a woman. There are other "mad" female supervillains out there, I don't mean to imply that there aren't.

Harley Quinn's character morphs between being goofy, insane, mad, and playing at insane. And has a genius level intelligence. Though most of the time that part gets forgotten and she gets presented as a goofy dim bimbo. Also, a mad psychiatrist isn't the normal type of thing someone things of first when they hear "mad scientist".

Poison Ivy is a mad scientist. At times. Most of the times that aspect doesn't really come to the forefront as she acts more like a magical creature with powers over plants while wearing barely anything. But she is a scientist. And quite mad.

hmms. I could go on. Ok, strike that "this time the mad scientist is a women" and replace with . . . um . . . "mad scientist story". Right. That.

Ok then. Right from the get go the reader learns that this specific mad scientist isn't into madly creating waves of chaos and destruction. She goes out of her way to keep from killing, and from damaging . . . too much. Heck, in the first fight depicted in the book, the superhero causes more damage than the supervillain.

So, right. There's this supervillian. She's quite bored, so she robs a bank. In person. She has the technology that she could rob it electronically, or, if she really wanted to, say, roll around naked in cash, can walk in all causal like, wearing some hidden technology, push some buttons, and poof - vault of cash teleported elsewhere. Without anyone knowing she did it. So, why does so attack a bank in full supervillian costume? Enter the vault, set up teleportation, and . . . leave by the front door instead of teleporting out? Because, as I said, she's bored. Not only is she the top supervillian in the city, no superhero stands a chance against her. And the cops just have symbolic gestures of "we are trying to stop her". Because they know they can't stop her. And she's nice enough to limit the damage, and death.

Except, there's this brand new superhero in town. Who zooms in and beats the tar out of the supervillian. While also causing massive collateral damage. Granted, the supervillian was kinda distracted by how aroused she was by the superhero, but still, the beat down was mostly a combination of 1) superhero just that good; 2) supervillian is out of practice with fighting someone at or above their weight class; 3) supervillian is just so gosh darn aroused by the superhero's mere presence (and confusion of same, since they are both female and she doesn't recall being overly attracted to women before).

Going in the way I did, without realizing the erotic nature of the book, I would have to say that the overall story has some neat little twists on superhero/supervillian/random non-supers interactions. While at the same time the story was . . . well, roughly on the level of a superhero story. A campy superhero story. With graphic sex. As opposed to only skimpily clad supers and implied intimacy.

Well, in terms of "great literature", this ain't that. In terms of superhero stories, it's decent. In terms of erotic stories, it has what it needed. Checked the boxes, so to speak.

This book certainly isn't the best book I've ever read, but I would most likely gobble up at least one more book set in the same universe.

Golden Mane by S.J.B. Gilmour

Golden Mane
by S.J.B. Gilmour
Pages: 369
Date: May 25 2011
Publisher: Author

Review
Rating: 3.8 out of 5.0 stars
Read: January 28 to February 1 2014

Didn't really keep my interest for the first 7% of the book.  To the point I wandered off and tried some other things before returning.  Part of the problem probably involves the main character being only 11.  I think the last time I read a character that young was when I read Suzanne Collins Gregor the Overlander.  Just a little too young for me.

Moving past the age of the main character . . .; overall was pretty solid character and plot. Certain fight scenes were well written, certain other fight scenes, I think the author lost track of who was fighting and what was going on.

Tis a neat concept, variation on the fantasy world. This book I would truly have no problem calling Science Fantasy.  Fantasy creatures in science fiction world.  Teleporting around like in Star Trek or Stargate, though using using magic to do so.  And the various creatures, dragons, gnomes, trolls, full-blood were-creatures, etc., are actually living off on their own planets. Aliens, if you will, as opposed to deep dark hidden creatures of the night.

This is one of those where the lack of half stars actually helps the book rating. As I probably would have rated this closer to 3 and a half stars. Or, 3.8 or so.  Maybe 3.70.  High enough, anyway, to rate it 4 stars when 1/2 stars are not available. (2016 ETA: this paragraph here makes more sense over on GoodReads)