A Plague of Shadows by Travis Simmons Infected Me With a Desire for More!

I've been away from the blog for quite a while, and I expect that it'll be a while before everything is running smoothly again. Expect reviews to return, but to return a bit more slowly - no set schedule. This will help facilitate a healthy rebound for Undiscovered Tomes. I'd explain, but in all honesty I think I've given you the information you most care to hear:

The books are back!!!!

And besides... fantasy and sci fi readers are capable of coming up with far more entertaining reasons for my absence than the truth could ever offer. Abuction by an alien species tasked with saving the human race through manipulating the genes of an average human, stepping through a portal into the secret realm of the cookie fairies (Seriously... who'd ever leave that?!), temporary transmogrification... the possibilities are endless!

Regardless, I have an overwhelmingly huge list to get through, and today I have one that is well worth the long wait you've gone through. What kind of book, you ask?

A Plague sweeps through the land

Corrupting everything in its reach.
No one is safe.

See? I told you it was worth the wait!

A Plague of Shadows, the first installment of the Harbingers of Light series, is a fantasy written by Travis Simmons.

So what's it about?

Darklings have invaded the world of O. These creatures, born of pure darkness, can infect a person's soul merely by touching them. Shadow consumes the person, slowly transforming the victim into a tool of evil. Once a darkling touches you, only death by fire will save your soul. 

Abagail has grown up knowing that the only things standing between O and complete defeat at the hands of these darklings are the great fires lit to keep the creatures at bay, as well as the Light Guard, a group tasked with protecting the people. 

But one day a single mishap changes everything, making Abagail wonder if perhaps everything isn't as black and white as she believes.   

Perhaps what I like most about this novel is that it examines the mindset of a society whose belief system encourages the burning of witches.

That sounds pretty creepy, doesn't it? Let me explain...

We all know about the Salem Witch Trials. Many of us scoff at them. I mean, how could people have been as dumb as to believe women were dancing naked with a horned guy with cloven hooves? At night in a relatively cold area of the country. In an environment prone to mosquitoes. With thorns and rocks on the ground. I mean, imagine the agony of the mosquito bites alone... Each and every part of this hysteria feels ridiculous.

But A Plague of Shadows examines how this mindset takes hold. 

It focusses on an average woman placed into an unusual situation that forces her to reexamine beliefs she has long held to be true. In the world of O it's thought that once a person has been marked by a darkling, they're doomed. There's no way of fighting the impending evil that will seep into their soul.

Those who are believed to have been marked by a darkling are condemned to burn. It's necessary in order to save their souls. To keep them from becoming someone, something that they otherwise would never have been. A soulless husk, destroying everyone it touches with its diabolic sorcery.

Though protected, one day Abagail becomes marked.

Sure enough, she discovers new power surging within her. She recognizes that she's becoming a darkling.

But that's not all.

She also learns that she's not even from the world of O, and that most worlds within the branches of the World Tree are nothing like O. Much of what she's learned isn't entirely true. She's now in a race against time to save her very soul, traveling to places she never even knew existed.

Her black and white views of the truth have become gray.

I enjoyed seeing how somebody who has definite, concrete beliefs about good and evil can begin to recognize that her prior ideas may have been too narrow once they become personal. The internal struggle was fascinating.

While I felt this novel could have been a bit longer, my eyes were locked onto it from the beginning to the end. There was no wasted narration. Simmons got straight to the point, and wasted no time trying to impress the reader with flowery prose.

He didn't need to.

His words were well chosen, and he was able to paint a picture with minimal text, giving the reader the freedom to truly drift into his story. I like that.

A lot.

There were times that I felt statements made by Abagail, in particular, were a bit jarring, however. It wasn't because she wouldn't have said certain statements, but rather because I felt that she would have used different words to say them. This is a small flaw, however, and something that is easily overlooked. Indeed, if the narrative wasn't so spectacular, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

It should also be noted that one more round of organic proofreading would be a good idea. I say organic, because the errors I noticed wouldn't be caught by spellcheck. There aren't many of them, but the story is so enthralling that they're easily spotted.

But again, each flaw was spotted only because the overall story was so consuming.

A Plague of Shadows is well worth reading. It's easy to get through, since the story flows so well, and you'll be determined to find out what the author has in store for Abagail and her companions as they journey away from the world of O.

I'm looking forward to finding out what happens in the next installment, as well. The ending of this one did a great job of making me demand more!

A Plague of Shadows can be found on Kindle.

The Hutchissons' Full Moon Rising Presents a Seldom Used Concept

Cruelty and Evil,

The dangers of a full moon,

And loyalty...

Today we have an ebook that focuses not only on the concepts of good and evil, but on their several shades of gray, as well.

Full Moon Rising, a fantasy novel,  is the first installment of the Trilogy of the Wolf by J.A.J and J.L Hutchisson

So what's it about?

When Constin, an Elder Priest of Heartfield, is given a prophecy regarding his daughter, he seeks to save her from it. He has been told that she'll be in danger that only a werewolf can save her from. Werewolves are vile beasts that take take special pleasure in massacring humans - especially children - and Constin refuses to believe one of these creatures could possibly be his daughter Olesa's only hope for survival. Racing off to hide her from this terrible prophecy, he finds that his actions only lead the prophecy closer to fulfillment. 

And there is much more to worry about than just a werewolf...

We're used to the idea of werewolves that are reviled, then shown to be more human than characters within a story believe them to be. That's not the seldom used concept I referred to in this review's title. While the authors of this piece focus a great deal on the werewolf Draikin and his relationship with the child Olesa, there's another concept that I found myself drawn to:

The bloodthirsty and depraved elves.

Don't get me wrong. We've all seen evil elves within literature. This is nothing new. Dark elves are a staple.

But these were different.

You see, regardless of the number of evil elves we find within the pages of books, they all share a few common traits. They're beautiful, they have a complex and even elegant society, and they make evil seem sexy.

Not these, though.

The elves within the pages of Full Moon Rising were beautiful, yes. They were also intelligent, as is the norm.

But they were revolting.

Their hatred of humans was so intense, brutal, and single minded that I felt more like I was reading about beautiful trolls then elves. I had absolutely no desire to get to know them. I knew they were beautiful, and I saw that they were graceful... yet my disgust with these creatures was so complete that I saw zero redeeming features within them.

Yet I kept hoping I was wrong about them. I held out hope for one elf in particular, dreaming that he'd be more human than the others.

The werewolf, on the other hand, I had no doubts about.

He was good, through and through. That is, as long as you overlook the fact that he can smell human blood over a mile away... and craves it. Or that in his wolf form he loses all ability to control his desire to rip people to shreds and eat to his heart's content. These things can be a bit problematic...

And yet, I still found that I could trust him.

Funny, that.

The humans, as well, had interesting qualities. They were always standing on the gray line between good and evil, trying their best to make decisions that they could live with.

Kinda like the rest of us.

Many times, the decisions were poor ones. Other times, they were surprisingly good. These people had to battle against the concepts of prejudice, hatred, greed, and cowardice. Sometimes they won, and sometimes they lost. Each action held consequences.

The story itself was very well thought out, and the intricacies of the world this husband/wife team created were a joy to discover. The world of Full Moon Rising felt real.

Unfortunately, the characters themselves weren't quite so well fleshed out.

While I did enjoy them, I found myself frustrated by the amount of information I was told, rather than shown. There was, for example, a discovery of love between two characters that that weren't at all the romantic type.

I think I would have enjoyed seeing these two make the discovery: their confusion, their frustration. The many ways that these two un-romantic people could have screwed things up for themselves. It would have endeared them to me. I'd like, in a sense, to make that discovery through witnessing the steps that led to their revelation.

Instead, I was told that they realised they were in love. Not nearly as fulfilling.

Even so, I read through to the end. The world is what makes this one worth reading. I enjoyed the rules and environment of this world so much that I was able to get past my frustration about being told about things, rather than having them shown to me.

Full Moon Rising can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

Jack Reyn's Imago Examines What Being Rational Really Means

The Imago Sanctarissima:

Nothing is more important.

But where and what is it?

In a battle between rationalists and religionists,

Who will prevail?

Today we have a novel set in a world where pivotal historical events had different outcomes, making current society vastly different.

Imago is a mystery set within an age of steam, written by Jack Reyn.

So what's it about?

With his final breath, a priest sends bounty hunter Freyja Barrett on a quest for an ancient relic. 

Arriving on the scene of a murder, ORI agent Julian Harvey finds himself pitted against a dangerous cult that seeks domination. 

On the night before her initiation, a religious authority tests the loyalty and faith of Orcus aspirant Zoe Rousseau.

These vastly different individuals are all faced with choices that affect a world on the brink of war. Dangerous groups are searching for the imago sanctarissima, a relic which is said to give ultimate power to whoever holds it, and Barrett, Harvey, and Rousseau must do anything it takes to keep it out of the wrong hands. 

The biggest problem though, is that nobody knows where it's located, or even what it looks like.

Imago focuses on a world in which society is divided between  rationalists (those who live by logic and rational choices) and religionists (those who live by faith in a dogma). Laws are created that keep religionists and rationalists from mixing together. Entire countries are divided in this manner, and this deep division keeps the world constantly on the brink of war.

With a world so deeply divided, there are very few people who can see coexistence as a possibility. 

This ebook does more than take us on a quest to find an ancient relic, enshrouded with mystery. It takes us on an exploration of the human mind.

What does it mean to be rational?

Every moment, every step that we take that leads us closer to the Imago, we're confronted with mystery. Not just the mystery inherent in a quest to discover a hidden relic, but the mystery of the human mind.

Is it possible to believe so strongly in the necessity of logic that we begin to turn it into a religion in and of itself? A sort of faith? And if so, has the rational become... irrational? Have we stopped asking the questions required in order to come to logical conclusions?

Would that, in turn, transform a rationalist into a religionist?

You can see that this ebook brings up a lot of questions.

I enjoyed that quite a bit. While I was reading an entertaining work of fiction, I also got a lesson in the art of thought. Reyn doesn't bludgeon us over the head with his own answers to these questions, but invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, instead.

While at the same time giving us enough action to keep our eyes glued to the page.

But even then, he's taken the time to ensure that we can put Imago down whenever we please. See, one of the really awesome things about this work is that Reyn has divided something that's longer than I usually review into something with bite-sized chapters.

Seriously. Bite-sized. 

While some people may have a problem with chapters that are only about 2-4 pages each, feeling that scenes are broken up too short, I loved this. I can read whenever I want, and still get everything done. 

Heck, I could watch television, and simply pick up the ebook during each commercial break without feeling like I've missed anything. Cooking dinner? I could read then, too. "I have to set this to simmer. That'll take about 2 minutes. YES! I can read a chapter while I wait!"

Yeah. That made me happy.

I also enjoyed the steampunk feel of this one. While it didn't fit the classic Victorian-fashion-wearing, blocky-robot-using storyline that I'm so fond of, steam was the primary power source, and Reyn did a spectacular job of making this work. He followed through with the research, ensuring that the proper limitations inherent in steam use were accounted for, as well as the changes they would create in society as a whole.

If you like alternate realities, mysteries, steampunk, or ebooks that really make you think about thought itself, this is an ebook worth reading. 

And if you really want something to read while recovering from doctor prescribed steroids that keep you from focusing on anything for more than a few moments? Take it from me... you'll strongly want to read this. 

Bite-sized chapters, remember?

Imago can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

A Tale of Two Ebooks

Yesterday, I mentioned on the Undiscovered Tomes Facebook page that I'd talk about the book that cemented my decision to begin reviewing indie ebooks.

I then realized that I couldn't do that.

Because there wasn't one.

There were two.

Two ebooks caused me to wake up from my big publishers are best haze, and realize that there are many magnificent indie authors out there with amazing talent for storytelling, and an eye for grammatical detail... or at least a knowledge of where to go to ensure their grammar is well done.

Prior to these two ebooks, I believed good indie writing to be rare. Sure, you can write a good book as an indie writer, but with so many bases to cover, how could your average writer - even a talented one - manage to polish off a perfectly good, well written, professional-looking work? It had to be a rarity.

Boy, was I wrong...

See, it began with a free ebook called Burning Girls, written by Veronica Schanoes. This is not an indie novel. Not even close. It's a short story published by Tor (Macmillan).

So why in the heck do I mention it, then?!

Because this is where my journey began. Burning Girls, a dark urban fantasy based on a fairy tale, opened my eyes to ebook publishing. Specifically, it showed me that I could find amazing works that have no print format available.

I picked it up as a Free Friday book via Nook. At the time, it didn't have any reviews. A week later, I finished this ebook that had my imagination firing, and that I couldn't stop thinking about, and went to review it.

Only four reviews.

Say what?!

This well-researched historical piece set my mind on fire, had me demanding that every single person I knew must read it, and it only had four reviews??? What's wrong with this world?! This is good stuff, darn it! I should have seen loads of reviews. I mean, the ebook was FREE. I knew plenty of other people read it, so what in the world was going on?

I was actually... angry.

How could a big publishing house possibly not give such a deserving work the sort of marketing attention it needs to get noticed and reviewed? Then it hit me.

Oh, yeah... it's free. Macmillan isn't exactly going to make much money off of a free ebook, is it?

Then I thought,

"Hmmm... if big publishing houses ignore their own authors, what other works are out there that I'm missing, simply because Big Publishing isn't directing my attention toward them?"

I had a quest. I was going to find great work that didn't have the Big Publishing seal of approval.

And then, I found Lindsay Buroker, author of The Emperor's Edge, a free steampunk high fantasy that I fell in love with.

This is not an ebook that I can review on Undiscovered Tomes. Buroker's title has umpteen bizillion reviews on both Kindle and Nook... far beyond the allowable ten reviews within the Undiscovered Tomes guidelines.

But it was golden.

And I don't just mean the cover's color scheme. Buroker self-published The Emperor's Edge, and did all the required marketing to acquire readers and build an audience. Buroker wrote something spectacular that not only caught my interest, but held it. It was all done without the need for Big Publishing.

Proof positive. Indie authors can do amazing things.

Successful marketing isn't everything, of course. I've read plenty of ebooks that have sterling reviews, and are considered highly successful. Some of those, quite frankly, aren't worth reading, in my opinion. They're dry, boring, and not something that I would suggest to others. Ever.

Lindsay Buroker, however, fits the awesome-authors-that-people-should-read bill. I read The Emperor's Edge, which was somewhere around 750 pages on my ereader, in a single day.

It was fabulous.

The Emperor's Edge was an action-packed, emotionally engaging, page-turning piece of brilliance set in the age of steam. I loved it so much that I headed over to Buroker's website so that I could find other titles.

And I found more than that. Buroker's website is full of ebooks, advice, links to other authors, editors, and illustrators, a kitchen sink, and...

Well, ok... Maybe there's no kitchen sink. But the rest of it is all there. I ended up bookmarking Lindsay Buroker's site and heading back frequently.

And then I began Undiscovered Tomes. 

Because there are so many amazing indie authors that have published incredible ebooks that haven't reached the level of attention that Buroker's books have. They don't know how to get to that point, or perhaps they do, but they don't know how to juggle everything.

But their work is wonderful.

And they deserve recognition for it.

This is why you never find a "bad" review on Undiscovered Tomes. That's not what this blog is about. Anything that would receive a bad review... doesn't get reviewed. It gets set aside until a later date, when I'll pick it up and try again. It may never hit the blog at all... but then again, it might.

My quest is to find undiscovered indie treasures, and give them the recognition they deserve. 

This never would have happened without the two ebooks that changed my entire mindset: A spectacular short story that felt virtually ignored by its publisher, and a successful steampunk novel that proved there are plenty of indie gems out there.

Schanoes and Buroker helped me break away from the publishing stereotypes I had grown up believing, and opened a new world to me.

Their two ebooks helped make Undiscovered Tomes possible.

CJ Brightley's Things Unseen Reveals What's Hidden Beneath the Surface

It's urban fantasy time, again!

What are the things 

Just beyond our perception?

Cruel Creatures out for blood?

Or beautiful beings hunted toward extinction?

Both?!

Things Unseen is the first book in the A Long-Forgotten Song series, an urban fantasy written by C.J. Brightley.

So what's it about?

Aria Forsyth is frustrated. She became a history major because she wanted to understand the past. Unfortunately, the last paper she wrote that deviated from the norm earned her an F. Her professor refused to grant anything more to a paper so full of unsubstantiated, unpatriotic drivel. It didn't matter, of course, that everything within the paper was cited, and that she had given opposing viewpoints, rather than proclaiming those words as truth.

That yearning for knowledge of history was clearly bad for her future. More so, however, her curiosity turned out to be bad for her health. After overhearing a conversation in a bookstore, Aria found herself unable to keep from paying attention to a man whose very presence was strange. Anything deemed unusual should be pointed out to the authorities, but Aria couldn't help but follow him so that she could learn more. Little did she know, her decision would change her life forever...

Brightley gives us a world in which people's knowledge clashes with the truth. Even things people remember are false. There's a whole world that goes unseen by the majority of the human population. People believe what the authorities tell them, never questioning what lies beneath the surface.

Hmmm... sounds kind of like our own world, doesn't it?

Ok, ok... I realize I'm being a bit of a cynic here, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Brightley was trying to point out this very issue.

Or not.

It's very possible that I'm trying to dig a little too deeply beneath the surface. Like Aria. Of course, Aria's curiosity leads her toward the truth, so maybe I'm not so wrong here. Hmmm...

Brightley takes us into a world where the government was toppled a few decades prior. "Things are better" now, of course. Nobody has any reason to doubt that.

No reason that they understand, anyway...

And therein lies the problem within Aria's world. People believe in their government wholeheartedly. They have no doubts. The government protects them, keeps them happy, and makes their lives comfortable.

That is, as long as they're not too curious...

Unfortunately for Aria, she is.  When she meets a man named Owen, one that very clearly doesn't seem to belong, she discovers that much of what she thought she knew was wrong. Not only is there more to the world than she thought,

There are more than just humans.

Owen isn't human. Rather, he's fae. He's stronger, faster, and older... older than any human, though he appears to be relatively young. He's also trying to save his entire society from the human government, which is trying to eradicate them... and they're doing a rather good job of it, too.

Aria finds herself drawn not only to Owen, but also to his cause, and soon she finds herself in a deadly battle with the human authorities and their experimental pets.

Brightley created a vivid world with vivid characters.

She took pieces from several different myths and legends in order to create the fae within these pages. These are not the fairies that you're accustomed to, with flitting wings and mischievous giggles. They're strong, they're rough around the edges, and I never saw a single wing flitting about.

Brightley did something different with their creation, and I strongly recommend that you discover the intricacies of the species of fae that she designed.

The characters are well fleshed out and easy to relate to. Even the fae, whose entire society has different rules from our own, can be sympathized with. You don't just like her characters... you really like them. And the ones you dislike? They'll truly disgust you.

This work is well worth reading, and I look forward to the next book in the series, 

Things Unseen can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

Nikolai Bird's Malspire Brings Us Courage Through Fear on the High Seas!

Time for a tale on the high seas!

Battleships, brigands, and destroyers!

Also, a rather clunky and abused frigate...

War is in full swing.

Malspire is a fantasy that takes place within a steampunk setting, written by Nikolai Bird.

So what's it about?

Ajator and Malspire were born twins, but that's where their similarity ends. While his brother is the perfect naval officer, likeable in every way and undeniably handsome, Malspire is a rogue and a loner. He was also crippled at birth, cursed to never have the ability to stand straight and tall, his back curved and misshapen.

Even so, he is a lord. This means that he'll rise to the top whether his superiors want him to or not... and they don't. He's unkempt and uncouth. He has no interest in becoming the perfect officer, preferring to mix with the common seaman below deck.

When he is promoted to captain, Malspire is given a small frigate to command, one that isn't even seaworthy, and the barest of skeleton crews. He's angered, but he has to make do. During this time, he realizes that there may be more to the war against the Empire than he ever dreamed.

Some of you probably remember when I reviewed a very short story called Cthulhu: Something in the Mud, written by the same author. I mentioned I had added a full novel by the same author to my reading list.

And here it is!

With Malspire we have a protagonist that is very much an anti-hero. I wouldn't quite proclaim him the perfect example of an anti-hero - he does have some heroic ideals that he sticks to - but he's close enough that we'll go with the term.

See, Malspire is, quite frankly, someone that I wouldn't take the time to get to know. He's short tempered, crude, and not exactly a nice guy. There's a reason most people within this story don't like him, and it doesn't have to do entirely with his looks.

But he grows on you.

While at first he seems to be nothing more than a cold-hearted, unlikeable ass, we soon see things as he sees them. We start thinking things like,

"Well, yeah, he's a complete prick... but they're worse."

Then, that changes into,

"Well, you know... maybe he's not so bad. Just a little rough around the edges."

Which later becomes,

"Hmmm... That Malspire is actually pretty awesome."

It's a slow process, but also a particularly thorough one.

See, Malspire considers himself a coward, and I agreed with him... in the beginning. Later, though, I changed my mind, realizing that he's actually pretty courageous. Courage isn't the absence of fear, after all. It's action in spite of it.

And Malspire lives with quite a large amount of fear: fear of danger, fear of society, and even fear of himself. His life is pretty rough, and his fears are all completely understandable. Malspire is forced to navigate through these waters, fighting fear every step of the way.

And there is quite a bit to fear!

Naval officers that make Malspire look absolutely kind-hearted, creatures that are half man, half fish, sword fighting, guns blasting, heavy artillery, assassins, and even a sea hag... Malspire deals with it all. Sometimes he's on the losing end, but he always gets back up again.

Characters in this ebook are well-written, and I never confused any of them with another. Some I liked, and some I despised, but each one was true.

Narrative, on the other hand, seemed to go on for a bit too long, on occasion. There were times that long lengths of prose became frustrating, making me think, "Just get on with it, already!"

So... yeah. I did skip over a few paragraphs from time to time. If, however, you're the type that enjoys heavy narration, this won't bother you. None of it was useless, understand. Everything fit into the story. I just felt that at times I was being told things that I didn't particularly need to know.

Things that slowed the action, sometimes stopping it altogether.

But! When Bird wrote an actual action scene, I hung on each word. He has a special talent for it. Every sword thrust, every step was important, and highly necessary. It was exciting, and at times, a single sentence would cause me to gasp with surprise.

Finally, as much as I complain about narration slowing the action, I felt that the end happened far too quickly. I ended up frustrated, wanting to know enough to feel a sense of closure, but not enough to be completely comfortable.

You see, it's clear that there will be a sequel. 

I'm pretty sure that will be worth reading, as well. I just wish Bird had given me enough closure that I had a sense of what led up to the point that we left off at. I know I'm supposed to be left wondering. That's clear. I just wish I knew what direction my imagination should head in.

Then again, perhaps that feeling will keep me looking for the second installment...

Am I being too critical? It's possible, considering how much I loved his short story. What do you think?

Malspire can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

Chris Farnell's Dirty Work is WILD!

Today we have another short story collection.

It's wild. It's crazy.

And I'll never look at video games

Or time travel

The same way again.

Cover design by Phil Cooper.

Dirty Work is a fantasy/sci-fi short story collection written by Chris Farnell.

So what's it about?

A broker negotiates a demonic deal. A soldier fights for her life during the dolphin apocalypse. An unemployed man searches for a job in a future where sponsorship means everything. A food and drink industry consultant tries to avoid a PR disaster when fingers start showing up in soda cans. A man repeatedly travels back in time for a length of ten-minutes each. A caller discovers that it's always important to read an insurance company's fine print - even in a zombie infested society. A man discovers that an 8 bit childhood video game is more than just a game. A ninja has an "average" day at the office.

So... this one is... wierd.

I guess that's kind of obvious, though, right? Dirty Jobs takes the reader on a wild ride, and doesn't hold back. There's absolutely no sense of the author saying, "Well, gee... maybe I'm going too far."

Nope. 

Chris Farnell opens up his imagination to the rest of us, inviting us through not one, but several different alternative realities. He doesn't hold back at all.

And I'm afraid I'll never look at my favorite childhood video games the same way, again. As if that's not enough, I'm now wondering what it'd be like to experience kissing myself. Would I be any good it it? And why in the world am I even considering that possibility?!

Darn you, Farnell!

This one is well worth reading. It set my imagination on fire, hit me with a blast of confusion on a few occasions, and amazed me with its possibilities.

The stories are very short, and are something that I could have easily used in a National Forensic League competition when I was in high school... and won it. Reading this aloud would be quite easy, and would entertain any Oral Reading judge.

I would have blown through the competition.

I would have gotten all the way to the State level.

And maybe even into the semifinals, from there.

Sorry... I got a wee bit nostalgic for a second. But that's what this short story collection did to me. It was wild and exciting. It got my heart beating. My eyes leapt from one word to the next, transfixed. 

It brought back that buzzing sensation I used to have when I found that one perfect story to use for competition. The one that was fast paced, full of twists, and easy to draw people into. Something that brought me back a couple of decades into my past.

That's something that's worth reading.

It's very likely that a few of these stories will cause gigantic question marks to form above your head. You'll hit a couple of points where you'll think, "What in the heck just happened?"

Just go with it. It's worth it.

And read the acknowledgements. They won't give you any amazing eruptions of insight. They won't impart any special knowledge. But they will entertain you. The acknowledgements really feel as though the author is sitting across from you at a pub, amusing you with a great conversation.

This one is a bit pricey for its length, but it's worth every penny. 

Chris Farnell has done something different with this collection, even going as far as to change the format between stories. That's a bit of a risk, of course, but I feel that it works, giving this not just entertaining words, but visual appeal, as well.

Dirty work can be found on Kindle. 

CC Rogers' Wizards and Kings: Sacrifice Hits like a Thunderbolt to the Heart

I just thought I'd let you know

In case you never realized it...

Love spells are kind of risky.

So, uh... Don't ever cast one. 

Ok?

This next review takes us on a journey into a land on the brink of civil war.

Wizards and Kings: Sacrifice is a fantasy novelette written by C.C. Rogers.

So what's it about?

The king is dead, murdered by bandits with a crossbow. Justin couldn't protect him. As if that isn't enough, the entire kingdom is now on the brink of civil war, and the only path he can see that would keep it from crumbling is to take up the throne and marry the manipulative daughter of a neighboring ruler, a ruler that considers invasion to be a valid option. Not an enjoyable choice, but one that would protect the kingdom and its inhabitants from war.

But in the realm of politics, even basic facts such as these aren't always cut and dried, as Justin soon discovers.

Quite a bit to cover in a single novelette, right?

Rogers, though, dives in without fear, creating a short piece that not only covers everything within the description that I've given, but delves into the territory of the heart. This is not to say that Sacrifice is a romance - far from it! 

Love spells are at the forefront in this, but rather than turning it into a story that's loaded with mushy declarations of love and dialogue filled with longing, Rogers gives us something different: she shows us how changes in daily life can come about when a person's perspective is altered, and how that modification can affect everyone around us.

Throw an entire kingdom into the mix, and things become interesting!

Can love bring about positive change on a large scale? Can it change a nobleman's entire territory? What if the love is false, only occurring due to the power of a spell? Can it still do so? And if so, will that alteration hold once the spell has run its course, and is no longer active?

Rogers attacks these questions, head first. Whether we actually get the answers or not, she makes us consider them. She makes us ask, "But what now?"

I don't have those answers.

But what I do have is an overwhelming need to find them. I want to know what happens to the kingdom in the long run, and those answers aren't apparent in this short novelette. Fortunately, Rogers gave me some good news that kept my curiosity from overflowing and drowning me.

This isn't all she's written about these characters. 

Rogers wrote and illustrated Rune: A Tale of Wizards and Kings from 2010 to 2012, and it's now available as a graphic novel.

Here's the trailer for it:

Looks good, huh?

This webcomic answers a lot of the questions that occasionally sprout up as we read this story. More that once, I found myself asking what happened in the past to create a given situation. I asked what history caused specific pieces of dialogue. The webcomic answers these questions.

But!

There's so much more that I want to know. Many loose ends were left for a reader to think about, leaving me to believe that Rogers has plans to write more in the future. These felt like leads into the next installment.

And I hope I'm right!

Rogers' work is quite well done. The pacing within this novelette is perfect. Dialogue is smooth, and believable. Each character feels real, and I was able to see and feel the scenes that were written. And I didn't find a single proofreading error!!! One might be there, but I certainly didn't notice it.

I believe that if Rogers had wanted to expand this novelette into a full novel, ensnaring us even more deeply into the web of her universe, this story would have earned Treasured Tome status.

I really hope to see more from her in the future. This is an author well worth reading.

Wizards and Kings: Sacrifice can only be found on Kindle.

Update (9/16/2014): I made an "Oops!" Originally, I claimed that this novel was written within the Bloodchained universe. I misread a couple of statements, and decided that two plus two equals the negative square root of 3... plus or minus four. 
     What's the truth, then, you ask? Diana Laurence's Bloodchained novels are set in an entirely different universe. CC Rogers collaborated with her on a webcomic based on the universe, but only did the illustrations for it. The Rune webcomic is an entirely different affair.
     Changes have been made within the review, and I deeply apologize for the confusion.

C.K. Nolan's The Mazer Communicates the Magical Beauty of the Trees

Trees live far longer than humans.

They watch.

They listen.

And sometimes... they act.

Sounds a bit like a horror novel, right? Nothing, though, could be further from the truth.

The Mazer is a fantasy written by C.K. Nolan.

So what's it about?

After the mysterious death of her father and the loss of her mother and unborn sibling soon after, Silva chooses to live in a small cottage set apart from the rest of the people of Southernwood. This life has worked well for her, but one day the tree that she calls Isleaf writes a confusing message upon its leaves. This wouldn't be a big deal... tree speech is always confusing, since these beautiful giants speak in riddles most of the time, but this message is different: part of it disappears soon after she reads it. This means there is no way to place its words in the Southernwood archives - something that is done with each leaf message that falls.

Silva recognizes that this message is important. There's a strange tree sickness attacking many of the trees on the island, and the trees are all nervous. The message spoke of something called a mazer, and mentioned a traitor. But what is this mazer? And who is the traitor? 

As you've already figured out, this ebook is set in a world very different from our own.

Oh! And I found a book trailer, as well! It does a good job of matching the mood of the ebook.




Unlike most fantasies, the humans of Southernwood don't actually use magic. Rather, they're very much like us. There's one crucial difference, however.

They communicate with the trees.

The trees are sentient, have unique personalities, and guide the people's decisions. Indeed, people even bring their newborn children to touch the trees as a way to create a 'birth leaf.' This is very similar to a birth certificate, and shows important information about every given child.

The sickness that attacks the trees throws everything into upheaval. The population as a whole is extraordinarily edgy, and the council in charge of society is a complete mess. Indeed, the council goes through three different Legators (the equivalent of a president or prime minister) during the story!

I thoroughly enjoyed the trees, which speak by forming words upon their own leaves, then dropping them from their limbs once the message is completed. Humans speak to them through leaves, as well, using treequills to write their own messages, so that the trees can take the messages on through their branches, then into their trunks.

There's a great reverence for the trees, which I found to be quite uplifting.

Whereas we look at trees as tools, or as important pieces of an ecosystem, the Great Trees are at the heart of everything done within Southernwood. These people recognize the necessity of the Great Aspen, the Yew at Yewlith, and all of the others. Harming a tree is a serious offense. And!

Each tree has a specific personality. 

Some are whimsical, and some straightforward. All are unique. The intricacy of these remarkable trees was no doubt time-consuming for Nolan, who truly breathes life into their roots. They feel wise, patient, and honorable... and completely believable.

Indeed, the trees are more complex than the humans.

While fun to read, oftentimes the characters felt two-dimensional. This is probably due to the amount of painstaking time spent on the trees. It takes a lot of work to make a plant feel like a person, after all. I imagine it cut into the time spent on human character development.

But I did enjoy the human characters.

Narration, as well, felt somewhat off. It seemed that there were many long sequences of prose that could have been cut shorter, while others could have been lengthened. Understand, though, that even though I felt this way, it still worked reasonably well.

Up to a point.

The ending of the story felt as though it came apart. On occasion, people acted in ways that didn't seem to match the background given to us within the text. There were various actions that felt unbelievable, and the the resolution seemed somewhat shallow.

But!

These incongruencies don't really seem to occur until we get somewhere around 85% of the way through the book. Up until then, everything makes sense. Perhaps this has to do with the author becoming exhausted toward the end of the editing process.

I say this, because everything else was well proofread and logistically clean. 

It's not until that same point that we begin to see proofreading errors, as well. Whether exhaustion is truly the case, or not, I don't know, but that's what my gut tells me.

If this is the case, going through the final pages and updating the manuscript would increase the overall beauty of this work.

Because, like I said, the complexity of the trees was truly fascinating. That same eye for detail, focused on the human interactions, would transform this ebook from a mere good to great.

The Mazer can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

Doreen Cox's A Sacred Journey Leads Us Through Nature's Mystique

There is more to nature

than what we allow ourselves to see.

Something...

Sacred.

But we need to be willing to open our eyes if we want to see it.

Cover design by Laura Wright LaRoche

A Sacred Journey is a fantasy short story written by Doreen Cox.

So what's it about?

A group of trackers is out looking for Leah... again. The elderly woman has been leaving her house in the evenings, walking out into the forest. Tonight, though, she's gone farther than usual. Animals within the forest are acting strangely, and the trackers begin to realize that there may be more afoot than simply a woman wandering out into the night...

What I expected to read and what I actually read were two very different things.

See, my expectation came from the cover. I honestly thought this was going to be some sort of Little Red Riding Hood retelling. I'm sure you can see what gave me this impression.

But the cover, aside from being beautiful, paints an accurate picture of what we find within the pages. Each creature that graces the cover is necessary and important to the story as a whole, and yes... Leah does wear a red cloak.

The story takes quite a different turn from what I expected. Rather than running from a big, bad wolf, Leah is actively moving toward the creatures of the forest. Things have been planned. Leah and the animals all work toward a common aim.

A ceremony.

She understands the animals, and they, in turn, understand her. As the trackers search for a gentle, elderly woman with a penchant for wandering into dangerous situations, Leah herself is skillfully navigating through the brambles in perfect safety.

During this time, the trackers deal with animals acting in unusual ways. The dogs that they brought to track Leah's scent run into difficulties, as well. This is all carefully planned by the creatures of the forest.

But while the trackers may be nervous, there is no danger... only the fear of danger.

Our emotions are powerful. The creatures realize this, and use this knowledge to confuse, then guide the trackers.

This story brings us into a mystical world, leading us on a woman's sacred journey. It causes us to wonder what is truly at work in this world. Cox makes us see that situations may come into play due to a greater purpose.

She teaches us not to fear the unknown.

While I think this short story could go through one more round of copy-editing, and the ending wasn't quite as strong as I'd like, this story can teach us to view the world with wonder, and to not assume that our perceptions are always the correct ones.

A sacred Journey can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.

John Swan's In Your Dreams Gives Us a True Definition of Love

Update (9-17-2014): In Your Dreams has now been published. You can now find the link below the original review text!

Violet Eyes.

Untold Power.

A Naive and Scared Girl.

This is could be a recipe for disaster... but also a recipe for hope.

Cover Art and Design by Natalie Spasic.

In Your Dreams, a fantasy, is the first installment of The Aldaya Series, written by John Swan.

So what's it about?

Long ago, long before anyone can remember, a great evil was imprisoned within the subterranean depths of Aldaya by the Esme, beings of great power and light. Once the free races of Aldaya were seen to be safe from this danger, the Esme all disappeared. Life was good for the people of Aldaya.

But now everything is changing. The fear-inspiring swamp mists are covering more land, and all those that enter them are lost. Evil once again appears to be gaining a foothold along the borders of the swamp. Towns are attacked by terrifying creatures, and governments are becoming distrustful of one another, leaving them open to further devastation.

Eolin knows that something dark and powerful is gaining strength, and fears the return of the evil that was long ago imprisoned. When he meets Mim, a violet eyed girl he has dreamed about since before she was even born, he becomes certain the land is in danger. 

I have to tell you... in the beginning, reviewing this particular ebook turned me into one big, twitchy ball of stress.

Why?

Well, this is the first ebook that I ever agreed to review sight unseen. I had a rough description, and I'd talked to Swan's publicist (a very sweet, fun woman), but I hadn't even seen a sample of the first few pages. We all know that I only post reviews of books that I consider good. Nothing so-so hits my blog, and nothing poorly written has even the slightest chance.

So what made me do it?

I'm not entirely sure. All I had when I offered to review this ebook was a slight feeling that this was going to be worth it. It was a gut feeling, and certainly not anything concrete, but I went with it. Hence the stress.

What I got was an advance review copy (ARC), and so far, In Your Dreams has yet to be published. Again, this is contrary to my norm. By this time, I was beginning to feel as though the stress was causing my hair to stand on end, which would have been very awesome if I was planning on going to a costume party dressed as a banshee, but not so awesome when all I was doing was sitting at home, reading.

But sometimes, moving outside of your comfort zone is a good thing.

I trusted my gut, and proved my theory that doing so will lead a person in the right direction. Anecdotal proof, perhaps, but we'll just politely ignore that, if that okay with you.

You see, this ebook did something that I found overwhelmingly impressive. While most books have a tendency to focus on the more sexual aspects of love, Swan didn't. Rather, he dug straight to the core, zeroing in on the true basis of love: mutual respect and trust.

In a fight between good and evil, a solid idea of love in its purest form is essential. 

Most writers, though doing a great job with it, fall short of that ideal, but Swan nails it. He shows the power of love for friends, for family, for a spouse, and even for a stranger. While vastly different, they all come from a place of respect and trust.

While hatred is the basis for every action committed by the enemy, love is at the heart of everything done by our heroes. Eolin is driven by his love for his assistant Chessa, for Mim, and for his husband. Mim is driven by her love for her friends.

I keep talking about love, but this ebook is a far cry from a romance. 

It's a high fantasy that comes straight from the author's heart. I really think his emotions bled out onto the pages, because the emotional weight of this story is intense.

Swan's writing ability is at its strongest when he composes dialogue, as well as when he describes the emotions that drive the characters. He has a deep understanding of the human heart, and actually...

He kinda makes me jealous.

Seriously. while his narrative didn't draw me in quite as much as I would have liked (especially in the prologue), his true ability to see the human heart as something beautiful, strong, and enduring took my breath away. I wish I had the ability to write such expressively true emotions.

His ebook gives me hope: Hope for a better, more loving, more accepting society. He wrote fiction... but gave us truth.

In Your Dreams is yet to be published, but you can follow the author on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. When he has a solid publishing date, you'll be the first to know if you do this!

Update (9-17-2014):
 In Your Dreams is now available on Kindle!

Shayla Morgansen's Chosen Makes Magic Real!

Magic isn't a myth.

It isn't something that defies logic.

It's actually rather scientific.

At least, that's the impression this latest ebook gave me. Magic was logical, followed specific rules, and even seemed to fit within the laws of science.

In a word, refreshing.

Chosen is the first installment of the Elm Stone Saga, an urban fantasy series written by Shayla Morgansen.

So what's it about?

The White Elm Council has governed over those with magical powers for centuries. Their rule has been a peaceful one, leading its people toward the light side of magic, forbidding the practice of the dark. Now, they're taking it a step further. They've decided to open an academy to train young sorcerers and sorceresses to fulfill their magical potential. Those with the right qualifications will have the possibility of apprenticing with one of the councilmembers, meaning that one day, those individuals may become part of the White Elm Council, as well.

It's a great opportunity, and when the Council Scrier, Qasim, offers Aristea the chance to become an academy student, she wholeheartedly accepts. She has always dreamed of becoming a scrier, even though she has never once been able to scry... well, anything. 

Things don't go quite as she expects them to once she begins her studies, though. One night, she breaks magical law (unintentionally, of course), and considers herself lucky that all she got was three weeks of detention with the headmaster, a man with a dark and mysterious past. There's something familiar about him, though she's never before seen him...

In Morgansen's world, magic exists alongside modern technology. Only those with magical talent, however, know about it. They use their power for Good, rather than Evil.

Or, at least, most of them do.

A former member of the White Elm Council, Lisandro, has gone rogue and manipulated two other councilmembers into following him. His plan? To create a new governing structure with himself at the helm. Cruel and driven, Lisandro will do anything to make this happen. Murder is an acceptable option.

Naturally, Aristea finds herself caught up in this power struggle.

And her personality?

She's complex and real. She wants to do something. Something big. Something important. Yet... she doesn't believe in herself. Overcoming self-doubt is a theme throughout this novel, and Aristea's struggle is one that we've all faced at some point in our lives.

Morgansen makes us believe in Aristea. We believe in her magical potential, her intellectual potential, and especially, we believe in her heart. We know she'll be great. We know that her heart is always in the right place...

But she doesn't.

And that makes her real.

And while we're on the subject of reality...

Morgansen does a spectacular job of making magic itself appear real. It seems quite clear that she has a tremendous amount of scientific knowledge that she draws from to make this happen. Whether she has a background in science, or not, that I don't know.

But she clearly understands scientific processes and theories.

We see this in the instructors of the White Elm Academy. The reader is privy to bits and pieces of lecture that feel very much like real classroom lectures... though more interesting because, well... magic!

Morgansen explains simple concepts, such as the idea that magic cannot be created or destroyed. Merely borrowed, modified. Sound familiar?

Yep. Energy.

Throughout the ebook, in fact, she draws on science in order to create magic, lending it credibility. It was something I found exciting, as well as engaging. She spends a lot of time on theory, rather than trying to impress the reader with awesome spells.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of those... but they wouldn't have been nearly as impressive without the theoretical lectures and explanations of the processes involved.

They are what made the magic so true.

Those theories and processes made it feel as though the reader could perform magic... if only we had that talent.

This ebook was wonderfully engaging, and I highly recommend it. Morgansen has a great ability to bring fiction to life.

Chosen can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords, as well as Scribd.

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.

Enjoying Tania Johansson's Riddle of Fate is Your Destiny!

One sweet and naive girl

+

One Angel running from judgement

=

One really big mess for the living and the dead!

Riddle of fate is a paranormal fantasy written by Tania Johansson.

So what's it about?

All Khaya wanted was to get through her work of foretelling future events at the Company every day, then go home to her loving boyfriend: a simple life. That shouldn't have been too much to ask. Unfortunately, one day she made the mistake of fixing a typewriter... without touching it. While some people have one ability beyond normal human ranges, nobody has had more than that in over sixty years... and the few that did have two abilities went insane soon after the second one made itself known.

Khaya is rushed to be tested, told by the Company that they want to help her, perhaps keep her from slipping into madness. But then she begins noticing a man that no one else seems to be able to see. Could she truly be going insane, or is there some other explanation? As Khaya puzzles through her situation, one thing becomes clear: there is much more going on than anyone has seen fit to tell her.

This was one fun ebook!

The story was well crafted, dialogue was true, and the subterfuge and manipulation within it brought an excited smile to my face on more than one occasion.

To be honest, at first I saw Khaya as some dopey girl that just sort of followed the action, doing as she was told. She was incredibly naive, she seemed to lack willpower, and I didn't see much in the way of redeeming qualities, beyond her kind heart.

But!

Then I realized that was exactly the point. Even other characters within the story noticed this flaw in her. In other words, throughout the book she had to grow a spine and learn to be a bit more careful about her choices.

And, boy, did she!

She not only gained a backbone, but became a strong, confident, lovable character. Khaya showed some definite growth, and I greatly appreciate that!

And then there was Derrin.

Derrin is a Collector. What's that? Basically, it's a grim reaper. He guides the souls of the dying into the great beyond. He kind of got into a wee bit of trouble one day long ago. See, instead of doing his job, he kinda sorta brought the person back to life.

Oopsie!

So, now he's on the run. By breaking this Collector law, he has forfeited his chance at salvation. And guess who the person whose soul he didn't collect was? Yep, you got it. Khaya. He's been watching over her ever since.

And it's a good thing, too, because she'll need him before this book is over! Heck, she's needed him from the very beginning. Naive, remember?

So, seriously, read this book. I'm having to practically gag myself to keep from telling you the whole thing! It's fast paced, the dialogue is perfect, and it'll keep you reading from beginning to end.

No boring slow bits.

Riddle of Fate can only be found on Kindle.


P.S. You can read chapter one here, if you need extra encouragement to read this beauty! ---> Of Past Things. Things Best Forgotten.