The Irresponsible Reader - I Read (a lot) and then Rant, Rave and maybe Review

I didn’t quite finish my post about Kolakowski’s upcoming release last night (read: I wrote 2 paragraphs that probably need revision/expansion). So, let’s revisit this bold crime novel instead.

Payback Is Forever

by Nick Kolakowski

DETAILS:
Publisher: Shotgun Honey Books
Publication Date: March 24, 2022
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 170 pg.
Read Date: March 29-30, 2022

What’s Payback Is Forever About?

Miller’s a thief, a fairly successful one. This comes in handy because he’s not as successful when it comes to gambling. He needs to pay a debt, so he takes a job with a couple of strangers. They betray him, the job goes wrong, and Miller (and the cash) escape without his partners. They don’t know his name or home base, so he figures he’s safe for a little bit.

He’s soon contacted by a figure from his past, Rick Redfield:

“I’ve entered into an arrangement with some… men of violence, shall we say. Which means I need the services of the most violent man I know. Which is you.”

“I’m no bodyguard.”

“No. You’re capable of terrible acts, and that’s the necessary thing here. Besides, bodyguards ask too many questions.”

With the promise of a large payday on the horizon, Miller’s in—and soon finds himself involved with some Nazis who escaped from Germany in the waning days of the war, Nazi hunters, and a few more dead bodies than Miller was prepared to deal with.

Supporting Cast

Miller and most of the characters that he deals with are of a fairly typical sort—you’ll recognize the types easily. They’re interestingly-drawn and well-used, but they’re types.

Then there’s Jill Reilly—she’s Miller’s love interest and is a secretary in the Medical Examiner’s office. Given the proper circumstances, she’d probably make a pretty good Examiner herself—but between the education, she’d need, and the rampant chauvinism in the office, that’s probably not going to happen. Reilly feels like she’s got one foot in the Girl Friday type, but with a rebellious streak that keeps the other foot out of the type.

The other character that stands out as not fitting into a typical mold is Scott, Redfield’s friend who acts as a liaison to the outside world when Redfield needs to stay out of the light. He’s a timid, uncertain man—who needs to use a ventriloquist’s dummy, Colonel Longshanks, to communicate those things that are too much for Scott to handle. Miller has no patience for either of them—but can force himself to work with Scott. The Colonel on the other hand…

There was a moment where I wondered if Scott/Colonel Longshanks would over-take Monkey Man as my favorite strange Kolakowski character. He didn’t, but that he was in the running says something about the character development in this short novel.

The Hidden Agenda

If what I’ve described seems pretty straight-forward, it is. If anyone’s read Kolakowski before, that’s not how he rolls. Right?

There is something else afoot here. I don’t know that it added much (if anything), but it didn’t hurt anything either. Maybe if I was in a different mood when I read this I’d have a more positive take on the “something else,” but right now, I can take it or leave it.

The material with Miller, the Nazis, Nazi Hunters is enough to focus on and keep you entertained. If you happen to get the rest of it, that’s gravy.

So, what did I think about Payback Is Forever?

This feels like the kind of pulpy thrillers from the 1960s and 70s I’ve read—just in a post-WWII setting with a dash of Nathanael West thrown in. It’s a surprisingly effective combination, and I’d have read another 200 pages of it without blinking. Although I do think this lean, mean, streamlined approach is far more effective.

Miller’s absolutely the kind of character you want in this setting—his morality is stuck in the gray—it’s a pretty dark gray, but he’s not a full-on villain. And he’s thinking about reforming, at least a little.

There were two scenes—or parts of scenes—that make this more than a quick, fun read. There’s a visual in the last big gunfight that’s so ridiculous, so comical, in the middle of a big action scene that makes you want a film version immediately (but it may be better in your imagination).

Before that there’s another scene that I can’t describe—you start it assuming X might happen, and yet when X does happen you still sit up and pay attention because you can’t believe that Kolakowski actually did that. And then over the next 3 or 4 paragraphs, the shocking scene becomes something so unexpected that you have to read it a couple of times to make sure you read it right. Cackling while you read it every time makes the comprehension a little difficult.

A solid, stylish thriller with Kolakowski’s style and sense of character is exactly what I needed to read last week, and Payback is Forever delivered. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.

4 Stars

WWW Wednesday—March 4, 2025

By HCNewton

On March 5, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

What a difference a week makes–after talking about a few lackluster (or worse) books at the end of February, I ended the month very strong and the first books of March have continued that streak. It’s a nice place to be.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


The Library Game by Gigi Pandian	Every Tom, Dick & Harry by Elinor Lipman, read by Piper Goodeve

I just started The Library Game today. I thought Pandian had wrapped up this series with the last book, I’m glad to see that I was wrong and I’m eager to see where the series goes from here.

Lipman’s Ms. Demeanor was entertaining enough (although it had its drawbacks), and I’m curious to try something else by her.

What did you recently finish reading?


Perelandra by C.S. Lewis	Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow, read by Wil Wheaton

Perelandra blew me away this week, just as much as it did 20+ years ago when I read it the first time.

A couple of weeks ago in a Saturday Miscellany post, I said something about getting around to trying Doctorow sometime, the manager of Shared Stories told me that I really should start with Red Team Blues. He was right.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind by Alan Jacobs	Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg, read by Eric Conger,Nicol Zanzarella

It’s time for me to wrap-up my review of Jacobs’ trilogy.

And I’ll be tackling Ashes Never Lie on audio. Sharpe & Walker + Eve Ronin = fun.

How’s March starting for you?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Things Nero Wolfe Said*

By HCNewton

On March 4, 2025

In News/Misc., Top X List

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is the Top Ten Things Characters Have Said

If I took that too loosely, I’d spend weeks trying to narrow this down. So I decided to limit it to one character–Nero Wolfe. He’s easily the most quotable character I can think of (with the possible exception of Archie Goodwin, who narrates the Wolfe books). But I didn’t have time to do a thorough job of that, either. But I was able to cobble together a decent collection of quotations. Give me a year, and I’ll come up with something more definitive (or I’ll have a selection of 90+ items and will freeze up in trying to whittle it down).

But first,

Who is Nero Wolfe?

Nero Wolfe, fictional American private detective, the eccentric protagonist of 46 mystery stories by Rex Stout. Wolfe was introduced in Fer-de-Lance (1934).

A man of expansive appetites and sophisticated tastes, Wolfe is corpulent and moody. Detesting mechanized vehicles and disdaining most humans, he is averse to leaving his home for business reasons; he assigns the physical investigations of murders to his associate and friend Archie Goodwin and manages to solve his mysteries without leaving his own confines. Another of Wolfe’s associates is his private chef, Fritz Brenner, who also works as Wolfe’s butler and handyman. Wolfe’s interest in food is equaled only by his passion for orchids: with the aid of Theodore Horstman, he nurtures some 10,000 orchid plants in his rooftop garden.

by: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Nero Wolfe". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Oct. 2012, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nero-Wolfe. Accessed 3 March 2025.

Top Ten Things Nero Wolfe Said * That I Can Think of Without Re-Reading the Corpus

	To me the relationship of host and guest is sacred. The guest is a jewel resting on the cushion of hospitality.
	…with the quarry within reach, the purpose fixed, and the weapon in hand, it will often require up to eight or ten minutes to kill a fly, whereas the average murder, I would guess, consumes ten or fifteen seconds at the outside.
	Man’s brain, enlarged fortuitously, invented words in an ambitious attempt to learn how to think, only to have them usurped by his emotions. But we still try.
	Since I entered this room you have made nothing but mistakes. You were without courtesy, which was offensive. You made a statement contrary to fact, which was stupid. You confused conjecture with knowledge, which was disingenuous.
	I carry this fat to insulate my feelings. They got too strong for me once or twice and I had that idea. If I had stayed lean and kept moving around I would have been dead long ago…I used to be idiotically romantic. I still am, but I’ve got it in hand.
	Maintaining integrity as a private detective is difficult; to preserve it for the hundred thousand words of a book would be impossible for me, as it has been for so many others. Nothing corrupts a man so deeply as writing a book; the myriad temptations are overwhelming.
	I love to make a mistake, it is my only assurance that I cannot reasonably be expected to assume the burden of omniscience.
	Sir, I would not enter a taxicab for a chance to solve the Sphinx’s deepest riddles with all the Nile’s cargo for my reward! Good God. A taxicab…You observe my bulk. I am not immovable, but my flesh has a constitutional reluctance to sudden, violent, or sustained displacement.
	[Dina Laszio] leaned back. “Marko told me once, long ago, that you don’t like women.” Wolfe shook his head. “I can only say, nonsense again. I couldn’t rise to that impudence. Not like women? They are astounding and successful animals. For reasons of convenience, I merely preserve an appearance of immunity which I developed some years ago under the pressure of necessity. I confess to a specific animus toward you. Marko Vukcic is my friend; you were his wife; and you deserted him. I don’t like you.”
	I understand the technique of eccentricity; it would be futile for a man to labor at establishing a reputation for oddity if he were ready at the slightest provocation to revert to normal action.

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PUB DAY REPOST: Don’t Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp: The Last Days of Maggie Dunn

By HCNewton

On March 4, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Don’t Tell Me How to Die

by Marshall Karp

DETAILS:
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: March 4, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 336
Read Date: January 29-31, 2025

A Note of Introduction

I typically stay away from spoilers, but this is one of those books where almost everything I want to say feels like it’s in that general neighborhood. So I use illustrations from other books that are pretty well-known by this point. I can’t think of another way to do it that’s fair to Karp and this text.

What’s Don’t Tell Me How to Die About?

This is one of those novels where it’d be easy to say too much, so let me rely on whoever wrote the jacket copy at Blackstone:

I have one thing to do before I die. And time is running out.

I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.

My mother also died young. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.

I am not letting that happen to my family.

I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.

You’re probably thinking, She’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants”?

The book takes place in three parts: 1. When Maggie and her twin sister were seventeen and was dealing with their mother’s impending death and the events after it. 2. After Maggie’s diagnosis and her trying to implement the above plan. 3. Where the weaknesses in her plan threaten to overtake everything else.

Tone/Humor

For much of this book, it felt like Women’s Commercial Fiction more than anything. But two things kept me from concluding that—1. Marshall Karp is going to write something with a mystery/crime element, period. and 2. that cover image with the blood (or whatever) writing the word “Die.”

Even before I figured out what Karp was up to with this book, it became clear that this fit in more with some of the recent books by Lisa Lutz (particularly The Accomplice)—I’m also thinking of Sascha Rothchild’s Blood Sugar or a restrained Darynda Jones—than it did with a Jennifer Weiner or Abbi Waxman.

So as I was preparing to read this novel, I said that it “looks like a return to his roots” because of some of the blurbs talking about Karp’s humor and so on. When I think of Karp and humor, I think of his Lomax and Biggs series. So that’s what I expected.

I was very wrong. It took less than a couple of pages to realize that this was a different Marshall Karp than I’d ran into before. That’s not an evaluation, that’s a description. Here’s an evaluation: he pulls it off well. Again, see Rothchild or Lutz. The more I think about the Lutz comparison, the more I like it—if you think of the change between her Spellman Files and things like The Accomplice, Karp’s new tone is somewhat similar.

Either way, you’re getting a guy who knows how to write comedy, no matter the flavor. He also knows when to pull back and let the drama take center stage.

Twists/Structure

I know that when it comes to psychological or domestic thrillers the twists are what generate headlines. While I appreciate a good twist as much as the next reader, what’s more important to me is the reveal of the twist. Plots go in strange directions sometimes—it’s how the author prepares the reader for the twist and how the author lets us in on the strange direction.

As an illustration: Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone has a moment when he says that so-and-so enjoyed her final cigarette, or maybe she lit it, or something like that. The phrase “final cigarette” is the important part. Now, the reader has two guesses as to why that phrase is used here—1. She quits smoking after this or 2. She dies. As this is in the middle of a stressful weekend with her ex-husband’s family, with her on the verge of financial problem, her ex is definitely not coming back and is with his new partner, they’re all snowed in, there’s a killer on the loose, and the book isn’t close to ending…you pretty much know how that’s going to go for her. Does that matter? Not really, it’s how Stevenson sets us up for this and then how he shows us how she dies that’s important.

Now I’m not going to spill any of the twists or reveals in this book, but Karp does a few things like Stevenson did—they’re even more blatant, you could say. But he will distract you, make you wait a lot longer for the reveal, and will throw a bunch of red herrings at you (I won’t tell you how often I made a note like, “Oh, is this how he pays off X?” because I’d also have to tell you that I was wrong equally often). I didn’t guess anything right.

He also pulls a few things from seemingly nowhere—but explains them in such a way that you retrospectively say, “of course” or “y’know, that makes sense.”

Maggie

This is one of those books that you’re only going to keep reading (initially, anyway) if you get invested in Maggie, our protagonist/narrator quickly. Other elements might keep you going eventually, but Maggie’s diagnosis, Maggie’s plight (and kooky plan), and character/voice are what’s going to get you to commit.

If you ask me, you’re going to want to commit. You can tell from the beginning that she’s smart. She’s driven. She’s brave (at least in the face of some things…like dying). She loves her family. She’s gone through a lot. She’s pretty funny. (probably pretty, too, but that’s not that important, especially when you see the world through her eyes). You later learn what a good friend she can be and why she was elected.

Now, like a parfait, or an onion, or an ogre—Maggie has layers. I’m not going to talk about those layers because you need to discover them for yourself. But she has them—and you keep learning about those layers as the book continues. Each layer—for me, anyway, and I predict for most readers—got me to like her more as a person (pretty frequently) and as a character (always). Is there a difference? Sure—one extreme example (that doesn’t apply here, but gets my point across) would be Dr. Lecter. Fantastic character, but not someone you’d want to hang out with.

So, what did I think about Don’t Tell Me How to Die?

Is this as good as the first two or three Lomax and Biggs books? Probably not—although it’s been a long time since I last re-read them, also this is a different sub-genre, so I could be wrong. Also, that’s really high bar. Is this better than anything else that Karp has done since then? Yes.

The way that Karp unspooled this was so well done. I sat back and enjoyed the ride more often than I “ought” to have, and didn’t take as many notes and whatnot as usual—I was just into the ride that much that continuing was more important than jotting things down. At least in the moment…I’d be sure to write that idea down, right after this part. Well, maybe the next bit.

I should note that I dipped back in a couple of times while writing this post to fact-check myself and even now I ended up reading a few pages or a chapter when I only needed a clause or a name. Karp just doesn’t want to let me go.

Anyone picking this book up—unless you do it blindly (and even then it’s told to you within a chapter)—knows that Maggie’s mom died almost two decades before these events. And yet—in her final moments, her last personal triumph—I was moved. I shouldn’t care this much about the impending death of a character I knew was long dead. But I did. And again, even though it’s right there in the description, “And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed [“my suddenly single father”‘s] life, mine, and my sister’s,” watching it feels like a traffic accident—you know it’s coming, but you can’t stop watching.

Maggie’s plot, when introduced, feels like a silly rom-com plot that’s going to blow up in her face. And for most of the book, her sister treats it that way. You kind of do while you’re reading, too. It feels like one, you react like one. Then…well, you start to take her seriously. As does her sister, Lizzie (eventually).

Speaking of Lizzie. I really would’ve enjoyed more time with her, she seemed like a hoot and a half. Her kids Katie and Kevin were also the kind of characters you want more of. And if we were looking at any other part of Maggie’s life, we would’ve had more time with all three and we would’ve been perfectly content watching them go through their life. But this book just introduces them, lets us spend some time enjoying them (in pretty un-enjoyable circumstances) and then we just have to imagine the rest of their lives. Which is enjoyable enough.

I feel like I’ve talked around the book a lot, hopefully, I’ve talked about it enough. But I’m not sure what else to say. On March 4, go pick yourself up a copy (or go put it on reserve at your library now, and read it ASAP). Then we can email or chat or something about it and I can say all the things I can’t put here.

Don’t Tell Me How to Die isn’t the Marshall Karp I know, enjoy, and respect. It’s a new flavor of him that I’m getting to know, that I did enjoy and respect. And I can’t wait to see what other sides he has up his sleeve (to torture the metaphor). I’m trying too hard. I’m babbling. Go read this and I’ll shut up. Deal?

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—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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Book Blogger Hop: Weekly Blogging Time

By HCNewton

On March 4, 2025

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

How much time does blogging take out of your life weekly?

Sure, I know technically that Billy is asking something else, but I can’t help but read that as, “How bad is my time management?”

First, I’m not counting reading time. That’s a related, but separate, hobby. At least for the purposes of this post–also, it’ll help the hours stay low.

Secondly–I’m not sure if I should count time sharing, re-posting, and other social media-type interactions to promote this blog and others. That’s kind-of blogging time. But also, not really. I’ve also been bad about that lately. Ideally, I’d say I spend 30-45 minutes each weekday on that. I’d be happy if I spent a half hour a week on it over the last couple of months.

So, now, to the blog. Thirty minutes a day minimum (even when I don’t actually hit “Publish” or “Schedule.”). Three hours a day maximum. That’s 180 minutes-1080 minutes a week. That’s almost part-time job territory on the fuller weeks.

I’m really wishing I hadn’t done this math now, he types, shaking a metaphorical and resentful fist in the direction of Coffee Addicted Writer.

Fellow bloggers, what’s your weekly time look like? Any tips for me? (other than mainlining more caffeine or writing less)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Rock ’N’ Roll Heaven” by Spin Doctors

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader's Music Monday logo

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

Sometimes a silly but catchy song is enough…

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A Few Quick Questions With…Kate Ashwin

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2025

In A Few Quick Questions With...

Earlier today, I posted my thoughts about Ashwin’s Hit the Ground Running, and now I get the fun of presenting this Q&A with the author Kate Ashwin.

Why don’t you take a moment to introduce yourself to the readers, and tell us about your comics, before hitting us with an elevator pitch for Hit The Ground Running?
Heya! I’m Kate Ashwin, and I’ve been getting away with putting stories on the internet for over twenty years now. Comics-wise, I’ve worked for UK kids’ comics such as The Phoenix and The Dandy, and my (award winning!?) Victorian-era wizardy adventure webcomic Widdershins is entirely free to read online at https://www.widdershinscomic.com/ !

Having worked on a bunch of goofy caper comics, I fancied trying my hand at writing a goofy caper novel, and that’s where Hit The Ground Running comes in! It’s an offbeat cyberpunk heist novel about robbing a megacorp’s Christmas party, and it reads kinda like Leverage, but gayer and with more cyberarms.

I can’t/won’t be the first to ask you about the difference between what you’ve been doing for years and novel-writing. Nor the last. So while apologizing for that, I have to. What was the hardest part about the switch and was that what you expected it to be? Is there a different kind of internal reward to it? (if there’s anything else about the differences/similarities you want to ramble about, go for it.)
Hey, it’s a good question! The biggest thing I kept getting tripped up on was dialogue length, oddly enough. When you’re working with comics, you really have to consider how many words fit in a speech bubble and how many bubbles you can fit onto a page. There’s a real economy of space going on to prevent clutter, so I was finding myself automatically “clipping” dialogue to fit non-existent spaces. Didn’t see that one coming! It’s also difficult to adjust your sense of comic timing to no longer include the visual, a lot of the anatomy of how I traditionally crack a joke is in the break between panels, or the facial expressions of the character, so to switch to using turn of phrase for that instead required some thought.

One of the most rewarding parts was the one I was expecting and hoping for–it’s nice to be able to get into a character’s internal narration a lot more, y’know? When you’re drawing out a scene, unless you’re doing something high-concept, a setting will look the same to the character as to the reader since you have to convey a readable sense of space. But when you’re writing it from a character’s perspective, you really get to play around with what they’re noticing in particular, any internal judgments they may be making, and such. This also applies to how they see other characters, too. Happy to report that it’s exactly as fun as I was hoping!

I could probably talk for days on this question in particular, but I’ll save that rambling for another day.

What was it about this idea—out of all of the dozens likely flitting about your mind—that made you say, “yup, this is what I’m going to spend years(?) and thousands of words on.”
Might be kind of a simplistic answer, but I just love heists. I could write heists for years and never get tired of ’em. There’s something in watching a plan come together (or fall apart) that really tickles my brain nicely.

What came first—these characters (or at least a couple of them) or the world/story?
Renji in particular has been kicking about in my head for quite a while now. I love an impulsive rebel, I love a fast-talker, I love someone who notices something is wrong with the world and sets out to do their bit to change it, and that’s all him! A guy who is going to have to shake off a lot of bad habits, but is sure as hell willing to try.

Hanging the series on a heist crew means you already have roles that need filled–the hacker, the bruiser, the stealth expert- so it’s all about building it out from there. Creating an idea for a character, then layering up little quirks and foibles like a love of plants or zines or french press coffee is one of my favourite things to do. I got to write a scene where everyone’s having tea while planning their heist, and deciding what each of their orders would be is how I get my kicks, it turns out.

The setting came kinda naturally–a cyberpunk version of the UK felt like a fairly obvious leap to make, since that’s pretty much just a step or two away from where I live anyway, and while the ol’ “vertical city as class signifier” deal is not uncommon, it’s still a fun one to play with, and there’s just a hell of a lot to say on that front, unfortunately.

This is the point where I like to ask about a supporting character or two that caught my attention. But I can’t pick just one. Truly. So, if you’re in the mood, you pick one that you want to talk about to highlight for a paragraph or two.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t pick Cadence, really. She and her sister Melody are, through circumstances they don’t wish to explain yet, stuck sharing the same body, and neither of them are having a good time with this arrangement. While Melody is the laid-back type, a hacker with a love of 90s pop and garish clothing, her sister Cadence is a furious mess of energy and punches. Her scenes were fun as I do love to write a good punch-up, and her two cyberarms were a fun addition to the usual brawl, but mostly I enjoyed writing her and Renji sniping at each other. Renji has come from a far more privileged background than Cadence, so she very much views him as some rich boy playing at rebel, fully expecting him to cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Renji doesn’t quite grasp the intricacies of this beyond “the mean lady is yelling at me” which leads to some of that good conflict where both sides have a point, which is always the best kind of conflict.

The core of Cadence is her big tangled ball of feelings- she isn’t some cold combat machine, she’s a conflicted mess in this situation where she isn’t even in control of her own body half of the time, stuck with strong desire for vengeance with nowhere to park it because her enemy is an entire city, and she can’t even talk it out with her sister since they physically can’t inhabit the same room.

It’s no wonder she punches so many people.

In lieu of asking questions about a character, I want to talk about two non-characters a. At what point did you start thinking that Renji carting around a potted plant with him everywhere was a good idea (it was, btw)? Is there, in your mind, a point to it?
Oh man, the plant ended up as more of a running theme than I’d intended. While he wouldn’t admit it, Renji steals the thing from the airship because he’s burdened with an inconvenient amount of empathy, and sometimes that peeks out in unexpected ways. He steals it from the airship, where it ought to be doing well enough in the care of the company, and totes it down to the dark lower levels of the city, where it ends up thriving and cared for in a place where society does not expect things to be able to grow. So, yeah, I never met a phor I didn’t like..!

The plant actually nearly made it onto the cover–one of Ben’s sketches included it, but I decided not to go with that one as it made Renji look like he knew a single goddamn thing about plant care.

The sword—primarily the one Renji carries with him, but beyond that, the culture around these people carrying them. It seems so out-of-place, yet so fitting. Where’d that come from?
Searching for a better answer than “Swords Are Cool”, searching…

Ah, there we go, found one. I had the upper class of this setting carry swords and enact duels because it’s such a ridiculous bit of history that seems to happen whenever there are people with too much cash and not enough to do. There used to be something of a trend for “dueling scars”, to the point where people would even have them added intentionally to their own faces, and that’s just an intoxicating bit of nonsense, isn’t it? It felt kinda right to have that included, but based more around cyber arms, implants, etc. It also leaves a little more room for close combat than an excess of guns might, and simply feels like a more natural fit for a city-state that’s physically attached to the UK.

As for the sword Renji had in this book, it mostly just tickled me to have him steal the thing despite having little to no idea how to use it. Will he get better at swordfighting? I’m led to understand that it takes years of diligent practice, so the odds… are not great.

What’s next for Kate Ashwin, author? Does that depend on the reaction to Hit The Ground Running or are you already neck deep in your next project or five?
The reaction’s been good, but a little quiet- part of that is my insistence on writing for a very quiet genre, though, so that’s on me, but getting an independent book in front of people is even harder than getting an independent comic in front of them, it turns out!

All the same, I have another book or two planned out for this series, and would very much like the encouragement to get stuck in on those. The second one will be from Melody and Cadence’s point of view, and would include corporate espionage, cyborg assassin romance, and infiltrating a robot wars tournament, so obviously I very much do want to write it..!

Otherwise, I’ve been picking at a standalone spy vs spy romance novel; and my webcomic Widdershins is going to be wrapping up in the next year or two with its eleventh and final book, so that is going to be a hell of a feeling. Which feeling in particular, I am not sure, but it will very much be felt.

Thanks for your time and participation! I hope Hit The Ground Running finds its audience—I had a lot of fun with it!
Thank you! So did I!

A Few Quick Questions

Cover Reveal: The Dreams of Dust and Steel series—The Price of Power and A Graveyard for Heroes by Michael Michel

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2025

In Fantasy

I’m very pleased today to welcome the Cover Reveals for Michael Michel’s upcoming new editions of his series, The Dreams of Dust and Steel— series: The Price of Power and A Graveyard for Heroes to this patch o’ cyberspace this morning! I’ve been looking forward to reading these books for too long now, I’m glad that I waited until now. Before the main event, let’s learn a little bit about the series, the new edition, and author, shall we? It’ll just take a moment, and then we can all take a peak at the cover.

About the Books:

Loss. Redemption. Grief. And the dangers of belief.

Prince Barodane could not hold back the darkness. Not even in himself. He laid an innocent city in its grave and then died a hero.

In his absence, war whispers across the land.

Power-hungry Highborn dispatch spies and assassins to the shadows as they maneuver for the throne, while an even greater threat rises in the South. Monsters and cultists flock to the banners of a mad prophet determined to control reality…and then shatter it.

Destiny stalks three to the brink of oblivion.

A dead prince that isn’t actually dead. Barodane buried his shameful past in a stupor of drugs, drink, and crime, and now, he’d rather watch the world fall apart than wear a crown again.

An orphan with hero’s blood who is forced to make a harrowing choice: betray her country or sacrifice her first love.

And a powerful seer who has no choice at all–her grandson must die.

If any of them fails to pay the price…

The cost will be the world’s complete annihilation.

“Dreams of Dust and Steel has the feel of a muddy boot heel, and the size and scope of the classics. Here, pain can be turned into magic powers, and the price of success is often worse than failure. This is Game of Thrones meets X-Men, and it’s as rooted in spirituality as it is steeped in bloody violence. A character-driven epic–that once finished–will span five books, a million words, and birth a dozen other analogous works you won’t want to miss.”

“During a dark prophet’s rise to power, fate calls on four heroes to sacrifice everything they love…or face oblivion.”

The New Edition

The Dreams of Dust and Steel series launches April 2nd, 2025 with The Price of Power in eBook and paperback. It features custom chapter header icons, a dramatis personae, new covers, and a fancy new map.

There’s an ARC application form for those who’d like to read and review The Price of Power here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VcbEGJ5Tan9veDzoafBAqzKW5hBWbSVdz20uShussg0/viewform?edit_requested=true

About the Author

Michel lives in Bend, Oregon with the love of his life and their two children. When he isn’t obsessively writing, editing, or doing publishing work, he can be found exercising, coaching leaders in the corporate world, and dancing his butt off at amazing festivals like Burning Man. His favorite shows are Dark, The Wire, Arcane, and Norsemen. He loves nature and deep conversations. Few things bring him more joy than a couple of hours playing table tennis.

p style=”text-align: center;”>Website ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Goodreads

and now…

The Covers

cover for The Price of Power by Michael Michel
cover for A Graveyard for Heroes by Michael Michel
Don’t those look great? The Cover Art & Typography are by Christopher Cant and Rachel St. Clair. They did a bang-up job if you ask me.
Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

Hit The Ground Running by Kate Ashwin: 2 Jailbreaks, 1 Heist, 1 Outrageous Utility Bill, and 1 Potted Plant.

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2025

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Be sure to come back in a couple of hours for a Q&A with Kate Ashwin.

Hit the Ground Running

by Kate Ashwin

DETAILS:
Series: No Loose Ends, #1
Publisher: Kate Ashin
Publication Date: November 11, 2024
Format: eBook
Length: 314 pg.
Read Date: January 25-29, 2025

You, like me, may assume that all Cyberpunk novels are set in joyless dystopias, where the neon lights and other brightly colored signs shine out against a gray and raining night (like every scene with Rick Deckard walking on his way to get some food). You’re largely correct. But what if I told you that didn’t have to be the case? Well, read on…

It was around 10 p.m. on a Thursday when Renji thought he might have a go at breaking out of prison. This idea was terrible for several reasons.
One, the prison in question was an Imperium International Forces Containment Facility, the kind widely reputed for being near-impossible to escape. Two, said facility was an airship in flight some fifty storeys above solid ground. The third, and perhaps most important reason was that he wasn’t even a prisoner, he was a guard.
But to I.I. Forces Cadet Renjiro Starkweather, the young man leaning out of the mess hall kitchen’s window to sneak a crafty cig, these reasons didn’t seem quite good enough to not at least have a try.

What’s Hit The Ground Running About?

Renji really doesn’t belong in the Forces—he doesn’t have the mindset, the discipline, any interest at all in serving, But he does have an Aunt who did most of the work in raising him. She’s rich, she’s powerful, she’s overly-indulgent of Renji, but she also has expectations. Hence, his presence in the Forces (which he probably would’ve washed out of already, if not for her influence).

But Renji’s at his breaking point, and he probably would’ve made an attempt at escape if not for the fact that he quite inadvertently interrupted an attempted jailbreak. The downside to this is that he ends up in custody with the jailbreakers—who turn out to be affiliated with a group Renji has been cheering on. They’ve recently released a lot of really embarrassing information about the Imperium International Corporation and other leaders of the city of Unity, in a WikiLeaks-type move. It didn’t do the damage anyone was really hoping for, but it did make a splash and get some people talking.

Okay, I’m taking too long here—Renji and the others (with some help from a super-competent hacker/”gal in the chair”) do eventually escape from the Facility in quite the flashy way, but without everyone they hoped to bring along with them. And Renji ends up visiting a part of the city of Unity he’s not that familiar with, Buried—it’s the part where the workers that support the corporation and government live (as well as their families, the unemployed, and whatnot). If you think of the city of Unity as The Titanic, this would be the third-class passenger area, but not as nice.

Renji wants to throw his lot in with the group, the Loose Ends. He wants to fight back against I.I., not out of any real outrage against them. But he thinks it’d be a fun adventure, and he does want to see things get better for the citizens down below—and to take I.I. down a peg or two. They’re leery of taking him on (mostly because they can tell his motives are shaky and he’ll probably get going when going gets tough—and not in the good way). But when a crisis hits, Renji comes up with a plan that just might work.

It’s nutty, it’s risky (mostly for him), but if he can pull it off with a little assistance from the Loose Ends and an older, battle-tested temporary ally of the Loose Ends, a lot of good can be done and the crisis could be averted.

The Characters and World

So the villain of this book is really “the System” as represented by Imperium International Corporation (and as you get to know them, you’ll be able to imagine any number of mega-corps of today turning into them).

But we get a few representatives of The System to focus on—nothing more than low-level hench-persons really. But higher-level reps will have to wait for the sequels. Primarily, we’re looking at Renji’s sergeant and three fellow-cadets who absolutely are not Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. But they do fit the same character types that those three do. All four of these antagonists are the kind you will enjoy seeing foiled—even if they are the bottom of the rung, you’ll have a lot of fun seeing Renji go up against them. Especially when he comes out on top.

The heroes—sort of a rag-tag rebel group (who really aren’t trying to overthrow anyone, just trying to survive). They’re a hodge-podge of ages, temperaments, and skills. You will almost instantly like them—while wanting to ask so many questions about all of them. I’m tempted to talk about all of them for a sentence or two, but that would get old. But I like their internal dynamics, I like them as individual characters and cannot wait to see Ashwin develop them all. They also have a number of allies—from people who work in food stalls, to a club owner, to a strange medic/tech repair duo. Really, the Loose ends and the allies we meet in this book deserve a short story or two each, just to give them a chance to shine. (Ashwin, if you see this post and run with it—no need to cut me in, the results will be reward enough. Unless this lands you a TV deal or something.).

Then there are the largely nameless and faceless people in Buried. They suffer due to what I.i. does. They have to deal with any retaliation that comes down due to Loose Ends. We don’t see much of them, but we get to meet their Community Council (even in a dystopia, lower-level government officials are petty and useless, good to know some things are constants). There’s enough citizens, and enough grudges, seen that Loose Ends will have a steady supply of potential allies in future books (and probably future turn-coats, but let’s focus on the positives).

Unity City, once-upon-a-not-too-distant time, was the city of Steelpool, which the corporation bought from a struggling U.K. government to act as its wold headquarters. It’s from Unity that I.I. can distribute it’s Internet programming, sell and market its products, and so on. Mid-level Executives on up, live there. The workers, support staff, their families, etc. are stuck in Buried.

Is This Actually Cyberpunk?

“Please, look at him. He’s even worse of a blagger than you. He looks like he’s gonna sell you life-coaching advice through the internet.”

“Does not.”

“Does too. He’s a budget vampire. That’s a bargain bin Dracula, that is.”

“You are not being a very supportive friend right now.”

“I’m not supportive. Or your friend. Besides, actual supportive friends would tell you when you’re dating an evil executive from a shitty Robocop sequel. He looks like he’s going to have his plans to bulldoze the zoo foiled by some plucky teenagers.”

It’s being marketed as cyberpunk. But I think a lot of readers are going to bump up against the tone—the humor, the snark, the optimism that Renji brings and wonder about that.

If you look at the tech (which I haven’t done a good job of describing), the merger of corporation/government/city-state military, the dystopian nightmare that most of these people endure. You’ve got yourselves the making of a decent cyberpunk reality. But what about tone?

But you’ll be grinning throughout this book, there’s some good laughs, there are some goofy moments, and so on. How does that fit with William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s Mirrorshade vision? Can you do a non-noir cyberpunk? I think yes. Think of Snow Crash while Hiro is a pizza delivery driver (sure, that’s post-cyberpunk), some of Rudy Rucker’s work, and …a couple of others I suddenly can’t think of the names of. There are even bits of Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy that are about this amount of fun. So yeah, it’s an outlier, but it’s not without precedent.

I only bring this up because I’m pretty sure there are some purists who’d complain about this. People who ignore the whole “punk” part of the aesthetic, no rules, etc. I really don’t care what others think. I’ll take a cyberpunk that makes me grin any day (especially now).

So, what did I think about Hit The Ground Running?

“Stopping them.” The tired look in Minjun’s dark eyes seemed as though it came from a much older man. “This isn’t afable with some terrible dragon for the heroes to hunt down, or a magic combination of words that will break the overlords’ evil spell. This is a city, a society, an ecosystem with problems embedded in its very roots. How exactly do you stop a society?”

This is a heist novel and I wait until now to talk about a heist? What is wrong with me? It’s an audacious plan with a great and benevolent pay-off. Naturally, as any self-respecting heist story demands—it goes awry. The reader knows that even before Renji outlines his plan—the questions are: how does it go awry, and how do our heroes respond? All I’m going to say about that is that I’m eager for book 2 in this series.

This is a fast-moving story with a lot of moving pieces—Ashwin keeps the plates spinning just fine and moves the story along just fine. This is so hard to talk about without getting into the details of the heist, the character twists (of the two bigger ones, I saw one coming miles away and the other took me totally unawares) were revealed with panache, or anything else.

Ashwin’s been storytelling for a long time in graphic novels, she knows how to tell a story and bring characters to life. Turns out she can do that just as well with words as she can do with pictures and words (or so I assume, I haven’t dipped a to in to that yet).

There’s a bit of a budding romance (or is it just a lust story?) that acts as a great distraction for Renji, too. That didn’t do much for me, I thought we had enough other things to keep the story going—but it’s a good plot complication—and who knows, maybe it lays the groundwork for something better.

This is a quick read. A fun read. There are so many bits and pieces I’d call out here, but you should read them for yourselves.

If you’re up for a good time (even if cyberpunk isn’t your thing—just think of it as snarky SF), you’d do yourself a favor to give this a whirl. I need to see what comes next, and I expect after your introduction to the Loose Ends, you will, too.

God of All Things by Andrew Wilson: Ordinary Stuff also tells of the glory of God

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2025

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

God of All Things: Rediscovering the Sacred in an Everyday World

by Andrew Wilson

DETAILS:
Publisher: Zondervan
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Format: Paperback
Length: 202 pgs.
Read Date: January 12-19, 2025

But instead [God] made a universe filled with things. Objects. stuff Planets, weather, colors, animals, vegetables, minerals. People, complete with noses and kidneys and bodily fluids. It is Curious: an immaterial and entirely spiritual God created a thoroughly material and physical world. Perhaps it should surprise us more than it does…

For Paul in Romans 1, creation reveals God’s invisible power and divine nature. Few of us can stand in front of the Grand Canyon or see a high-definition picture of the Horsehead Nebula without wanting to praise somebody or something for the majesty of what is before us. Some of us will suppress that urge. But those of us who don’t and allow the song of gratitude to swell within us like a storm will find ourselves concluding all sorts of things about our Maker. The God of the Sahara must be vast, boundless, and expansive. The God of quarks must have an unimaginable eye for detail. The God of wombats must have a sense of humor. Everything in creation has theological implications, and one of the joys of being human is figuring out what they are.

What all of these answers have in common is the fact that creation points beyond itself. Things ‘exist not for their own sakes but to draw us back to God. In Augustine’s image, the gifts of God in creation are like a boat which takes us back to our homeland: a means of transport which we can {and should} celebrate but never mistake for the destination itself. C. S. Lewis talks about following the sunbeams back to the sun so that we enjoy not just the object of goodness but the source of good. Creation preaches to us. The things of God reveal the God of things.

What’s God of All Things About?

That extended quotation from the Introduction is basically the foundation for this whole book (he does expand it a little from there). God made things. He uses those things to point to Him in various ways. This book takes 30 of the common, everyday things in this world and shows us (some of) the ways that they pointed to God and His redemptive work in Scripture—fifteen items per testament.

I won’t list all thirty things that get a short chapter devoted to them, but to give you an idea some are: earthuqakes, tools, honey, donkeys, flowers, pots, viruses, and flowers.

An Example

I really don’t know the best way to describe how Wilson approaches these items (although I don’t want to sound like every chapter follows the outline), so here’s a paragraph and change from Chapter 3, “Pigs: The Welcome of God”:

As gentiles, by nature unclean and separated from Israel ourselves, we can feel a certain sympathy for [pigs].

That is not where the similarity between pigs and gentiles stops. The first person who ever preached the gospel to gentiles was the apostle Peter, and he did so only because he saw a vision of a sheet full of unclean animals (Acts 10:9~16)—a vision in which, we may assume, pigs played a starring roleand heard a voice telling him to eat them, since “what God has made clean, do not call common” (v. 15). Non-Jewish people like me got baptized only because Peter saw a bunch of pigs and other unclean animals, and then saw a bunch of gentiles, and then saw the resemblance. “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation,” he explained to the gentiles who had invited him over for a visit, “but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (v. 28). That’s a nice way of putting it. Even Peter, not always the most diplomatic of the apostles, had the good manners not to mention that his hosts were the equivalent of a sheet full of pigs, scallops, and snakes.

Not only does that give you a little hint of Wilson’s voice, but it gives a flavor of his approach. That’s from the Old Testament portion, but he’s invoking Peter and events from the New Testament. He looks at the use of whatever item throughout the canon, showing how they’re used in the primary texts he’s considering, what they say about God, they say about redemption and people.

Strengths

There are several, really. Some of the chapters (like Rainbows) seem pretty obvious in the aim and content. The chapter on the Wind, on the other hand, went in directions I wasn’t expecting. But beyond that, what he did in a few pages to describe the work of the Spirit—particularly the discussion of “being filled with the Spirit”—was so rewarding.

The chapter on Salt was also helpful—if only for the discussion of how metaphors can have several interpretations and meanings at the same time. As anyone who has ever heard more than one sermon on Matthew 5:13 knows too well, it’s ripe for interpretation. Wilson wisely encourages readers to embrace the probability that Jesus meant more than one thing by the metaphor of salt.

So, what did I think about God of All Things?

We worship a God of things. The cosmos is filled with them: everyday, mundane, quotidian, humdrum, ordinary things. Sometimes they delight, sometimes they exasperate, and sometimes they escape detection altogether, but whether quietly or loudly, they insistently point beyond themselves to the God who made physical stuff. Everything in creation tells us something about our Creator.

More than once on The White Horse Inn, I heard Rod Rosenbladt say, “God likes stuff [or matter], he made it.” It’s this notion—reflected in this quotation here, or the one that kicked off this post—that is too easily forgotten by modern Christians who (like many others in the last 100+/- years) have adopted a quasi-Gnostic attitude toward matter and spirit. So any book that seeks to remind anyone of that deserves attention.

In many ways, this reminded me of Finding God in the Ordinary by Pierce Taylor Hibbs. But where Hibbs looked at things around him and used them to launch his thoughts God-ward, WIlson looks at things around people in the Bible and uses them to take in the themes from Scripture and launch thoughts God-ward from there. Similar ends, similar means—just slightly different starting points. I’m not suggesting one is superior to the other in any way. In fact, I’m trying to work both exercises into my own life.

It’s a quick read, it’s a fun read (Wilson’s gentle wit and fairly mainstream pop culture references are nice for that), it’ll likely cause you to think of a few things you haven’t before, or will be a reminder that it’s not just the big things in nature that testify to the glory of God (the heavens, stars, and so on), it’s the little things, too (salt, lilies, sparrows, falling hairs)—and things in-between. I recommend this for your attention, it’s fit for High School (maybe younger) and up. Which probably includes you, reader.

3 Stars