Posts from 2015 :: Page 4

Weston Ochse’s GRUNT LIFE (EBR Review) was one of my favorite novels released in 2014. It was also one of the finest Military SF novels I’d read, and I’ve been anticipating the sequel ever since. After the follow-up novel, GRUNT TRAITOR (Amazon), arrived I took it with me on a plane trip… and ended up reading the whole novel that day.

To put it mildly, GRUNT TRAITOR was a page-turner.
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Seven hundred years ago humans took to the stars after Earth’s resources could no longer support the population. The colonist ships headed to different systems and lost communication with each other. Until one fateful day when tug captain Alex Racine discovers a derelict ship of unknown origin. He quickly learns that the ship is run by an AI, that some of the crew are in stasis… and that it came from a completely different system from his own. The superior technology fascinates him and he assumes it must be alien, until the crew are awakened by the AI computer and he discovers that they are descendants from another Earth colony ship.

And that the reason their ship was damaged and many of their crew dead is because aliens had attacked them.
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There’s something so incredibly satisfying about reaching the end of a great series. Fourteen books (and a few short stories) of Kitty, Cormac, Ben, et al. We’ve come to know and love these people, their friends, and the work they do for the greater good. And now they have to try to save the world.
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After the exciting events of GIDEON SMITH AND THE MECHANICAL GIRL (EBR Review), Gideon has been dubbed the Hero of the Empire by Queen Victoria, and sent off on quests that only heros can accomplish. Gideon isn’t quite sure what it means to be a hero, other than his stories end up in the penny dreadful World Marvels & Wonders, as recounted by Mr. Bent, the journalist who follows Gideon around.

The one assignment Gideon is waiting for is the one that means he can search for the missing brass dragon Apep and the clockwork girl he loves, Maria. He gets his chance when Apep is spotted over Texas, and Gideon heads toward America.
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I was flipping through the TV channels recently and saw that “Fried Green Tomatoes” was playing. I’d never seen the show before (travesty, I know, I plan to rectify that soon) so I stayed and watched for a while. I was coming in about midway through the show and there was a scene where two young women were sitting in an otherwise empty restaurant talking about some of the problems in their lives. In a very few minutes, I felt like I knew these two women and where they had come from. What and who they were, at their core. It was brilliant and seemingly effortless. It was in the same incredibly simple and beautifully elegant way that the story in this novel began with two young women talking to one another in a bar about the pieces of their lives, and I knew at once that I was going to enjoy this book.
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As Larry Correia’s biggest fan I’ve been looking forward to his fantasy debut for a while now. If I remember properly he’s been teasing fans, talking about it on his blog for a couple years now at least. Judging by how incredibly large scale Larry’s urban fantasy and alternate history novels have been I’ve been eager to see what he could do with straight up fantasy. I can happily say that SON OF THE BLACK SWORD (Amazon) will not disappoint the Monster Hunter Nation and it will also likely earn Larry a lot of new fans from the fantasy genre.

Here’s the plot synopsis: After the War of the Gods, the demons were cast out and fell to the world. Mankind was nearly eradicated by the seemingly unstoppable beasts, until the gods sent the great hero, Ramrowan, to save them. He united the tribes, gave them magic, and drove the demons into the sea. Yet as centuries passed, Gods and demons became myth and legend, and the people no longer believed. The Age of Law began.

Ashok Vadal has been chosen by a powerful ancient weapon to be its bearer. He is a Protector, the elite militant order of roving law enforcers. No one is more merciless in rooting out those who secretly practice the old ways. Everything is black or white, good or evil, until he discovers his entire life is a fraud. Ashok isn’t who he thinks he is, and when he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, the consequences lead to rebellion, war—and destruction.
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Claire Connolly lives in a New Orleans we wouldn’t recognize. Seven years ago the veil between our world and the world of magic was ripped open. The paranormal waged war on humans, but the humans won and repaired the veil. The paranormals left behind were rounded up and interned in what they call Devil’s Isle, where they aren’t allow to use their magic. Some humans exposed to magic become Sensitives, and if discovered are immediately taken to Devil’s Isle, where the magic eventually burns their minds and they become wraiths.

Claire inadvertently discovers that she’s a Sensitive, but hides her ability, risking not learning to control her ability–she doesn’t want to be sent to Devil’s Isle. Despite being careful, she’s seen using her powers by Liam Quinn, but fortunately he decides to help her. But that’s a risk in itself, because Claire knows little about Liam or his motives.
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Charlie is worried. Ever since his father died a few years ago, he constantly worries about everything. Will he fall asleep in his soup and drown? Will his toes freeze off if he forgets to wear his socks? But Charlie’s sister Georgie loves an adventure, and unlike her brother doesn’t think about the consequences.

So when Grandmother Pearl invites them to visit, Georgie thinks it will be an exciting adventure. However, Charlie knows that they don’t have a Grandmother Pearl, that both their mother and father’s parents are long dead. But mother seems to be in a stupor and Charlie can’t snap her out of it. With mother needing medical care, the children have no choice left but to go, and they head to granny’s.

And discover that everything Charlie worries about is nothing compared to what awaits him at grandmother’s house.
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How often is it that you come across a horror story (novel or even movie for that matter) where the main POV character has both drive and motive for doing the things that make us go, “Oh please, don’t go in there. Just please… NO!” Instead offinding these words bubbling from my lips, however, I frequently find myself saying, “Why are they going in there again? Do they WANT to die a horrible, gruesome death?” There are relatively few instances of the former that I’ve come across, and I just wish there were more. Makes horror stories so much better when they do. The only example that I could think of, in fact, was the movie “The Ring.” Can you think of any others? Drop a comment here, if you do. I’d love to find me some really good horror. In the meantime, there’s this one, and it ain’t half bad.
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Camellia is a high school sophomore who lives with her adopted mother, who happens to be a witch. But witches are only ever wicked, as evidenced by the spell Cam saw the witch perform when Cam was five years old. She still doesn’t like to talk about it.

Growing up with a witch stinks, since their M.O. for child rearing includes really terrible punishments. Like turning fingers into noodles. Or turning the child into a pile of rotten tomatoes for the afternoon. And forcing them to gather weird ingredients such as goats blood, pigs ears, and… eggplant?

But now the witch is planning to take over the town using Phoenix fire, and needs Cam’s help to manage the demon she summoned in order to do it. Cam wants to undermine the witch’s plans AND pass her Algebra test at the same time, but she’s not sure that’s possible.
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