Much later than intended with this Sunday’s reviews/recommendations (I will neither confirm or deny that this was due to a series of unplanned naps as I sat in my way too comfy chair at this desk or as I prefer to call them “nap ambushes”), which I suppose would technically be Monday reviews/recommendations at this point. I’m sticking with the same format as last week with this one (1 book from my old short list, 1 underdog space opera not currently in the top 10, and 1 space opera currently in the top 10), so I’ll just jump right into it. As always, links are embedded in the bold text.
“Infinity Mind” by Patrick Jamison: Oppressive government? Mars colony? Telepathic assassin? Yes to all three, and the first 2 chapters presented here make me happy to have answered so. The first chapter serves as an excellent pressure cooker, serving to quickly introduce and humanize Mason through his extreme pain, both physical and emotional, during an ordeal which also serves as the hook to draw us into the main plot on hand. Chapter 2 pulls back from Mason to give us a real look at the larger world, or in this instance colony. What we are shown is a significant glimpse into a fully developed world, populated by real people and with a well laid out political structure. I am confident in the promise this glimpse makes, and am eager to continue reading about the El Dorado colony as well as the ordeals and intrigue which both it and Mason are most certainly barreling towards.
“The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life” by Michael Sebby: Filled with excellent characterization, Mr. Sebby also does a wonderful job of juxtaposing the familiar waking world with the sometimes surreal, sometimes sinister, and often prophetic dreams of the main character, Jacob. Throughout the first 4 chapters presented here we are left to ponder the reality of the dreams as well as the waking world they so often intersect. Are they truly prophetic? Just what are the people/creatures encountered in some of the more unusual dreams? I look forward to reading more and finding out just what is real, unreal, and more importantly where this is all taking Jacob.
“The Lonely Space Lounge” by Gregory Wlasiuk and Venkat Malladi: Told in a series of transmissions from different crew members on the same ship, the narrative proceeds in a non-standard format which I immediately fell in love with. Assigned to the Healthy Beverage Division in the Cosmic Empire, the crew certainly has their individual quirks as they work alongside each other aboard what is best described as a brewery ship. The portions presented here show a wealth of wit, unique voices to each character, and just enough detail to give one the sense that something is not quite right. Delving deeper into that mystery alongside this cast of well-written, unique characters promises to be very much a joy.
I’m about to upload and prettify the last two sections of Chapter 6, but before I did I thought I would share some of what my plans for the slightly modified layout of Exile, Magus are. First off though I’ll note that none of these changes will be coming as quickly as I’d like. I just finished the first of 4 consecutive work weeks in which I will only have Sundays off, and when you add in a long work day and commute which eat up just under 12 hours each day it means the time I have left to work on getting this book to the point I really want it. Bright side: lotsa overtime pay means I may actually be able to make enough money to fund all the artwork I want to put into this thing.
One of the more major changes is that I plan to put in a short prologue to introduce readers to Pentaz right off the bat. It will most certainly be a short flash forward scene since Pentaz’ life prior to the start of Exile, Magus is kinda boring. The life of a semi-shut-in loner isn’t that exciting, trust me on this. I had thought to flash forward to a moment near the end of his life, but considering he’s a dwarf with their long lifespan and all that would be around 300 years and his personality would be almost unrecognizable compared to the somewhat pampered and definitely sheltered youth of around 60 years that he is at the start of Exile, Magus. It just felt too disconnected from this book. What I’ve settled on is a flash forward which will expand upon just what is going on internally with Pentaz during Part 1’s most pivotal scene, which is something I would have loved to do in that scene itself but it was apparent to me that doing so would derail the narrative at that point. Now I can give the insight into his character right off the bat and make it apparent that he is the main character before I send you into the odd courtly politics of Thierdenvolgenlund.
I also plan to restructure the books Parts a bit. I had been calling them Chapters with numbered Sections within, but once the change is done it will be Parts 0-13, with each part containing 1 or more Chapters which will be numbered consecutively. I’ll just give an example comparison layout below, starting with the current(old) way.
Chapter 1 - Exile, sections 1-6; Chapter 2 - Warrior, sections 1-10; Chapter 3 - LLanchland; Chapter 4 - Cruise; Chapter 5 - Academy; Chapter 6 - Graduation; Chapter 7 - Hunter; Chapter 8 - Proposal; Chapter 9 - Rescue; Chapter 10 - Ansvari; Chapter 11 - Reunion; Chapter 12 - Ascension.
The new ordering will be mostly a cosmetic one, and will be as follows:
Part 0 - Magus, prologue; Part 1 - Thierdenvolgenlund, chapters 1-4(previously sections 1-4 of Exile above); Part 2 - Exile, chapters 5-9(previously sections 4-6 of Exile above and 1-3 of Warrior above); Part 3 - Warrior, chapters 10-16(previously sections 4-10 of Warrior above); Part 4 - Llanchland; Part 5 - Cruise; and so on with the names and divisions of each part after Part 3 - Warrior being the same as current with the part number moved up by 1.
I also plan to add quick one sentence descriptions of each Part for a table of contents which I will post when completed. I’m leaning towards the sentences all having a basic format of "Wherein X meets/learns/confronts/etc Y."
That’s enough of my prattling on for now though. The conclusion to Graduation will be up shortly, after which I’ll take a quick break to get some groceries and start some laundry before settling in to get my Sunday reviews/recommendations ready for you all before the night is over(I am an evening shifter though, so my idea of night may run a few hours into the AM if I don’t read and type fast enough).
Thank you all for your time and continued interest. Rest assured I will be moving forward with Exile, Magus, I just intend to get it looking purty as can be before I do so and that will still take a bit longer. Enjoy what’s left of your weekend, and keep reading!
Sunday review/recommendation time. I would have been posting up hours ago, but I am easily distracted when there is snow falling and stray cats feeding outside my back door.
Just as a reminder folks, bold text always denotes an embedded link with my updates. Before I get to my recommendations I’ll give you a quick behind the scenes on my planning for the future of Exile, Magus. I’m thinking about making a few changes to the story(the most major of which is a new introductory scene if I can only think of one, perhaps a prologue of sorts), and to aid in this I have enlisted the help of a few beta readers. The feedback I’ve gotten so far has been insightful and quite useful in keeping my thoughts un-nebulous and mostly focused.
I believe I’ve mentioned it before, but in case I haven’t: my dream layout for Exile, Magus would have a piece of full page cover art in front of each Part as a sort of illuminated title page. To work towards that end I’ve been looking around for artists and have now got quite a long list which I’d like to work with, so I’ll be stopping my search and actually sending out messages to said artists to see whose work I can actually afford. I hope to have a total of 14 pieces of art for Exile, Magus, and if I can find money for it I hope to work this into a giveaway when I most likely relaunch my campaign at a date yet to be determined. No promises or details though, because its far too early for either.
With that out of the way its time to get on to the recommendations. I still have my old shortlist that I’m working through, but I also can’t help but keep getting distracted by some of the wonderful new projects brought out of the woodwork by the current Nerdist Space Opera contest. Since I’ve covered most of the projects on my old shortlist, I plan to cover one book from it, as well as two space opera books today, next Sunday, and then alternate Sundays with this same layout until the contest ends. For the space operas I’m going to try to focus on one which has not made it to the top 10(because who doesn’t love an underdog) as well as one which is in the top 10.
Children of the Wise Oak by Oliver Tooley: My inner pagan has long leaned to the Celtic, so the opening paragraph with its excellent use combination of vivid imagery and Celtic mythology to describe a sunrise was simply mesmerizing to my mind’s eye. From here Mr. Tooley continues with a masterful technique, easily blending exposition, mythology, imagery, and characterization to settle me firmly into the mindset of this particular group of ancient Celts. With this foundation it is impossible not to get swept away into the compelling narrative.
I’m very disappointed that this one hasn’t received more attention yet, it really is a superb work of historical fantasy. Hopefully most of you simply haven’t found it yet and now that I’ve pointed it out to you we can get this book the attention it deserves soon, since its funding deadline is drawing very near - sometime around 3/16 if my math is correct.
To Live and Die in Avalon by Jason Chestnut: Mr. Chestnut’s first chapter succeeds in combining two genres which I’ve always had a (perhaps unsavory) love for - 60’s spy movies and classic science fiction serials. With imagery and characterization absolutely dripping with the sleek and sexy 60’s style blended so well with action and aliens that would easily fit into a Buck Roger’s adventure, To Live and Die in Avalon is such a joy to read that I can’t wait for more.
This is my underdog space opera recommendation, and I cannot understand how it hasn’t already broken into the top 10 on its own. Check it out for yourself and see what I’m talking about.
The Traveller’s Cup by AC Baldwin: I’ve long been a fan of the intermingling of science fiction and fantasy(even doing it myself at times), so how could I possibly pass up reading a book with the premise which it seems one may be able to sum up as a space race/treasure hunt amidst a civil war between space dragons and wizards?
The opening uses well-crafted narrative to quickly give us the exposition and characterization we need to get a good feel for the dynamics between the lowly Grays and aristocratic Lumens, as well as to give us insight into the mind of our unlikely protagonist as he is drawn into the race quite on accident(or his own foolishness, take your pick). The high quality of writing and promise of the concept leaves me desperately hungry for more of Ms. Baldwin’s story.
This is very near to being an underdog in the space opera, sitting at position 10 in the contest as of this writing. I hope to soon see it race up to one of the top 3 spots and stay there.
Wait there’s more! I nearly forgot this bit. I had promised at the end of my campaign that if Exile, Magus hit 300 followers I would post the final sections of Part 6. Well, we passed the 300 mark days ago, so I will be posting up and sending out those sections sometime in the week to come.
That’s all I’ve got for this time, thanks for your time and enjoy yourselves!
Its Sunday, but I’m going to have to admit that I will not be able to get my recommendations in this week since I’ve had nowhere near the time I need to do my pre-recommendation reading/reviewing. Its the busy season where I work which has meant that for the past two weeks my work days have been 11 hours long when you factor in drive time, and I’ve only had Sundays off. This has pretty much only left me time to eat, sleep, work, and be exhausted.
As a result I’ve also been slowed down in my plans to find artists to see if I can afford both the new cover and interior art that I really want, not to mention prints of said art for a reason to be announced and probably easily enough guessed at. That means currently I’ve only got a couple of names on my list to email, and I’d really prefer more so feel free to message me with suggestions for affordable artists if you know of any. I plan to send messages today to those I have found, and also spend time looking for other artists.
I’ll still be on long hours next week, but unless something changes I’ll have both Saturday and Sunday off. As long as that doesn’t change I’ll be posting up recommendations in a week’s time.
I hadn't intended to send out an update today, but something occurred to me. I've been doing most of my posting about potential plans for the future of Exile, Magus over on a Goodreads forum which not all of you may have been to. With that in mind and me still wanting as much feedback as possible from all of you I figured that I would share a link to the group: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/17928984-ended-but-regrouping-let-s-get-exile-magus-into-quill
That's all I've got for today. Next Sunday I'll have a full book recommendation update. Enjoy the rest of your day and the week to follow.
Edit: apparently embedding the video trailers didn't work, so instead I'll post links to the trailers for anyone who wants to check them out.
Sunday recommendation time. Since I've stepped back to only every other Sunday, I'm going to try to post up at least 4 or 5 book recommendations each time. I'll also be including video trailers(if available) for the books after each recommendation. It is definitely a mixed bag today, jumping between genres and general feels. Without further delay, here they are.
“Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story” by Michael Crider: I've always been a fan of super-powered fiction, especially when its done it at least a semi-realistic fashion. Judging from the excerpt that is up this book does that well while also adding in a dash of humor as it tells us the tale of a well-meaning superhero turned accidental supervillain. Definitely something you should check out if you're at all interested in the super-genre.
“The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising” by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman: Running from fond yet sorrowful reminiscence, to the stresses of starship maintenance, and finally to a good bit of fast paced sci-fi action, this book definitely has a good range. Well written throughout the chapters presented here give me just enough to really want to know more about these characters, the universe they live in, and the events that are unfolding.
“Scribbles: A Collection of Words” by Tabi Card: This one is a collection of 10 short stories, with excerpts from 3 of them listed here. Each does a wonderful job of painting the scenes presented, both through physical descriptions and characterization, so that you will find yourself quickly pulled into each. Such masterful execution leaves me impatient to read the full stories.
“Blood Dawn” by John Robin: In our real world its not unheard of to hear music and other artforms referred to as magical, which is obviously meant in a symbolic fashion. A look back into the real-world practice of mystical arts will also show a tendecy to fetishize art, mainly music and dance in this case. This connection has always fascinated me despite my awareness that it is merely a symbological practice in the real world, instead of being truly magical. One of the things which really drew me into Blood Dawn was its exploration of this connection in a world where true magic exists. A world where the magic in art was used in such a destructive way so as to cause the powers that be to outlaw art altogether.
Thanks to John Robin's skill at the craft of writing this book is more than just an interesting idea though. His words weave vivid scenes, evocative characters, and deeply layered cultures/societies. I wish I could describe it in better critical words, but to be perfectly honest I find myself being so drawn into the story every time I read the chapters currently posted that critical thinking shuts down in favor of the pure pleasure of reading an excellent story.
Again my math may be wrong, but if its not then the funding period for Good Intentions ends 3/6, The Amaranth Chronicles ends 3/8, Scribbles ends 3/31, and Blood Dawn ends 4/2. Don't delay in checking these projects out and ordering them if they are the type of book you enjoy. As always, links to each are embedded in the titles, and links to the authors in the authors' names. Enjoy what little is left of the weekend, and see you back here in two weeks time.
