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REPOSTING JUST CUZ: Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne: This Atypical UF is full of Action and Laughs (and Deadly Raisins)

Ink & Sigil

Ink & Sigil

by Kevin Hearne
Series: Ink & Sigil, #1

eARC, 336 pg.
Del Rey, 2020

Read: August 12-14, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!


The biggest challenge to writing about this book is choosing what not to talk about, I really feel like I could go on and on and on about it. Then the pendulum swings to the point I don’t say much at all…

What’s Ink & Sigil About?

Aloysius MacBharrais is a Sigil Agent—one of five on the Earth. They’re tasked with preserving the various treaties that supernatural creatures had set up throughout the world to keep the peace and govern the activities of the various pantheons on the mortal plane. They’ve been equipped with the barest magical tools necessary to get the job done—largely by Brighid of the Tuatha Dé Dannan to make up for the work that her Druid wasn’t doing when he was hiding for centuries on end.* There’s more to it, but that’ll work for starters.

* See everything that Atticus O’Sullivan was doing before the first of the Iron Druid Chronicles.

Al has horrible luck when it comes to apprentices, they keep falling prey to accidental death. The most recent is Gordie, who died after choking on a raisin scone. Before I get into things, can I say how wonderful it is to have a magic-user—even an apprentice—die by such mundane means (and you have never, I mean ever, come across this many jokes about raisins or scones in your life)? As Al goes to Gordie’s house to clean up all traces of his magic tools, he discovers that Gordie’s been up to some pretty dark and criminal stuff right under his nose.

This book takes Al and his associates around Scotland and even to the U.S. finding out just what Gordie was into and trying to set it right.

A New Kind of UF

There are outliers, but largely, Urban Fantasy series deal in variations on a theme—I’m not complaining, I’m into most of them. But basically, you’ve got a wizard (or something like that), a vampire, and/or a werewolf doing a P.I./Private Security/Hunter thing. There are different kinds of magic users, or vampire types, or were-species, but really, that’s about it. Lately, some variations have come from using different kinds of protagonists, like whatever Nell Ingram is or…(I had another example when I started this paragraph), but you get the point.

Here our variation comes in the type of mage—he uses sigils, particular designs in particular (and strange) inks which give a temporary effect to the bearer or beholder. Also, Al’s an elderly Scot who wears a derby and has an immaculately-styled mustache. He’s about as far from the grizzled hero in a leather jacket/trenchcoat as you can get. Outside of supporting characters or Marley Jacobs from A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark, you don’t see that (outside of characters who are supernaturally old, but appear young) .

Al’s associates aren’t standard either, but I’m going to resist using 3-4 paragraphs talking about them. I’m just going to say I enjoyed them all and can’t wait to spend more time with them.

Iron Druid Tie-in

As indicated above, this takes place in the same universe as The Iron Druid Chronicles, sometime after Scourged and contains references to some of the series’ events and characters. Al himself shows up in a short story in Besieged as a minor character.

There’s a brief appearance by Atticus and Oberon, and a longer one with Brighid. Both were a lot of fun, and the Atticus one was pretty sweet. I enjoyed seeing Brighid from someone else’s point of view. The door is open for more IDC characters to show up, but it’s not necessary, which I appreciate.

You do not have to have read the IDC to get into this, and not catching all the allusions/references/cross-overs will not diminish anything for you. It’s a spin-off, but isn’t dependent on the original.

Did Hearne Regret this Choice?

Al’s a Glaswegian and most of the book takes place in and around Glasgow. Hearne made the choice to write all the dialogue (and even Al’s first-person narration) in the dialect. Most authors wouldn’t have gone this far, and I have to wonder how often Hearne questioned this choice as he wrote—talk about making things hard on yourself. I enjoyed it—and it really helped me “hear” Al and everyone.

So, what did I think about Ink & Sigil?

While the IDC contained more than it’s share of laughs (and even The Seven Kennings had amusing moments), this seemed like a better merging of jokes and story. It feels like a natural outgrowth of The Tales of Pell (but not as humor-focused as those). For sheer enjoyment value, this was fantastic.

The story was pretty strong, too. But a lot of space was devoted to introducing us to this particular corner of the world and the cast of characters. I’d like to see what Hearne does with a novel where he doesn’t have to do that.

The world is familiar, yet Hearne’s doing something new in it. The characters are just not what you’re used to seeing in the genre. The plot was great—and speaks clearly to our current situation. And I laughed a lot. There’s little to complain about here and a lot to commend. I had a blast and I think most readers will, too. I can’t wait for the sequel.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.


4 1/2 Stars

20 Books of Summer

PUB DAY REPOST: A Farewell to Arfs by Spencer Quinn: The World Breaks Every One, Except Maybe Chet

Cover to A Farewell to Arfs by Spencer QuinnA Farewell to Arfs

by Spencer Quinn

DETAILS:
Series: Chet and Bernie, #15
Publisher: Forge
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 288 pg.
Read Date: July 24-27, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s A Farewell to Arfs About?

We start off this book with Bernie and Chet finishing a case for the Sonoran Museum of Art (an institution we learned about a couple of books ago), and with things looking up—and money in Bernie’s pocket—this is a pretty happy way to start things.

But soon after that, Chet overhears a phone call that their neighbor, Mr. Parsons, is having—and the reader knows things are going bad for him. Bernie learns the next day that Mr. Parsons has been the victim of a phone scam and is wiped out. Bernie starts looking into it—and into the Parsons’ ex-con of a son. It looks like he may have turned his life around, and is helping other former inmates adjust to the outside world and to stay on the right path. But is that what’s really going on?

If Billy Parsons isn’t involved—who is? And is there any chance that Bernie can get back any of the Parsons’ money?

Charlie and Esmé

Bernie’s son, Charlie, has been a consistent pleasure in the series—particularly because of Chet’s devotion to him. But adding his best friend, Esmé, in the last couple of books has made the character much more enjoyable for me.

I really enjoy their dynamic, for those familiar with Syfy’s Resident Alien show, it’s similar to the dynamic of Sahar and Max, only Esmé has a little more patience with Charlie than Sahar does with Max.

Even better, we get to meet Esmé’s father in this book—who seems like a good guy for Bernie to talk to in general—he has no knowledge of Bernie’s past, he’s not involved with policing, investigations, or anything like that. Just a friendly guy—who happens to be smart and (coincidentally) involved in an area that Bernie needs help understanding for the case. I enjoyed their conversation and hope we get more in the future.

(still, I do like the way that Charlier got to shine a little brighter this time than he usually does)

Bernie’s Past

Whoa. I did not expect any of what we learned about Bernie’s father in this book. Frankly, I didn’t think we’d ever learn anything about him—we barely know anything about his mother (and I’m okay with that based on Chet’s descriptions). But all of a sudden, there’s a lot about Harry Little being talked about.

It works—don’t get me wrong—and now I want to know more about Harry, his relationship with Bernie, and what was going on with him in general. We don’t get that (now?), but we get a glimpse of the man that was a presence in Bernie’s life until his early death. And that’s not nothing.

Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings

So, all the stuff about Harry Little added some emotional weight to the novel. But we didn’t need any of it—I’m not objecting, don’t get me wrong—but the last thing this book needed was more going on emotionally.

There’s some drama between Bernie and Weatherly. Bernie’s found a new way to botch things up with a woman—no real surprise there. The only plus is that it is a new way—he’s not repeating mistakes he made with Leda or Suzie. Maybe there’s some growth there—but it’s not Bernie at his best.

Related to that are some real dark moments for Bernie—we’ve seen hints of things like this from him before. But I don’t think it was ever this pronounced. Bernie is not always a good guy, he’s not only a white knight—there’s a noir character in him, battling to come out. And Bernie’s control slips early on in the novel and he has to reckon with the fallout.

But that’s not all. The Parsons have been aging and declining in health for a few books now, and for them to get wiped out like this—and then whatever that may or may not say about their son? There’s just no way to read this without your heartstrings being tugged. Scratch that—they’re yanked.

I don’t want to be unclear here (he says after probably giving the wrong impression). This is still a Chet and Bernie book like fourteen that have come before. Chet’s still irrepressible, he’s still an unreliable narrator obsessed with Bernie, food, smells, putting his teeth on perps, and snacks. He will make you laugh, and you will enjoy Bernie tracking down clues and the rest. But, like the better installments of this series, there’s a lot more going on than Chet’s antics—and Quinn makes sure that the depth is there.

So, what did I think about A Farewell to Arfs?

I admit that I was hoping for a criminal named Mike Craven to show up—to get back at Craven’s accidental use of Quinn’s name in last year’s Fearless. But it’s probably too soon for that—maybe in the next couple of years?

Once I saw what Mr. Parsons was doing on the phone, I muttered to myself (and texted a friend) that “Quinn’s getting all the mileage he can out of the research he did for Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge.” More power to him, obviously, but it did feel a little like a re-run. Thankfully, the story went in a very different direction—as I assumed it would, but still. In fact, while this might have been the result of the same research, the nature of the phone scam was different enough to shut me up.

I’m not sure that Weatherly handled things as well as she could’ve, but I’m not bothered by an imperfect character—she can be as flawed as Bernie. But that was the only hitch I found in this book or the events in it.

I really appreciated the depth we see of Bernie’s character, an angle or two that we haven’t spent that much time looking at before—we get to focus on. There’s more to him than being a decent PI with a lousy approach to finances. And if how he treats the Parsons doesn’t make your heart melt a little, you weren’t paying attention.

We get the usual chuckles (including Chet giving the reader a good idea about what he thinks about legalized marijuana), a good story, all the feels I described above (and more), and some good action scenes. What more is there to ask for?

Nothing that I can think of.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Tor Publishing Group via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.


4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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A Farewell to Arfs by Spencer Quinn: The World Breaks Every One, Except Maybe Chet

Cover to A Farewell to Arfs by Spencer QuinnA Farewell to Arfs

by Spencer Quinn

DETAILS:
Series: Chet and Bernie, #15
Publisher: Forge
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 288 pg.
Read Date: July 24-27, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s A Farewell to Arfs About?

We start off this book with Bernie and Chet finishing a case for the Sonoran Museum of Art (an institution we learned about a couple of books ago), and with things looking up—and money in Bernie’s pocket—this is a pretty happy way to start things.

But soon after that, Chet overhears a phone call that their neighbor, Mr. Parsons, is having—and the reader knows things are going bad for him. Bernie learns the next day that Mr. Parsons has been the victim of a phone scam and is wiped out. Bernie starts looking into it—and into the Parsons’ ex-con of a son. It looks like he may have turned his life around, and is helping other former inmates adjust to the outside world and to stay on the right path. But is that what’s really going on?

If Billy Parsons isn’t involved—who is? And is there any chance that Bernie can get back any of the Parsons’ money?

Charlie and Esmé

Bernie’s son, Charlie, has been a consistent pleasure in the series—particularly because of Chet’s devotion to him. But adding his best friend, Esmé, in the last couple of books has made the character much more enjoyable for me.

I really enjoy their dynamic, for those familiar with Syfy’s Resident Alien show, it’s similar to the dynamic of Sahar and Max, only Esmé has a little more patience with Charlie than Sahar does with Max.

Even better, we get to meet Esmé’s father in this book—who seems like a good guy for Bernie to talk to in general—he has no knowledge of Bernie’s past, he’s not involved with policing, investigations, or anything like that. Just a friendly guy—who happens to be smart and (coincidentally) involved in an area that Bernie needs help understanding for the case. I enjoyed their conversation and hope we get more in the future.

(still, I do like the way that Charlier got to shine a little brighter this time than he usually does)

Bernie’s Past

Whoa. I did not expect any of what we learned about Bernie’s father in this book. Frankly, I didn’t think we’d ever learn anything about him—we barely know anything about his mother (and I’m okay with that based on Chet’s descriptions). But all of a sudden, there’s a lot about Harry Little being talked about.

It works—don’t get me wrong—and now I want to know more about Harry, his relationship with Bernie, and what was going on with him in general. We don’t get that (now?), but we get a glimpse of the man that was a presence in Bernie’s life until his early death. And that’s not nothing.

Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings

So, all the stuff about Harry Little added some emotional weight to the novel. But we didn’t need any of it—I’m not objecting, don’t get me wrong—but the last thing this book needed was more going on emotionally.

There’s some drama between Bernie and Weatherly. Bernie’s found a new way to botch things up with a woman—no real surprise there. The only plus is that it is a new way—he’s not repeating mistakes he made with Leda or Suzie. Maybe there’s some growth there—but it’s not Bernie at his best.

Related to that are some real dark moments for Bernie—we’ve seen hints of things like this from him before. But I don’t think it was ever this pronounced. Bernie is not always a good guy, he’s not only a white knight—there’s a noir character in him, battling to come out. And Bernie’s control slips early on in the novel and he has to reckon with the fallout.

But that’s not all. The Parsons have been aging and declining in health for a few books now, and for them to get wiped out like this—and then whatever that may or may not say about their son? There’s just no way to read this without your heartstrings being tugged. Scratch that—they’re yanked.

I don’t want to be unclear here (he says after probably giving the wrong impression). This is still a Chet and Bernie book like fourteen that have come before. Chet’s still irrepressible, he’s still an unreliable narrator obsessed with Bernie, food, smells, putting his teeth on perps, and snacks. He will make you laugh, and you will enjoy Bernie tracking down clues and the rest. But, like the better installments of this series, there’s a lot more going on than Chet’s antics—and Quinn makes sure that the depth is there.

So, what did I think about A Farewell to Arfs?

I admit that I was hoping for a criminal named Mike Craven to show up—to get back at Craven’s accidental use of Quinn’s name in last year’s Fearless. But it’s probably too soon for that—maybe in the next couple of years?

Once I saw what Mr. Parsons was doing on the phone, I muttered to myself (and texted a friend) that “Quinn’s getting all the mileage he can out of the research he did for Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge.” More power to him, obviously, but it did feel a little like a re-run. Thankfully, the story went in a very different direction—as I assumed it would, but still. In fact, while this might have been the result of the same research, the nature of the phone scam was different enough to shut me up.

I’m not sure that Weatherly handled things as well as she could’ve, but I’m not bothered by an imperfect character—she can be as flawed as Bernie. But that was the only hitch I found in this book or the events in it.

I really appreciated the depth we see of Bernie’s character, an angle or two that we haven’t spent that much time looking at before—we get to focus on. There’s more to him than being a decent PI with a lousy approach to finances. And if how he treats the Parsons doesn’t make your heart melt a little, you weren’t paying attention.

We get the usual chuckles (including Chet giving the reader a good idea about what he thinks about legalized marijuana), a good story, all the feels I described above (and more), and some good action scenes. What more is there to ask for?

Nothing that I can think of.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Tor Publishing Group via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.


4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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HC Chats with John Simons about RinthCon

I sat down a few days ago to talk with John Simons about the second year of his new Con, RinthCon, and the little twist to it that makes it an experience like no other you’ll find on the Convention Circuit today.

I posted a little something about RinthCon 2323 last year before the event, but didn’t follow up like I should’ve. I expect better of me this year.


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Are you a Reader of Things and want to chat with me about an author/series/something other than promoting your own work (which we will do, just not primarily)? I’d love to keep trying this, but I’m not ready to start pestering people about it. So please let me know.

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Return of The Griffin by JCM Berne: With No Time For Hope, Rohan Returns to Earth

The best part of getting this post finished (for me) is not that I’ve ticked off one more box on my “To Write” list, it’s that I can now move on to the third book in this series, Blood Reunion—which just might put me on target to catch up before this year ends.


Cover to Return of the Griffin by JCM BerneReturn of the Griffin

by JCM Berne

DETAILS:
Series: Hybrid Helix, #2
Publisher: The Gnost House
Publication Date: February 26, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 389 pg.
Read Date: February 1-7, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

But I spent ten years training and fighting for the il’Drach. There arg Maybe a quarter million il’Drach alive, total, and yet they control most of this sector, running an empire of trillions. You know how? Because they have developed a system for winning wars. Which they’ve been drumming into me for a decade…

“I’m not saying you should follow me out to Nevada because you’re my friends or because I’m a great guy or because you really like me. I’m saying you should follow me because it turns out I’m not such a great guy, and that’s why I’m the right person to help you win this war.”

What’s Return of The Griffin About?

We start off* with Rohan rescuing some people who were foolish enough to try to visit the surface of Toth 3, as a nice and efficient way to pick up where we left off and to show how the time since Wistful Ascending has gone for Rohan, Wistful, and the rest.

* Okay, fine. Truly we start with a prologue in a tense moment that happens two weeks later than that, and toward the end of the novel. But I complained enough about that when I talked about Wistful Ascending, so I’ll bite my tongue now.

After a great action-filled opening to the book, Rohan returns to Wistful to find some old friends/acquaintances from Earth waiting for him. They want his help in locating another Hybrid hero, the greatest superhero from Earth—who, like Rohan, left to fight for the il’Drach. Rohan can’t help them, he says, because he’s dead. (we learned this last time). They can’t believe that anyone could kill Hyperion and become certain that the Earth is doomed.

Giant, unbelievably giant, two-legged sharks that can breathe on land have emerged, one by one, from the Pacific. The first was killed after super-powered heroes and villains from Japan stopped it (and got some help)—between the creature, the fight, and the means used to destroy it, millions died. Including most—if not all—of the super-powered population of Japan. The second wipes out a similar number. The third was still alive when they left to find Hyperion.

I’m not sure how to capture the size of these two-legged sharks. But Ben Stone gets closest (and pithiest) by observing “they must be a thousand times as massive as the largest megalodon. More.”

Rohan volunteers to come back to Earth to help out. He’s not nearly as powerful as Hyperion, but he’s the only il’Drach/Human hybrid left—and the planet isn’t really in a place to turn away help. It’s time for Rohan to adopt the mask and the name of the superhero he no longer is.

So Rohan goes home, and in addition to fighting freakishly giant land sharks, he sees his mom. He deals with the fallout of his departure from Earth (and the events leading up to it) legally and with his former friends, allies, and others. And a few other challenges, too. In fact, the unbelievably large land sharks might not be the biggest challenge he has to face.

The Kirkman Is Strong In This One

“Well, can you give me any ideas on how to fight these things? They’re tearing us apart.”

“I would fight it on land, if I were you. Even regular sharks are frightening in the water. Get that up on land. There your chances go from zero to a multiple of zero.”

“That’s still zero.”

Poseidon waved his bottle in the air.

“Math is not always your friend, my friend.”

I don’t want to overstate things here, nor am I trying to suggest that Berne is leaning too heavily on Invincible. But I thought of Invincible often when reading this—more often than I did last time.

You know how Kirkman would introduce a character, imbue them with a catchy (possibly goofy) name, and some cool powers, and then kill them in just a few panels? Over and over again?* Well, that’s what Berne does here—I said above that super-powered heroes and villains are dying taking on these sharks, right? I meant it—and I’d have willingly read books/stories/series featuring most, if not all, of them.

* And I’m sure there are other comic writers I could reference here, but I’m not steeped enough in them to do that. Feel free to tell me who I’m not thinking of in the comments. It’s been too long since I read the first run of Bendis’ Powers, does that fit here?

The amount of time, effort, and creativity that Berne expended on these characters—even just the names—only to end up listing them as a victim? (many were dead before they were mentioned) It’s impressive, and a little sad.

I bring this up for two reasons: 1. To note just how much excess creativity Berne must have. 2. To warn you—do not get overly attached to anyone in this book who doesn’t show up on the covers for the rest of the series.**

** To date, that’s Rohan and Santa Claus.

Miscellaneous Bullet Points

bullet A teleporter named “Bamf”? You know Berne chuckled/giggled to himself when he typed that.
bullet If you’ve never thought about the potential tragic story behind the MCU’s Groot’s single word of dialogue, be prepared to.
bullet Off the top of my head, I can only think of two superheroes intimidated by their mother/mother-figure. Add Rohan to the list behind Clark and Peter. And for good reason, she’s not a woman you want to mess with.
bullet Sure, throw in some vampires, too. Berne’s kitchen-sink approach seems to continue.
bullet I’m pretty sure that I caught a The Tick cartoon reference. That just made me happy.
bullet I don’t want to rob you of learning about this yourself, but I think “Fire Speech” and the way Berne describes it is one of my favorite things of the year.
bullet The number of cover artists as good as Chris McGrath has to be tiny. I loved this one.

So, what did I think about Return of The Griffin?

Amber took her phone out of an oversized pocket. “I’ll pull up all known villains with Doc or Doctor in their names. Don’t get your hopes up; it’s going to be a long list.”

Rohan smiled. “Only real doctors, medical doctorates or PhDs only. I don’t want any evil chiropractors or physical therapists on the list.”

Bright Angel shook her head. “Really? Now is the time for that?”

“Inappropriate humor is my charm, remember?”

“I remember that you thought it was charming. What I can’t seem to remember is when anybody else agreed with you.”

“Ouch.”

All in all, this was not as fun as Wistful Ascending, the deaths of millions and millions and the devastation wreaked on the (even more numerous) survivors tends to put a damper on all the fun. In Whistful most of the suffering fell on Rohan—here, the suffering falls on pretty much everyone on Earth (including Rohan).

But beyond that, we get a better understanding of Rohan, what was already an appealing and engaging character gains more depth. That’s smart—get us to like the guy, get us to root for him, to want to read more about him, and then let us see more of the sides of him that we (probably) assumed were there, what shaped him into who he was when we met him in Wistful Ascending.

Yes, there’s still a lot of fun to be had. Berne’s banter is as strong as always. Even in—especially in—the face of grave danger.

And the action scenes? For novel #2 (at least novel #2 that anyone gets to see), Berne writes like he’s been doing this for a while. If you’re anything like me, once an action sequence starts—woe to anyone who interrupts you while reading (assuming you notice them attempting to interrupt). The better the sequence, the worse it is for events/people who dare to distract you. This book features several of those kind of scenes, each one as good as (if not better) than the last.

Great pacing overall, good character development, strong world/universe building and expansion, we meet a whole bunch of cool characters (say goodbye to too many of them), get some strong action scenes, a series of freakishly huge and powerful monsters—and things worse than them, too. Obviously, I think you should read this if that kind of thing appeals to you.

That said, I’m really looking forward to getting back to Wistful and her residents (especially Wei Li and the Ursans) and to see what is going on off-Earth. Bring on Blood Reunion!


4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week Footer

The 2024 Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week Logo was made by Witty and Sarcastic Book Club

Spreading the Self-Pub Love with JCM Berne

Banner has a black bird on a colorful background. Around the bird are the words, 'Self Published Authors Appreciation Week.' In the top left corner, it says, 'July 21-27, 2024.' In the bottom right corner it says, '#SPAAW'
In the spirit of “a rising tide lifts all boats,” this year for Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week, I wanted to give some Self-Published authors a chance to spread some love (while also indulging in a bit of self-promotion, I mean, c’mon, it’s hard out here…)
Spreading the Self-Pub Love with JCM Berne


An Elevator Pitch for Something You Love
Cover for Renia by Karl Forshaw

Renia by Karl Forsham

A scribe, forbidden magics, a tragic past, assassins, politics, and some unfortunate drinking.

The best book you haven’t heard of.


My Elevator Pitch by JCM Berne
Cover to be Revealed
Eyes of Empire: Hybrid Helix Turn Five

The Empire is cruel, sadistic, and random, ordering genocides on dozens of worlds while ruling the rest with a tyrannical fist.

Thinking it can’t be stopped, Rohan abandoned it to live a peaceful life on Wistful.

What will it take for him to face the Empire again?

And if he does, what will it cost?


About this Author
For his midlife crisis JCM Berne, desperate to ret-con his lifelong addiction to genre fiction, comic books, and bad action movies into some kind of deliberate preparation, began writing and publishing novels.

His motto was, “publish them even if they suck.”

Did he fool anyone? Probably not. But he tried.

Website ~ Twitter


Be sure to check out Eyes of Empire and Renia, let’s show them both some love!


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Image by Monika from Pixabay
The 2024 Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week Logo was made by Witty and Sarcastic Book Club

HC Chats with JCM Berne about Jim Butcher

Here’s part two of my experiment with something new… there are some things I’ve wanted to try and the written word just ain’t gonna cut it. (and I hate saying that about the written word—maybe it’s just my capabilities with it that are the problem…that seems more likely).

When I listen to podcasts or other interviews with authors, one of the things I enjoy most is when they just talk about books they didn’t write or a specific author’s work. It’s a different way to learn about the author—and it usually makes me feel like we belong to the same tribe (reader). So that’s what I’m trying to do in this series (?) of chats. Just talk with an author, blogger, or someone who just wants to talk about some author about someone’s books. If I’ve read them—great. If I haven’t read the author in question, I may end up reading something by them after our chat—at the very least, I’ll learn about someone.

JCM was kind enough to chat with me about an author who has influenced us both, Jim Butcher, and a few other things. Sit back, watch, enjoy, tell us where we’re wrong…or all four.

I’m not sure how long we talked after I ended the recording, but I could’ve gone for a couple of hours. I had a great time with this and hope you enjoyed it.


Are you a Reader of Things and want to chat with me about an author/series/something other than promoting your own work (which we will do, just not primarily)? I’d love to keep trying this, but I’m not ready to start pestering people about it. So please let me know.

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Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs: A Coyote and a Werewolf Have to Save a Wedding

One of the worst taglines I’ve come up with lately—which is saying something. But it’ll do.


Cover of Winter Lost by Patricia BriggsWinter Lost

by Patricia Briggs

DETAILS:
Series: Mercy Thompson, #14
Publisher: Ace Books
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Length: 406 pg.
Read Date: July 2-4, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Winter Lost About?

Mercy’s brother Gary shows up at their front door late one night in a royal mess—he’s almost unidentifiable. More than that, he’s having a hard time understanding what’s going on around him and is having a worse time communicating it. No one has any idea why he’s there, where he came from, or what happened.

A quick consultation with a couple of Fae sends Adam and Mercy to Montana—the type of magic that zapped Gary is characteristic of a particular Fae. Along the way, an epic winter storm engulfs Western Montana, Idaho, Eastern Washington—and perhaps more.

Adam and Mercy meet the one responsible for Gary’s state—to free him, they have to complete a task (the guy’s not being a jerk by this, it’s literally a condition of the spell). They have just a couple of days to find something, free Gary, save a wedding, and…I kid you not…save the world.

Everything Else

While the main story is plenty to talk about, there are a couple of other things to note. There’s some good development with Mary Jo, Honey is making some interesting choices, Tad and Jesse are up to something fun, Zee and Adam are involved in a project, and plenty of other things are afoot.

We continue the whole jockeying-for-dominance thing under Adam with Warren, Darryl, and Sherwood—but it seems to be going better than it was in the last book—but it feels like there’s some sort of slow-burn story going there and I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy where it ends up.

There’s more action on the building conflict with various witch groups and the conflict with Bonarata. I want to be super-vague about both of these, but want to mention them. They both took very little space in the novel as a whole and part of me wonders if we really needed them now—we could’ve come back to them in book 15 and spent more time on both (while assuming things were ongoing with both). But…I really liked the way that Briggs wrote both of them.

Bonarata is conducting some psychological warfare on Mercy, which seems to be pretty effective. As part of that, he’s hurting other people. The best example the readers get in this book is a certain kind of horrific. I don’t know if Briggs has shown something so depraved since Iron Kissed—but this time the victim is someone we don’t even know the name of. Part of me is really impressed with how Briggs wrote this, most of me wishes she hadn’t.

So, what did I think about Winter Lost?

There are a couple of things to say—first: I had a whole lot of fun with this one. Yeah, the stakes are higher than they sometimes are. But this felt more fun than the last couple of books, things have felt very weighty since Silence Fallen. This was closer to River Marked, it seems.

But more than that, Briggs was trying some new things narratively, both in the order and way she was telling the story—and in the way the cast of characters were spread out in this book. And everything she tried worked really well. At the moment, I can’t think of a way to talk about this with any level of detail and not spoil some big things—so let’s just leave it with Briggs trying some new things for the series and succeeding. I don’t know if she’ll want to try to tell another story like this anytime soon (and I’m not sure she should), but I like to see her experimenting—and hope she continues.

There’s not much more to say—there’s some great action, some solid character moments, a nice bit of new mythology, and Briggs has planted all sorts of seeds for a couple (or more) future installments in the series. This is just what Mercy fans needed, and I hope we get more of it soon.


4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven: We’re All Stories, In The End.

Cover of The Mercy Chair by MW CravenThe Mercy Chair

by M.W. Craven

DETAILS:
Series: Washington Poe, #6
Publisher: Constable
Publication Date: June 6, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Length: 414 pg.
Read Date: June 10-13, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s The Mercy Chair About?

The book opens with Washington Poe in one of the least likely places we’ve seen him—therapy. Sure, he’s not there because he really wants to be—but he’s still there. Dr. Clara Lang is a trauma therapist, and she’s trying to help Poe recover from a case that drove him to the point that an “incident” occurred (SPOILER: it’s nothing as bad as what he did prior to The Puppet Show, but this one had witnesses).

He’s not in a good space—nightmares are plaguing him, and the circumstances around this case are likely what pushed him over the edge. The founder of a group called The Children of Job—an independent religious group associated with “extreme” views on sex, sexuality, government, and several other “culture war”-type issues—has been murdered. Stoned to death, to be precise. Poe and Tilly’s old friend, the Bishop of Carlisle, wants them to look into this—the Children of Job have been trying to be recognized for years, and while he’s disinclined to do that, he’d like to get this murder cleared up and to explore the group some. Enter our heroes.

It’s a brutal, brutal murder—but as the investigation goes on, they learn more and more about this Church, its practices and beliefs—practices that aren’t just questionably acceptable or orthodox—but some that are downright criminal. And every secret, every layer of mystery, that Poe uncovers shows another layer of dirt and darkness. You won’t feel that bad for the murder victim for too long.

Also, their agency is being audited by the government—one auditor, Linus, is assigned to Poe and Tilly while they conduct this investigation. Poe dubs him an intern and treats him like one—hoping to dissuade him from continuing this “audit” or at least not to let things get bogged down by Linus. Poe can see through the story he and his DI have been fed about this auditor, but he’s still stuck with him for the duration, as complicating as his presence/observation is (if only because Poe has to worry about his real purpose).

The Religion of The Children of Job (and others)

I have several questions regarding the beliefs of this group, The Children of Job. For example, what’s with that name? It’s an odd one to pick. The leader/founder of the group is covered in religious tattoos, but they seem like a fundamentalist group (and are compared to Westboro Baptist Church)—and I really don’t see those two going together. But I could be wrong there. But other things that don’t work with that group are things like the dichotomy of mortal and venial sins (something we’re told the CoJ do hold to).

I get it—the main thing we’re supposed to focus on with this group is their controversial (at best) beliefs and practices. They’re supposed to be the intolerant, unthinking group that Poe can rail and push against. But the lack of a coherent religious worldview and practice really doesn’t work. Yes, they should seem aberrant to Poe and Tilly’s secular point of view and to the Bishop of Carlisle’s very un-secular perspective, that’s beside the point. It should sill seem internally consistent—and the Children of Job don’t. They really feel like a hodgepodge of hot-button Evangelical/Evangelical-ish beliefs and practices forced into some religious chimera.

If, like most readers (I suspect), you don’t notice or care about this sort of thing, you’ll do fine. On the other hand, if you take this stuff seriously and expect sectarian groups that border on being a cult would take it seriously, too…it will bother you. It should bother the COJ. Does this impact the experience of the reader? Not really. Does it impact the hunt for the killer, his/her/their motivation? Nope. Does it impact Poe, Tilly, or anyone else we care about in the book? Nope. Did it/does it occupy too much real estate in my mind? Yup.

Along these lines—sort of, we’re told that Poe’s “intern” Linus read theology at university, and he’s treated as the investigation’s religion expert after that. Which is fine, it’s not like they can call the Bishop of Carlisle every time something comes up. But in Chapter 17 he pokes at one of my pet peeves, calling the last book in the New Testament “Revelations.” Now, the name of the book is singular—coming from the opening line, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ…” Back in Chapter 11, he got the name right. So, is he just sloppy? Maybe (but the more we get to know him, the less likely that seems). And for all her lack of interest in religion, how does Tilly not catch something like that and harp on it? Is this a case of sloppy copy editing? That’s possible. But I don’t know, and it irks me. It’s not a big deal, but it’s one of those errors that’s like nails on a chalkboard to me.

Poe’s Life Battles

One of the problems with juice and smoothie bars was that however much they dressed it up, they really only served fruit and vegetables. It didn’t matter that the ingredients had been blended, put in a cup and served with a soggy cardboard straw, it was still a gunky mess of unpalatable leafy greens and unbearably sour or sickeningly sweet fruits. Ingredients supermarkets wouldn’t put on the same aisles were forced together then given misleading names such as Liquid Sunshine and Endless Summer.

But the main problem was that for a supposedly fast and convenient food, smoothie and juice bars were slow and inconvenient. Poe reckoned he and Linus had been waiting for fifteen minutes. And, to make matters worse, the place Bradshaw had sent them no longer did milkshakes. The teenager behind the counter had offered Poe frozen yoghurt instead, to which Poe had replied, ‘T’d rather piss in my shoes.’

While they waited Linus said, “You seem to have a lot of these little “life battles”, Poe.’

‘What battles?’

‘Well, this one for a start. All you had to do was say no thanks to the frozen yoghurt. Instead, it became a whole big thing. I’d be surprised if they don’t spit in our smoothies.’

‘And I’d be surprised if you noticed,’ Poe said.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who’s read this series—or any of Craven’s work because it’s true of all his protagonists—that Washington Poe’s greatest enemy is himself. As seen, even Linus (who hasn’t known Poe that long—and is kept at arm’s length) can see it.*

* Also, I rather enjoyed that pericope.

Each book in the series explores—in one way or another—Poe’s propensity to engage in these life battles, and what they cost him—whether it be his home, his job, his credibility, the purchase price for a roasted goat, or spit in Tilly’s smoothie (spit in Linus’ smoothie would be a gift to Poe).

To some extent those close to Poe, or those who’ve worked with him and have seen what his methods/personality result in, can tolerate this, or make allowances for it. But

Now, any armchair therapist would tie this into his mother abandoning him and him telling himself (or Linus in a couple of pages after this) that he just doesn’t care about what other people think. But that’s garbage, and as much as Poe will tell that story to himself—he may even believe it—this comes from a dark place (no surprise) and potentially wreaks havoc on his personal life. It’s done that to his career—and it may do it to individual cases.

When we first met him, there was D.I. Stephanie Flynn—a friend of sorts—and, that’s about all we know about in Poe’s life outside of work (and since they worked together…). But now he has a home, he has Edgar. He has grown over this series—see his relationship with Tilly, with Estelle—and even his working relationship with the police in Cumbria. There are people and things besides his stubborn self-reliance in his life. He might even be fighting fewer life battles. Hopefully not too many—he might be a slightly less entertaining character if he gives up on them completely. But seeing gradual change—growth, thankfully—in a mature character is a great feature in a series.

And all of that is due to Tilly Bradshaw. But following up on that is for another time…

Physical Descriptions

In the past, I’ve talked about Craven’s ability to make you see a physical location—and kind of feel, smell, and hear it, too. There are a couple of locations like that in this book (the most striking I’m not going to talk about, you get to find it and be haunted by it yourself).

But I haven’t done a great job in talking about his gift for physical description. There are some dazzling examples in this book. Like:

[Name] was as thin as garlic skin and twice as pale. He had hair like an unshorn sheep, and the physique of someone who drank his meals. His back was banana-curved. Given his background, Poe had been expecting an older version of Joshua Meade. Prim and prissy with a distasteful look, as if he had something smelly on his upper lip. But, in his ratty dressing gown and even rattier sandals, [Name] looked like a featherweight Merlin. His toenails were jagged and yellow and dirtier than a dustbin lid.

Virginia Rose was thinner than a lolly stick and meaner than skimmed milk. Her words were precise, her vowels trimmed. She spoke as if it was a necessary but unpleasant chore. Poe reckoned that five hundred years earlier she would have been a witchfinder’s assistant, gleefully passing them the heretic’s fork. Some people just gave off that vibe.

You don’t get descriptions like that everywhere, you know? Seriously, I could read pages and pages of those kinds of snapshots. I’m not even sure that Poe needs to do much but wander around a city and people-watch to make me want to read the thing.

Yes, I read this and other series for the stories and the characters—but when an author like Craven gives you this kind of detail, delivered in this kind of way (what one author recently described to me as “sparkle”)? That’s when he gets a lifelong reader, even if he doesn’t seem to know how many times to use the letter s in “Revelation.”

Story-Telling

The novel as a whole is about Washington Poe telling a story. And throughout it, a few people have stories to tell him (sometimes announced as such, sometimes not).

There’s an extent to which every mystery/detective/police procedural is about storytelling—the story the evidence presents (or seems to present, for Mickey Haller, Eddie Flynn, Andy Carpenter, and the like), the stories the witnesses tell, the stories that the detective/whoever assembles over the case, the stories the criminal tells, and so on—in addition to the story the novelist is telling.

But few are as upfront and in-your-face about it as The Mercy Chair is. Craven forces the reader—well, okay, that’s overstating it. Craven invites the reader to think about the layers of story in the book you’re holding/listening to—it’s similar to Churchill’s line about “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” I can’t delve into it to the depth it deserves in a post like this—nor am I sure I have the ability to explore it as it should be in general—but, like the section above, not every author delivers this kind of layer, meta-commentary, or element (whatever you choose to think of it) to a police procedural. So many—many that I enjoy, I hasten to add—are satisfied delivering a plot, a dose of character development, a clever mystery, and calling it a day. It’s the special authors that give you space and textual reasons to chew on things beyond the basics.

So, what did I think about The Mercy Chair?

Don’t ask me why—I don’t often find myself suffering from (and/or enjoying) the phenomenon called “Book Hangovers”—I think part of it is that I have so many books on my TBR that I don’t have time. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, one blogger defines them as “all those thoughts and feelings you get after reading a good book that prevents you from moving forward in your real life and/or your reading life.” Well, I got one from The Mercy Chair—not only could I not move on nearly as quickly as I typically do, I couldn’t even write anything that night. I was just in a mental daze that left me in a state to watch some mindless TV until I went to sleep. It just got under my skin, worked its way into the folds of my cerebral cortex, and into my bone marrow.

Basically, it haunted me for a few days.

And I loved it for it. Make no mistake, all of this is a good thing. A very good thing.

And then…when it came time to write this post, I kept coming up with more and more to say—and have exerted more self-control than I like (and a lot of trimming) to keep this from being a pamphlet.

I’ve said little about Tilly, which is a little odd. I could be wrong (I likely am), but I think the percentage of the novel that features her is smaller than usual. But it works (this time), due to the nature of the stories that Poe and Craven are telling. But when she’s around, she’s as fantastic as always (I have to bite my tongue on a couple of scenes that I really want to get into). Also, before the events of the novel begin—Tilly gets to shine in a very non-crime-fighting way. It’s good to have the reminder that not only does Poe think she’s brilliant—she actually is.

The book as a whole is the darkest yet in this series—possibly the darkest thing that Craven has written (I still have one pre-Poe book to read, so I can’t weigh in on that). But it doesn’t stop being entertaining—thankfully. There’s at least one “awwww”-inducing moment as well as some lightness, some hope, some Poe and Tilly nonsense just around the corner up until the end game. And by that point, you’re so hooked by the tension and wowed by the revelations that you don’t care. I’m including the revelations that you may have guessed at, or close to—because the bits of them that you haven’t guessed at will make you feel like your hunches were useless anyway. It’s a good thing no one in my family dared to interrupt me during the last 80-100 pages, I’d probably have fewer people talking to me today.

It didn’t end quite as neatly as many of these books do—but it’s so close that no one’s going to care (and who doesn’t like a little ambivalence anyway?)—and there’s a problem discussed in the closing pages that is going to make things difficult for the partnership in at least the next book. I don’t expect that it’ll last too long—and at the very least it’ll be something that Poe and Tilly overcome. I’m not saying it’ll be a “super easy, barely an inconvenience” type of thing, but I don’t see Craven as having written himself into a corner. Still, it’s the closest thing we’ve gotten to a cliffhanger in the series.

The Mercy Chair is going to go down as one of my highlights of the year, and will likely be one of the high points of this series. It’ll be hard to distinguish it from the rest of the high points—the Washington Poe/Tilly Bradshaw books are filled with them, but I do think The Mercy Chair will poke up a little higher than the rest of this Himilayan-esque series.

Read this. Read everything Craven has published—and probably will publish. Heck, go through his trash to see if you can find a to-do list/shopping list—they’re probably worth reading.* Once you shake the heebie-jeebies that this novel will induce, you’ll be glad you did.

* Please don’t do that, I was just joking. That’d be creepy. Also…probably not safe, we know what kind of twisted things his mind is capable of, don’t make him angry.


5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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PUB DAY REPOST: Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt: Understanding Marcus

Cover for Dog Day Afternoon by David RosenfeltDog Day Afternoon

by David Rosenfelt

DETAILS:
Series: Andy Carpenter, #29
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 304 pg.
Read Date: June 20-21, 2024
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What’s Dog Day Afternoon About?

Overall, I’m not sure that the body count in this book is that much higher than in other books in this series—but the way it opens is very different. The instigating crime feels like something straight out of a mass-shooter video your HR people make you watch annually (assuming your workplace is similar to mine, I guess)—it’s cold, calculated, with a casual disregard for human life we don’t often see in this series. (Andy says something similar at one or two points).

So you’re left wondering—how does Andy get roped into representing the accused? (although many readers are going to read that scene and pick out the places the defense is going to take advantage of). This is where Marcus comes in.

Andy learned about this earlier, but we readers learn about this now—Marcus mentors young people in his neighborhood who have had a rough time of it and have run afoul of the law in the past. They need some help, some guidance, and some favors—Marcus provides this.

He also helps a couple of those he mentors to adopt a dog from the Tara Foundation. One of these two is accused of the crime—Marcus comes to Andy for help, and he gets it. That Willie also vouches for the accused helps—there’s no chance that Willie agrees to let one of their dogs go to someone capable of this crime.

That’s not evidence he can introduce in court, but it’s compelling for Andy. Now he just needs to find something that will be compelling in court.

Marcus

Marcus can’t become too well-rounded of a character—we need him in the shadows, doing things that defy belief. But we can learn more about him than we have prior to this.

We see that he can have attachments to people other than Laurie (and by extension, Andy). We see just how far he’s willing to go to help someone.

I was interested in this book because I’ve enjoyed almost every one of its predecessors enough that I don’t bother to see what they’re about before I add them to the TBR list. But once I noted that this one featured Marcus like that—my excitement grew. I love watching the character at work, and to see him in a different situation than we’re used to made my day. Also, we got just what the doctor ordered from a Marcus-centric book.

So, what did I think about Dog Day Afternoon?

I cannot believe that I’ve read 29 books in this series (plus a few in a spin-off). Twenty-nine. That’s just insane. Now, am I going to say that they’re all as fresh as they were in 2002 when Open and Shut came out? Of course not. But they have their moments when they feel that way.

* According to my logs, I read it in 2011—I’ve been with these characters for 13 years. Mind-boggling.

So, Rosenfelt has his work cut out for him to do something to keep the audience engaged. Over the last few books, he’s worked on deepening the relationship between Andy and Marcus, which has been nice. This book takes a big step forward in that. I don’t know that we’re going to see much more than this anytime soon—you need to preserve some of Marcus’ mystique to keep him nearly-superhuman in Andy’s (and the reader’s) eyes. Similarly, we readers can know Hawk a little better than when Spenser first ran into him in Promised Land—but not too much.

So, we’d better enjoy what we get here, right?

And naturally, that’s really easy. Other fun bonuses—Andy getting along with the prosecutor. Cory clearly being annoyed with Sam Willis wanting to get in on the action. Even some of the Andy and Tara interactions felt a little different (not unusually so, and not negatively). There was also the attempt of a law firm to hire the most reluctant lawyer in the world—that did bring a smile to my face.

There’s a good mix of the tried and true Andy bits, fun material with our old friends, a clever mystery, a new side of Marcus, and Rosenfelt’s trademark zippy prose. It’s easy to see why this series has gone on as long as it has—and may it continue to do so.

Can you hop on here? Absolutely—and you’ll have the fun bonus of a healthy backlist to work your way through once you get done with this one.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.


4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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