Brian Martinez's Shallow Veins is a Halloween Must-Read!

With Halloween fast approaching, I decided that it's time to unearth a few indescribable horrors.

Creatures from the dark beyond.

Great, powerful entities

Capable of decimating human society.

I was surprised when I actually found that very thing!

Shallow Veins is the first book within the Obscured series, a horror/ dark fantasy written by Brian Martinez.

So what's it about?

Newly divorced, alcoholic officer Franklin Butcher has transferred to Shallow Creek in hopes of getting as far away from his ex-wife, and the pain attached to their divorce, as possible. Becoming a small town cop is the perfect way to accomplish this - or so he thinks. 

But there's more to Shallow Creek than he knows. When the owners of a recently bought house call the police to complain about a missing plumber - one that seems to have vanished without a trace - Butcher marks the incident as nothing important. Just a neurotic couple adjusting to their new surroundings. 

But then his partner disappears, as well, and Butcher begins to realize that the town of Shallow Creek is is riddled with more secrets than he ever could have dreamed.

I'm going to start out by giving one simple statement:

Holy crap, this ebook rocks!!!

Not just a little, either. I very nearly ended up making my daughter late for school, because I was so deeply entrenched in this novel that time seemed to move at a much faster rate than normal. I'd swear that only 5 minutes had passed while I was reading...

If it wasn't for the fact that my clock said it was fifteen.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, I've finally found another

Treasured Tome!!!

This one had me in its grip from the first chapter. It's not often that a writer can get my heart beating rapidly and cause me to hold my breath within the first chapter. Add to that the fact that I had absolutely nothing to be scared of, something I discovered before the chapter ended.

Seriously. All I'm going to say about that is... Dumb grasshopper.

I'm still embarrassed about that one.

I do need to warn you, though, that this ebook is graphically violent. It's not something I'd recommend for anyone with a weak stomach. The creature - creatures? - within this novel are disturbingly grotesque.

Martinez has a talent for timing and pacing, and his ability to lead the reader from one chapter to the next without coming up for air is absolutely skillful. I found that I didn't just want to keep reading - I needed to keep reading. Martinez is not one to waste words, choosing each one with care.

The funny part?

I didn't expect to enjoy this one so much. I liked the first few paragraphs enough to give Shallow Veins a shot, but I figured it would just be, well, 'kind of good.' I thought it'd be a book that would make me say, "Yeah, this is nice, but I was expecting more."

I tend to do that with books that I would classify as horror.

I tend to roll my eyes at the cliches, internally throttle the characters that always make the same stupid decisions, and scream at them, seeing every choice they make as completely useless, remarkably ignorant, and overused.

Martinez, though, seems to realize that. Every time a character did something that I'd be frustrated with, he'd point that very fact out in some way, thereby making what would normally seem ridiculous appear to be the only option.

I flipping LOVED that.

Shallow Veins is billed as a dark urban fantasy, and I agree with that choice, though it would appeal to a larger group of readers, as well, since it shares some classic horror traits:

• a house with a mysterious background
• a priest that sees the truth while everyone else is oblivious
• dark, evil creatures
• Unending suspense that causes a reader to hold his or her breath
• The dumb woman that makes bad choices

Yeah... I had to add that last one in. Let's be realistic - women making stupid choices is a pretty big staple of the horror genre. There's a reason that spoofs all use that to their advantage, after all.

And before you push the idea of reading this ebook aside because of it, I want to remind you of what I mentioned earlier: he made ridiculous choices appear to be the only necessary ones.

Also... the dumb woman I refer to actually has some pretty good reasons for the stupid choices she makes, making her the, uh... well... not-so-dumb woman? I really liked her.

Just trust me.

Or don't.

But do read this one. It has mention of cruel gods from other realities within its pages, complete with their descendants, which would satisfy those of us that enjoy dark fantasy, and it has grotesque and terrifying creatures with the ability to destroy an entire town, which makes horror fans smile with satisfaction.

It's a win-win situation.

And it's a Treasured Tome. Don't forget that part. I haven't selected one of those for a while. This one is a Must-Read.

And it's just in time for Halloween. It's even set during the days right before Halloween, which makes it a perfect choice. So get this ebook. Read it. Enjoy it.

Yes, I'm being pushy.

But I really flipping loved this one! And that's what a Treasured Tome is: an ebook that I can't stop trying to get people to read.

Because it's that good.

And because I'm that crazy about it.

Shallow Veins can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

Steven Montano's City of Scars: a Vividly Dark Journey for the Reader

It's been a while since I've reviewed...

Something Dark.

Something that makes the heart bleed.

Something morbidly fascinating.

We all need something that shakes us to the core, that makes our blood run cold. At least once in a while, anyway. So when I opened this latest ebook, I was quite ready to go through the emotional turmoil a dark fantasy brings with it.

City of Scars is the first installment of The Skullborn Trilogy, a dark fantasy written by Steven Montano.

So what's it about?

Roughly thirty years ago, the brutal Blood Queen's reign over the world ended, and now the empires are trying to rebuild lands that have become virtual wastelands. It's a slow process, and cities are overrun with cartel turf wars and general lawlessness.

Fallen knight Azander Dane is no stranger to the criminal life, having taken his own fair share of mercenary jobs as he traveled from one city to the next. Unfortunately, he may have gotten in a little too deep after accepting a job from the Black Guild: Hunt down the bloodspeaker witch Ijanna and bring her back to the Iron Count.

In Ebonmark, the City of Scars, Dane finds himself at the center of a battle between cartels, cults, and the Jlantrian Empress herself, and sees no hope of coming out on top... or even alive. 

My description really doesn't do this ebook any justice.

This one is dark. I don't just mean a little dark. I mean oh-my-god-what-am-I-reading-I'm-going-to-give-myself-nightmares dark. My description doesn't make that very apparent.

But, come on. 

Think about it. You all know that I'm generally more of a unicorns and fairies person, mixed with a healthy amount of aliens and cybernetics for good measure. Dark fantasy isn't exactly my strong point when it comes to descriptions. I write holiday fantasy stories, after all!

Yet I really love reading the gritty, soul-wrenching stuff, as well, and there was plenty of that in this ebook!

The visuals in City of Scars were hypnotic. It's very easy to believe you're smelling the rot, agonizing over the injuries, seeing the blood mists (nasty stuff, blood mist!), and hearing the magically engineered machinery as it prepares to devastate everything in the vicinity.

Yeah. Definitely not a YA novel!

Montano paints a bleak picture of a world in ruin. It's a world in pain. The very fabric that all life spawns from is being depleted.

But Montano also gives us hope. He surrounds us with terrifying, even disgusting images, yes, and he paints a very dark and depraved picture of humanity...

But he also gives us reason to smile.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does we feel a desperate need to cling to those sudden moments of tenderness. Montano shows us that while it's rare, people can sometimes rise above the prejudices they've been raised with. He shows us that even such solid feelings as hatred and loathing are not absolute, and a single individual can reshape ideas that are deeply entrenched in us.

Montano shows us the beauty of humanity by revealing our ugliness.

That's flipping awesome!

I think this could very well have been a Treasured Tome. It had all the makings of one. Unfortunately, there was one flaw that jarred me out of the story repeatedly. It was the exact opposite of the problem I had with the last ebook reviewed:

Lack of italics.

I know, I know... I just complained about being driven nuts by their overuse. Why, then, would I be complaining about a lack of them here? That's an understandable question.

In this case, there were no italics at all, and they were needed to mark character thoughts and dream sequences. Without them, I sometimes had to do a double-take, re-reading sentences that seemed incongruent.

This was probably just a formatting error. 

I once sent an entire story to my editing team that lacked italics for this very reason, and it was horribly embarrassing. One million profuse apologies later, and I had the work formatted correctly, lesson learned. But I was lucky. I sent the exactly wrong format to them... any other file type, and I never would have discovered this error.

And that's most likely what happened here.

Because, quite frankly, Montano's writing is brilliant. Nobody would ever call it fluff. His world is complex and vivid, and even though he was heavier on narration than I typically like, it worked perfectly for him. If you like dark fantasy, you'll love City of Scars.

City of Scars can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords, as well as Scribd.

The Magnum Opus: Deina Furth's Steampunk Brilliance

"A dark steampunk tale best enjoyed with a glass of scotch...

And scrambled eggs."

- Deina Furth

This line blew away all of my own attempts to come up with a good opener for the latest ebook review!

cover design by London Burden
and Alexis Swartz

The Magnum Opus is a dark steampunk novelette written by Deina Furth. I've been craving steampunk for a while, so the second I saw this cover staring up at me... downloading of the title was a given.

So what's it about?

To Rastigan, only one thing matters. He seeks to create a perfect living doll, one capable of emotions, reasoning, and loyalty. He never succeeded before, but now he has created Evangeline, his magnus opus. 

I was first introduced to steampunk via Final Fantasy on my super nintendo. As I travelled across lands in Cid's airship, however, I had absolutely no clue that airships were a part of the steampunk genre - I didn't even know what steampunk was - I just knew that they fascinated me.

That, of course, wasn't true steampunk, but it was my first taste.

It propelled me head first into looking for more, and I devoured the whirring and clanking of the steam powered machinery while dreaming about the robots and victorian fashions that came with it. I was hooked.

Even today, I'll find myself looking for steampunk themed eyeglass frames. I don't wear glasses, but someday I might. It's good to keep your bases covered, I figure. Besides... everything steampunk is just awesome.

And Furth didn't disappoint.

Her tale of Rastigan's life achievement kept me spellbound. The world was dark and Rastigan was even darker. An inventor left alone with his work for too long, he wasn't quite right.

And his crowning achievement? His lifelike doll?

She was a woman that anyone could love. Well, as long as you can get past the whirring and clanking, that is. Evangeline had wants and needs, and her desires were something we can all relate to. Rastigan was the inventor, but she was the star.

The length of this ebook is very short, but it leaves you thinking long past its completion. It also makes you wary of lifelike dolls. I look forward to more from Deina Furth.

The Magnum Opus is available on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords, as well as Scribd.

Set Aflame By Tinderspark!

For my first review on this blog, I spent a great deal of time trying to pick out just the right one from the nook shop, since the Nook is my preferred ereader.

After a while, a single cover image jumped out from my nook screen and thwacked me over the head. Hard.

It was the cover for Tinderspark, by Jonathan Rowe. 

Cover art was done by Laura LaRoche

I think we can all agree that this qualifies as a very enticing cover. It drew me in, so I read the blurb, which pulled me in even further. My mind made up, I hit the 'download' button and waited to begin my journey back in time to the Thirty Years War, into which Rowe added an extra helping of magic.

So what's it about?

"There is no reward for goodness in this world, nothing but cold steel teeth and scourging fire for all of us - and it's coming for you now!" 

In a single evening, the life of Quality Durrand changes forever. She's kidnapped from her loving family and taken to live deep in the forest with the geists. A series of events unfolds that places her at the center of action, pitting her against fanatic priests and cruel leaders. The daughter of a blacksmith, Quality has a unique talent for working with the black powder used within firearms and explosives. Armed with pistols, she and her geist friends set out to find five men - the five men whose deaths may bring about an end to the persecution of hexen everywhere, and the birth of a new, better world.

The world is gritty, dark, and terrible. Naturally, I loved it. 

Partially, that's because I'm a sucker for good history research, and Rowe really went the extra mile with it. He painted a very accurate picture of the trials and suffering that were rampant during the Thirty Years War, using the locations, dress, transportation, and even technology of the first half of the 17th century. 

His close attention to historical detail paved the way for the magic he breathed into Tinderspark, weaving fact and fiction together, bringing hexen and geists to life. Witches and magical beings become believable, and make their plight our own.

The world that Rowe created is vivid and intense. I saw the trees, I heard the calls of the wildlife. I tasted that disgusting soup. The world I entered was dark, and the intense emotions that washed over me added another dimension to it.

This was very nearly a Treasured Tome. 

What held me back from giving Tinderspark that distinction? Well, it took me a while to become attached to the characters. I did become attached, of course, but it wasn't love at first sight. In the first couple of chapters, I was more drawn to the world  than I was to the characters that lived in it. I think this would have easily become a Treasured Tome if more effort was placed into character development from the very start.

But like I said, I did become attached. It just took a little longer than I would have liked. This is a relatively minor flaw, and I wouldn't be surprised if Rowe's second book in The Burning Times series, Hexenfire, has the ability to draw me in from the very beginning. 

Yep. I implied exactly what you think I did: I've already downloaded the second one.

You can find Tinderspark on Nook, Kindle, and Smashwords. Read it. 

You won't be sorry. 

     *As an aside for those of you that are gamers, be sure to visit the Tinderspark RPG tab of Jonathan Rowe's author page - he's developing an RPG (pencil and paper, not digital) based on The Burning Times, and as someone who has been an RPG geek since high school, I'd love to sit with a group and try out his system.