Category: Fiction Page 257 of 341

Welcome to our Book Tour stop for The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook). Along with this blurb about the book I’ve got a Q & A with the author, Lauren Carr and my 2¢ about the book coming up (the links will work when the posts go live).

Book Details:

Book Title: The Murders at Astaire Castle by Lauren Carr
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: September 5, 2014
Genre: Mystery / Crime

Book Description:

Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something.

Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop – even though he owns the property. It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!

Topping the list of the 10 top haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago – and Mac Faraday owns it!

In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.

What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet – including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.

Buy the Book

Amazon ~ Audible

Meet the Author:

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries. The twelfth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder will be released June 2016. Lauren Carr Photo

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
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The Rise of Io by Wesley Chu

By HCNewton

On October 4, 2016

In Fiction, Science Fiction, Wesley Chu

The Rise of Io

by Wesley ChuA
Series: Io, #1

eARC, 352 pg.
Angry Robot, 2016

Read: September 27 – 29, 2016

“Stick with me, kid ,” he said. “We’ll introduce you to a bigger world with all sorts of new people who will want to kill you.”

Let me start by saying that while this is a sequel to the Tao Trilogy (taking place a couple of decades after The Rebirths), you don’t have to have read them to enjoy this. You’ll miss some nuances, not understand some references and will spoil events in books that you’ll end up wanting to have read. But, it’s not essential — and this would be a great jumping-on point. If you’ve read the Tao Trilogy, let me assure you that this is a worthy successor, just as fun — a part of the same series, but it feels fresh enough that you don’t feel like you’ve read this book before.

Ella Patel lives in an Indian slum — in part of the world hardest hit by the war between the Quasing factions and their human allies (while I feel bad for these fictional Indians, I’m so glad to see alien combat not centered in the U.S.). She lives on her own, orphaned by circumstance and a Gengix attack — between her small size, quick wit and almost all-consuming greed she lives life on her own terms, two steps ahead of the law and one step ahead of criminals she’s wronged. I could’ve read at least 100 pages more of her antics before we introduced a single Quasing from either side and been entirely content (not a complaint about when we got Quasings, however), Ella’s just instantly likeable in a way that no one in these series has been (with the possible exception of Cameron).

Io’s host is in India doing some off-the-books investigating into one of the Gengix’s most ambitious projects yet. That investigation doesn’t go so well and suddenly Io needs a new host — there’s the impetuous woman who tried to help her host nearby (and a much better option than anyone else), so Io makes a choice and the Queen of the streets becomes so much more. Their relationship defines rocky initially (see Tao and Roen, but worse).

It should be obvious (but isn’t) that not every Quasing will have had as illustrious existence as Tao — Io’s haven’t developed a martial art, conquered legendary kingdoms, etc. Which isn’t to say that Io didn’t leave her mark on history — for example, I trust the name “The Maginot Line” rings a bell.

As the minutes ticked by, Io clarified some of the dreams of her glorious career inhabiting humans. If anything, it comforted Ella that the Quasing weren’t all-knowing and powerful, that they were just as culpable and mistake-prone as any human.

Nevertheless, just by having existed for a few millennia on earth, Io’s got a lot of wisdom and experience to pass on to her new host. Slowly — and with several appeals to her mercenary streak — Io convinces Ella to begin training to become a Prophus agent. Eventually, Ella begins to make a sort of peace with her new life partner and something approaching friendship begins to develop.

Incidentally, Ella’s not the only one comforted by a not-all-that-perfect Quasing.

Meanwhile, a couple of Gengix Adonis agents are vying for control over India — with the citizenry of the slum (and the nation, really) acting as pawns. Shula is one of the more lethal women you’ll come across — both politically and physically. She’s not one you want to cross in almost any situation — but that doesn’t stop many.

At some point, Prophus agents come to town and everything gets turned upside down — Ella finds a desire to help the Prophus, Shula seized the opportunity for personal power, and Io has her chance at doing something that’ll leave her mark on history.

The fight scenes (training and otherwise) are up to Chu’s pretty high standards, the humor is crisp, the characters (including a couple of old friends) are just right, and the plots are among his best — I just don’t know how else to put this. The book was a solid winner and had me eager for the next installment, and then Chu hits us with one of the best Epilogues that I can remember, making me more than eager for whatever’s next (not really sure what the word for “more than eager” is, eager squared?).

Great characters, twists, suspense and grins — I dug this one so much. He keeps the magic of the Tao books, reinvigorates it and expands it. I expected Chu to deliver just what fans wanted without it being a case of “second verse, same as the first,” I just didn’t expect it’d be this good. Get on this one, folks.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Angry Robot via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.
N.B.: As this was an ARC, any quotations above may be changed in the published work — I will endeavor to verify them as soon as possible.

—–

4 Stars

The Purloined Poodle (Audiobook) by Kevin Hearne, Luke Daniels

By HCNewton

On October 3, 2016

In Fiction, Iron Druid Chronicles, Kevin Hearne

The Purloined Poodle (Audiobook)

by Kevin Hearne, Luke Daniels (Narrator)
Series: Iron Druid Chronicles, #8.5/Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries, #1

Unabridged Audiobook, 2 hrs, 57 min.
Kevin Hearne, 2016
Read: October 3, 2016

The best and most consistent part of The Iron Druid Chronicles has been Atticus’ Irish Wolfhound, Oberon. Now Kevin Hearne has given us a novella narrated by and starring him, with Atticus in the supporting role. It’s good that he kept the Druid around, because he has the whole opposable thumb thing going for him and can do things like communicate with other people

While playing in a dog park, Oberon stumbles upon a rash of dognappings — the victims are all Grand Champions. Oberon is appalled that such a thing can happen and vows to find the dogs and return them home. He enlists Atticus to assist him (and well, to do most of the work). They spend the next couple of days moving around the country visiting various dog trainers/owners and skirting trouble with the law. While Atticus does the heavy lifting of investigating, Oberon has a lot of fun meeting various Champion dogs — in particular, a Boston terrier named Starbuck.

The interplay between Atticus and Oberon is a lot of fun, but his narration is even better — between the repeated mentions of trying to pull off “the Full Jules” (reciting Ezekiel 25:17 at just the right moment); his summary/slash review of The Great Gatsby (which will forever alter the way I look at the book); Oberon as food critic (his takes on coffee and mustard are highlights); and a repeated tribute to Denis Leary’s best movie, this book was flat-out entertaining. Because it’s by Hearne and featuring Oberon, I assumed I’d enjoy it — I didn’t plan on (but should’ve) cackling by the 7% mark.

I thoroughly enjoyed this as a novella — the story was good enough to justify the time reading, but Daniels doing Oberon’s voice elevates the audio version to something great. Daniel’s Oberon doing a Pickup Truck commercial-voice over killed me — how Luke Daniels could read this whole book in that voice, I’ll never know. It must’ve required a lot of takes and more recovery time than you’d want to think about.

If you’ve read an Iron Druid Chronicle or two, you’ll know how good Oberon can be. Get this — you’ll squee.

—–

4 Stars

The FATOFF Conspiracy by Olga Werby

By HCNewton

On September 30, 2016

In Fiction, Science Fiction

The FATOFF Conspiracy

by Olga Werby

Kindle Edition, 317 pg.
2015

Read: August 29, 2016

This is a pretty creepy dystopian tale about a culture on the brink of disaster (self-caused, it should be stressed). Americans have lost the war on obesity and all but the elitist of the elite are dangerously obese (while tucking away a good portion of that fat into a pocket dimension), in pain, struggling, dying young and yet eating almost constantly.

Cindy Rella (and yeah, it took me until the 27% mark to figure out why that name rang a bell) comes up with a long-shot scheme to get herself government assistance to restore her to her formerly thin and healthy self). Cindy’s plan falls apart in a very dramatic (and embarrassing) fashion. Her life falls apart soon after — thankfully she has a couple of friends.

One of whom is involved in an underground movement to restore the place of actual food in the world and remove the whole food industry that is slowly killing the populace. Cindy starts exercising a bit, eating better — nothing extreme, just basic weight-loss stuff: eat less, move more — focusing on real food, not the SF foodstuff they’re all eating. The diet stuff was worked in pretty well — Werby doesn’t beat you up with it.

Most novels of this type would’ve spent a chapter or two explaining the Tech better, explaining how society got to where it was (who in their right mind starts this?) and is in. Werby just dives in to the problems, to the Tech breaking down and leaves the past in the past. Maybe in other books, I’d want more explanation, I’d want the background, but it works here. Honestly, I’m not sure that I want to know how society got to this point, because I’d like to eat sometime this month, and I might not be able to if she got into it.

The characters were okay. I liked Cindy and just about everybody else — there were a couple of villains who could’ve been better developed. Actually, this is one of the weaknesses of the book — everyone could’ve been a bit better developed. It’s like she took the cake out of the oven 5 minutes early (okay, not the best metaphor for the book, maybe I should’ve said she had us sit down when the bench’s new paint job was allllmost dry). Outside the basic plot and worldbuilding, everything needed just a bit more nuance, filled out a bit.

I enjoyed this book, but it could’ve been a little better. It was enjoyable and kept me interested — and a little horrified once all the pieces were revealed.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for my honest — and belated thoughts. I got it in under the wire for September, but it was supposed to be in August. Ugh. Sorry!

—–

3 Stars

Pub Day Repost: The Purloined Poodle by Kevin Hearne

By HCNewton

On September 30, 2016

In F-J, Fiction, Iron Druid Chronicles, Kevin Hearne, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Purloined Poodle

by Kevin Hearne
Series: Iron Druid Chronicles, #8.5/Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries, #1

eARC, 112 pg.
Subterranean Press, 2016

Read: August 8, 2016

The best and most consistent part of The Iron Druid Chronicles has been Atticus’ Irish Wolfhound, Oberon. Now Kevin Hearne has given us a novella narrated by and starring him, with Atticus in the supporting role. It’s good that he kept the Druid around, because he has the whole opposable thumb thing going for him and can do things like communicate with other people

I thoroughly enjoyed this — the story was good enough to justify the time reading, but Oberon’s voice elevates this to something really special. It is now one of my major Life Goals to hear Luke Daniels do the audiobook of this. If you’ve read an Iron Druid Chronicle or two, you’ll know how good Oberon can be. Read this, you won’t be disappointed.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Subterranean Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.
N.B.: As this was an ARC, any quotations above may be changed in the published work — I will endeavor to verify them as soon as possible.

—–

4 Stars

A Star-Reckoner’s Lot by Darrell Drake

By HCNewton

On September 30, 2016

In Fiction

This book releases this weekend, go pre-order now (well, not now … wait until you read this).
—

A Star-Reckoner’s Lot

by Darrell Drake
Series: A Star-Reckoner’s Legacy, #1

Kindle Edition, 294 pg.
Darrell Drake, 2016

Read: September 22 – 26, 2016

There are few phrases sweeter to readers than “Stand Alone Fantasy.” Sure, most of us really get into series, but the chance to dive into a world and know that there’s a narrative conclusion just a couple of hundred pages away? There’s something very appealing about that. Throw in a world pretty much like nothing you’ve come across before? Sign me up.

Drake brings us into a world of pre-Islamic Iran — full of social mores that are just as foreign to Western readers as anything that the most imaginative novelist could invent, along with a magic system, a belief system, and a host of supernatural beings that are equally novel. Sure, there’s apparently a decent amount of historical research undergirding the fiction — but just coming up with the idea to base something in this world and to do the research will inspire confidence.

Ashtadukht is a star-reckoner for the King of Kings. A star-reckoner is a magic-user who can harness the power of constellations — the power of stars — to perform their magic. Primarily, their duty is to attack divs, demon-like beings at war with humanity. Ashtadukht (this name makes me so glad for copy and paste, incidentally) is a pretty capable (with some provisos) star-reckoner, but has a reputation for being a bit too lenient with some divs. She doesn’t fight the reputation, but when you see the way she deals with a few divs, you start to wonder what it’d look like if she wasn’t lenient.

At some point, her father becomes concerned for her safety and recruits her cousin, Tirdad, to act as her bodyguard. Before this, he was one of the King’s elite soldiers and can do some pretty heavy damage to a div himself. I really liked Tirdad — his growth throughout the novel, his character, his sense of humor, etc. — I really liked this guy. You’ll likely have a similar reaction. He and Ashtadukht have known each other since childhood and act like it — they know the secrets, the tells, the hearts of the other in a way that only old friends can. It’s easy to believe that he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his cousin safe and successful.

The other part of their party is Waray — she’s a problematic character for some, but man, I liked her. She has some verbal tics — running words together, defining things and people as “šo” this and “šo” that (and just uses the ‘š’ in place of an ‘s’ — see my Q&A with Drake for more). Ever since Gurgi in The Prydain Chronicles, I’ve enjoyed the annoying not-totally-human characters (especially those obsessed with food). I think she’s a hoot — and more, there’s a darkness to Waray, to her past and present — along with her loyalty and her penchant for odd pranks.

The banter, the bickering, and friendship between Tirdad and Waray is one of those things that will attract you to this book beyond the setting and plot. The three of them are a great team, a great found-family, watching their relationship is infectious and utterly believable — you can feel the affection they have for each other, and don’t need to be told about it. There are fantasy novels when you’re told that the characters are old friends and you just don’t believe it (or only believe it because it’s mentioned every couple of pages) but here, you see it develop and grow and have no doubts.

The novel follows the trio all over Iran dispatching a div here and there, hunting for the killer of Ashtadukht’s husband (a div) and struggling against her failing health. There comes a point where things evolve past the “monster of the chapter” structure and everything is really tied together — but I can’t get into it without ruining things. It’ll leave your jaw inches from its typical place and the whole book gets more intense from there.

Drake almost never info-dumps, he drops you into this world and lets you figure out what a star-reckoner does, what a div is, etc. Yes, almost every question is answered eventually — but by the time he spells it out of you, you’ve pretty much figured it out on your own. I loved that. There’s a humor, a heart — and some really disturbing violence — throughout this book. The book is sometimes challenging to read, but always rewards the effort. It’s not a perfect book — but it is so satisfying that you overlook it’s shortcomings. I can’t say I enjoyed everything that Drake did in the last few chapters — but I can’t fault him for them. It’s not the ending I wanted, but it’s the ending the novel needed.

I’m afraid I’ll overuse the word imaginative if I tried to describe what Drake has done here in the depth I want to. You haven’t read a fantasy novel like this one before — almost certainly, anyway — but you should.

Besides, anyone who works a Samuel L. Jackson reference into a book about pre-600 AD Iran deserves a read, right?

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post.

—–

A Few Quick Questions With…Darrell Drake

By HCNewton

On September 29, 2016

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction

For the second time this week, sleep won a victory over my finishing a post, so you won’t be reading what I thought about this author’s book (spoiler: it’s something special). Thankfully, however, We get to spend a few minutes with Darrell Drake today before I post my thoughts on his book A Star-Reckoner’s Lot tomorrow–a stand-alone fantasy set in Sassanian Iran (yeah, I had to look it up, too). He’s got like a million things going on in the days leading up to the release this weekend. so we kept things short and sweet so he could focus on the important things. Hope you enjoy.

Bonus technical question: [I don’t normally do this, but I figured it might help readers] What’s that mark over the “s” in Waray’s dialogue? How should readers pronounce that (even in just their heads)?

You’re the first to ask! The mark you’re referring to is a diacritic that goes by the name of caron(ˇ). My original intention was to use an “s” with a line below it, but there arose issues with rendering it on certain devices and in certain file types. All’s well, though, because its replacement (š) serves as the official romanization of the Persian letter Shin, which is pronounced “sh”. Relevant to Sassanian Iran, the second King of Kings to rule the empire was Shapur, which is sometimes written Šapur. In Waray’s case it’s pronounced “sho-“. I figured readers would at the very least realize she pronounces it differently due to the diacritic.

So, you’re on the verge of publishing a book funded by Kickstarter — looking back on it, how was that process? Would you/are you going to do it again? What did you learn from that?

In a word: stressful. It was stressful as all get out. What’s more, I went through the process twice for the same book (about a year apart). The goal set for my initial campaign was a bit too ambitious, and I adjusted accordingly the second time around.

Running a Kickstarter is also very illuminating, because much of what goes on behind the scenes isn’t someone a backer would worry about. It isn’t until you’re in the thick of it that you come to appreciate the work that goes into a campaign (one that intends to deliver anyway). The logistics of backer rewards, trying to reconcile backer rewards with the cost of producing them and what you’re getting from pledges—it’s no small task. You send out many, many e-mails. You get in touch with folks for prospective rewards, for promotion, for research, for advice, for shipping, for packaging, for taxes, for—well, you get the idea. Again, it’s stressful, and so much more than simply throwing some reward tiers together.

While I don’t currently have any plans to do it again, I’d consider Kickstarter for future projects. It’s a powerful platform, and I’d be a fool not to at least consider.

Besides what I mentioned above with respect to what goes down behind the scenes, I’d say it taught me who I can depend on. And that came with some surprises. I have an greater appreciation for those who went out of their way to help on many fronts. These kind souls showed a genuine interest in championing something that’s dear to my heart. Something I’ve toiled over for years. That is no small gesture, and if it were up to me (and not my notoriously unreliable memory), I’d never forget any of it.

Sassanian Iran — I’m sure you’ve been asked before, but I probably won’t be the last: where did you get this idea? Had you previously researched the time/culture — or was this something you had to do after coming up with the idea.

This is where that tenuous memory comes into play. I can give you a general idea, though. Before settling into Sassanian Iran as a setting, I had an idea of the character and her travels. From there, I set off in search of, well, somewhere that stood out. I came across Sassanian Iran in my research into the history of the Middle East—when or where exactly I can’t be certain. But something there led me to the national epic of Iran, the Shahnameh (and later the Hamzanama).

I can tell you with conviction that the former had an undeniable impact on the course of my research. Like any good epic, it delineated the history of Iran, and did so with flair and magic and adventure. Something in there nudged me toward Sassanian Iran. When I learned of its impact on the history of the world, and of the unsung nature of that impact, I delved deeper. In doing so, I found the perfect setting for Ashtadukht. The legends, the culture, the lands, the history: it all fit.

What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that.”?

Breaking Bad ended in 2013, so that counts, yeah? Naturally, I’d like to see success on that scale. More than that, it’s a drama that I sincerely doubt I’ll ever live up to. The narrative is damn brilliant, and riddled with nuances. It’s powerful, it speaks to people, and it is a shining example that a TV series can be art as much as any movie or book.

Figure I should include a book, since I’m an author and all. In this case, I’ll use Guy Gavriel Kay’s River of Stars (without really going through everything I’ve read). He’s a luminary for a reason, one who wields both history and prose better than I ever could. He’s demonstrated as much time and again, but River of Stars is especially beautiful. There’s an earthiness to the characters, a coziness that describes them as real people. They don’t feel the slightest bit fictitious (I realize some are fantasy depictions of real-world figures). He’s a master of his craft. Certainly of historical fantasy.

I’ve often heard that writers (or artists in general) will forget hundreds of positive reviews but always remember the negative — what’s the worst thing that someone’s said about one of your books, and has it altered your approach to future books?

I’m not sure I could pick out the worst thing. I’ve probably tried to bury it for my own sake. But when I first started writing people would often comment negatively on my prose—purple prose, namely. It wasn’t entirely unfounded. Well, I’ve since learned from that, and evolved my writing to work in some of the more inventive words here and there while generally being more relaxed for the most part.

I did have readers sometimes find issues with characters that must have been influenced by their own issues with the world. Too busy trying to find political or social commentary that wasn’t there. I try to avoid that kind of thing.

With your next book on the verge of release, what comes next? Are you neck deep in a draft, or are you waiting for A Star-Reckoner’s Lot to be launched before diving in?

I’m hunkered down with A Star-Reckoner’s Lot, and doing my utmost to make its release a success. Too focused on keeping the book afloat and securing its future to really concentrate on what’s next. Some authors can manage both; I am not one of them. And I don’t want to look back and think that I should have given A Star-Reckoner’s Lot my undivided attention. In most cases, you get one launch. One. If I’m going to screw it up, I don’t want it to be because I wasn’t giving it my all.

Thank you very much for having me, H. C. You brought up some topics I haven’t had the pleasure of discussing, and I’m grateful for the opportunity. May your beard always be full.

Thanks for your time and the answers, Darrel. I hope the launch goes well.

The Failed Fellowship by Michael R. Underwood

By HCNewton

On September 28, 2016

In Fiction, Genrenauts, Michael R. Underwood, Science Fiction

The Failed Fellowship

by Michael R. Underwood
Series: Genrenauts, #5 & 6

eARC, 181 pg.
2016

Read: September 16 – 17, 2016

Her job was to fix the story, not right every little wrong in the entire world.

But was that really enough? If you force someone to work with shoddy equipment and they get hurt every week, eventually, shouldn’t you fix the tool instead of sending them to the doctor? She’d spent the last several months playing the doctor, applying spot fixes along with the team, keeping to the shadows. Help the real hero, delay the problems until the real hero came back.

I want to come back to talk about Leah’s continuing difficulties adopting the right attitude as a Genrenaut, but we’ve got some work to get through first.

A band of intrepid warriors, in possession of a magic artifact carried by the one person capable of stopping a great evil enters a castle and fights through untold numbers of warriors through magic and feats of strength and skill. Only to have the Chosen One killed before they can challenge the leader of the forces of evil. Clearly, not the way this story is supposed to go — which creates problems on Earth Prime, and a need for Angstrom King’s team to come to Fantasy World, get the band back together, and fix the story.

The first thing the team does when they get to the world is track down Ioseph, the wizard who assembled the failed heroes. Leah describes him as:

Gandalf if Gondor had already fallen, Dumbledore facing a fascist wizard state under Voldemort.

Which is a great descriptive line, wholly genre-appropriate. This is Underwood at his best — not that he’s not great in SF or the other genres we’ve seen this season — but in Fantasy, he’s at his strength (see the Ree Reyes series for further examples).

It’s not just Underwood being comfortable, either — one of the first things we learned about Leah is that she’s a big Fantasy Fan. So her being here was is just what she’s been waiting for — and she makes the most of it. She jokes, she fights, she sings (her character is a bard), performs heroic deeds and she eats a lot of stew (while making the requisite snarky remarks about the stew). Everything you want in an epic fantasy novel or game, it’s celebrated and commented on at the same time. It’d be very easy to do a quick edit to remove all the references to other worlds/Genrenauts/etc. and come up with a decent novella-length story here — with a pretty good twist. Thankfully, we don’t have to read that hypothetical edit — we get Leah and the gang guiding us through it.

In addition to the pretty fun story — we get to see these Genrenauts function like a fully formed team — which is not to say they’re perfect, part of it is Leah’s rookie status, part of it comes from the length of time they spend in this world (as we learned last time), and part of it is the uncertainty that the tall woman they’ve been chasing brings to the story. There’s at least one other part, but you have to read the book to learn about it. Roman gets to tell Leah where he came from and what that means, which helps him a lot (the rest of the team, too). King’s and Shirin’s part of the story is the more straight-forward, if for no other reason than their temperaments and experience. Which is not to say that their parts are dull — in fact, one of the best characters from this world (with the obligatory annoying ‘ in his name) comes from their portion of the story.

The focus is, of course, on Leah — she loves being surrounded by a fantasy story and lets the setting get to her. Also, as the opening quotation shows, she’s struggling with her role as a Genrenaut in various worlds. Much like Kirk bristling under the constraints of the Prime Directive, Leah has a hard time adapting her sense of right and wrong to the world and culture she’s in — and I’m not sure she’s getting better about it, maybe she’s getting worse the more comfortable she is with the team. Frankly, I’m glad to see her struggle here, and I’m not sure what side I want her to come down on.

Leah’s now at the end of her probationary status — and if any of the Genrenauts were analyzing their own story, they’d clearly see that this was the end of a narrative arc and that something big was about to happen — enough to close this chapter and lead into a new one. It does, and it’s a doozy. Man, I hope things went well enough on the sales front for Underwood to be able to bring us a second season (if not seven) — I’m more than ready to support the next Kickstarter.

Underwood seemed more confident, a little more willing to have fun with the genre in these entries than he has with the others (not that he’s been all that restrained before). I loved this. When (for example) Leverage was on the air — there were better shows on, but few that I enjoyed as much. Similarly, I’ve read better books this year than The Failed Fellowship or any of the others in this series, but not that many and none have made me as happy reading these. There is one line towards the end of this that made me laugh out loud (and groan, too — Leah has no shame) and if I read an interview where Underwood said he wrote the previous 5 books in this series just to set up this line? It’d be justified.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post — I thank him for it (and for releasing the cover image in time for me to post this without my lousy placeholder).

—–

5 Stars

The Heart of Henry Quantum by Pepper Harding

By HCNewton

On September 26, 2016

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

The Heart of Henry Quantum

by Pepper Harding

eARC, 288 pg.
Gallery Books, 2016

Read: September 15, 2016

“It’s funny—the day started with me thinking about distance and the speed of light—I mean, about how far away from us everything really is, and how it’s impossible to ever truly experience anything in the moment, even yourself. There’s always the mediation of time, of space, of something that comes between the self and everything else. It kind of depressed me. . . . And the thing is, this morning all I could think about was that terrible, terrible distance. And then I ran into this old friend, this old girlfriend actually, and the same feeling came over me—that distance times time equals impossible, if that makes any sense.”

Henry Quantum — there’s a name that just screams for interpretation, doesn’t it? A lot of this book seems to do that — aim for interpretation, for reviewers/readers to talk about the language, the imagery, the science metaphors, etc. It could be argued (I think it’d be wrong, but it could be argued) that more attention was given to that than to plot, characters, and whatnot (i.e., what most people read books for).

There are 4 parts to this book — the first and last are told from Henry’s POV (while being third person, just to be clear), the second from Margaret’s (Henry’s wife), and the third from someone else we meet along the way. Henry’s a would-be novelist and executive at an advertising agency in San Francisco. Henry’s wandering mind is pretty easily distracted, but then will focus intently on something for a little bit, and then go frittering way in some other direction — so we’re told. This is a long-term thing, apparently, but much worse over the last couple of years. It’s December 23, and Henry’s decided weeks ago that the perfect gift for his wife is a bottle of Chanel No. 5, but he keeps neglecting to buy it. Why he doesn’t send an assistant/intern/whatever to do it, or order it online, we’re never told. So, come hell or high water, today he’s going to get the gift.

Just after he does this one thing, and then another, and maybe . . .

Henry’s so oblivious to things that he hasn’t noticed that every woman he’s not married to seems to be attractive and that the woman he is married to wants him gone that day. This is a problem. He’s also oblivious (at least at the beginning) to how bad the state of his marriage is — even though he’s had a lot of evidence,and has worsened the marriage himself. Frankly, I don’t like the guy (as a person, or as a character), I don’t respect him — and I don’t think we’re given much of a reason to see why anyone would. We spend the day with him — up until early evening — and I liked him less and less as the day went on.

Margaret is, quite simply, worse (and no, it’s not because I’m a guy — give the wife Henry’s character/characteristics and the husband Margaret’s, I’d think just as lowly of them). We only spend the middle portion of the day with her, and I was glad to see it end. Honestly, given the trajectory she’s on, her life is about to get much worse, and I don’t see it improving without some major changes. She needs therapy, or at least a good, honest friend (and a better job).

I actually liked the person in part 3 (identity to be withheld for story reasons), and wish we got a lot more time with the character than we did. I fear however, that given the events of the novel and their poor judgment regarding Henry that their life is about to start going in a bad direction.

Through these various points of view about the events of December 23 (wandering around a shopping area, being stuck in traffic, encounters at various eating establishments) we learn a lot about these point of view characters, and explore the heart of Henry Quantum.

Can Pepper Harding write? Absolutely. Are her characters well-rounded, do they seem like they could be more than just characters in a book? Yeah. Are they (with one possible exception) people I’d like to spend any time with? Are they characters I enjoyed spending time with? Nope and nope.

While I’m not going to actively discourage you from reading this — there are some pretty good moments, I’m not really recommending it. This book was a waste of Harding’s abilities and talent and I hope her next project is a better showcase for them, for her sake as well as her readers’.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Gallery Books via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this (really, I mean that, no matter what I thought of the book).
N.B.: As this was an ARC, any quotations above may be changed in the published work — I will endeavor to verify them as soon as possible.

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2 Stars

United States of Books – The Awakening by Kate Chopin

By HCNewton

On September 26, 2016

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, United States of Books

The Awakening

by Kate Chopin

Author: Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit

For Louisiana, Entertainment Weekly says, “Chopin’s early feminist work, which presents a woman carving an identity for herself that has nothing to do with wifedom or motherhood, also serves as an engrossing immersion in the historical worlds of New Orleans and the Louisiana Gulf Coast.”

The Awakening by Kate Chopin is considered by many to be a work of Feminism, published in the early 1900s. Mrs. and Mr. Pontellier appear to have a mutual respect for one another and the relationship many married couples fall into, such as nods and certain looks that are read easily by one another. He is a broker and has very specific ideas about how much attention his wife should pay to the children. But despite their easy way with one another, there is something distant in their relationship, as he feels she does not value his conversation and she tries to tamp down her anguish about only being a mother and a wife.

While summering at Grand Isle, she comes to view their relationship much differently and that of her place in the world. Mrs. Pontellier can see from the actions of other mothers vacationing there that she is much different. She does not worship her children and she does not have all the sophistication of a societal wife. As she becomes aware of these differences, Robert Lebrun begins to pay her special attention, which recalls for her many youthful infatuations. However, when Alcee Arobin crosses her path, things begin to change dramatically for the reborn painter, Mrs. Pontellier.

Edna Pontellier returns to the city and begins to break with tradition, which raises her husband’s eyebrows. Chopin’s work is not so much about the liberation of a woman from societal expectations. It is an introspective look at how we present ourselves to our husbands, children, friends, and greater society. Our inner selves, our true selves — if they ever emerge — are buried deep within our private worlds. For many of us, our true self is only known by us and, in some cases, not even then. Edna has been awakened to her true self and she embarks on a journey to realize it fully.

“She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”

In terms of the setting, it’s clear that they live in Louisiana and music and art are strong cultural elements. The roots of French colonization remain in the area, and many of the people Edna interacts with speak French. Many of these people are definitely from the upper crust as they do little more than socialize, entertain one another, and gossip. The Awakening by Kate Chopin explores the consequences of becoming independent and stripping all pretension, leaving Edna in a solitary world (which mirrors the one she held close prior to her awakening). However, it seems as though Edna fails to evolve, merely bringing her inner world to the surface to find that she cannot survive, rather than exploring what that means and how she should move forward.

RATING: Tercet

About the Author

Kate Chopin was an American novelist and short-story writer best known for her startling 1899 novel, The Awakening. Born in St. Louis, she moved to New Orleans after marrying Oscar Chopin in 1870. Less than a decade later Oscar’s cotton business fell on hard times and they moved to his family’s plantation in the Natchitoches Parish of northwestern Louisiana. Oscar died in 1882 and Kate was suddenly a young widow with six children. She turned to writing and published her first poem in 1889. The Awakening, considered Chopin’s masterpiece, was subject to harsh criticism at the time for its frank approach to sexual themes. It was rediscovered in the 1960s and has since become a standard of American literature, appreciated for its sophistication and artistry. Chopin’s short stories of Cajun and Creole life are collected in Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897), and include “Desiree’s Baby,” “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm.”