Review: "Prince of Fools" by Mark Lawrence

One of the things that I always admired about the late David Gemmell was that, unlike many fantasy authors, he seemed to understand the truth of heroes – that they are usually men and women forged in the fire of a single moment, not people that scamper about committing one act of heroism after another for their entire lives.

Gemmell probably could have made a good career for himself writing book after book about his hero Druss the Legend, but gave us only a handful. Instead, he moved around the Drenai world both in time and location to give us glimpses of the rise and fall of other heroes.

It’s that same approach that Mark Lawrence uses as he begins his second trilogy, the Red Queen’s War, with “Prince of Fools” ($26.95, Ace), though I’m not sure that anyone would call Prince Jalan Kendeth a hero. But then, Jorg Ancrath was hardly a hero either.

“Prince of Fools” is set in the same world and time as Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy, and we do indeed bump into Jorg and his band of road brothers for a brief moment. But this book focuses completely on Jalan and his unlikely Norse companion Snorri ver Snagason (and speaking of Gemmell, how’s that for a nice tip of the hat?).

Tell-Tale Thoughts: "The Cask of Amontillado"

When I began this series back in February, I had planned for it to be a much more regular feature. Life happens, though, most of it good in this case, and it kind of fell by the wayside. Now, I pick it up again with the second Poe tale in that little book that I talked about – “The Cask of Amontillado.”

This is another of Poe’s most well-known tales, and one that most people read in high school. It is, oddly, one of the stories that I’ve returned to less frequently over the years. Maybe that’s because it is one that’s widely taught and the old contrarian metal head in me didn’t want anything to do with something the rest of the world finds familiar.

“The Cask of Amontillado” plays on a familiar theme in Poe’s works – live burial. It was a common fear in Poe’s time, and he used it to great effect in several stories.

New submission guidelines

I thought it was about time that I updated the old draconian submission guidelines that I had here on the site. At the time they were written, I was writing for several different outlets and getting about 8-10 books a week for review. They had become outdated as I'm a little more open to submissions these days. So, if you're a writer with an interest, check out my new submission guidelines.

Review: "Shattered" by Kevin Hearne

After a wild ride in “Hunted,” Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles makes its hardcover debut, surprisingly, with a bit of a lull in “Shattered” ($26, Del Rey).

As the book opens, Atticus and Granuaile are still in the process of recovering from being chased all over Europe by members of the Greek and Roman pantheon. 

Atticus has freed his former archdruid Owen Kennedy (Eoghan O Cinneide) from centuries of imprisonment trapped in time and must now become the teacher as he acclimates his old tutor to a very strange world. He also needs Owen to restore his damaged tattoos so that he can shift shapes again. And he needs a bigger favor from his old archdruid, who is still viewed as a neutral party in Tir na Nog – he needs to know who among the Tuatha de Danann is plotting against him.

Review: "Skin Game" by Jim Butcher

Over the course of the past few books of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, wizard Harry Dresden has had quite the ride, but his assignment in “Skin Game” ($27.95, Ace) might be his most difficult and distasteful.

Harry has spent much of his time of late hiding out on Demonreach Island, learning how to be warden of his prison filled with evil beings and trying to figure out how to get rid of the parasite that’s growing within him. That isolation comes to an end as his boss, Mab, the Winter Queen of Faerie comes to call.

Mab has a job for her Winter Knight that will require him to leave the relative safety of his island and face, not only the dangers of the assignment, but the friends from which he’s largely been separated.

Things get worse for Harry when he realizes that Mab has hired him out to Nicodemus Archleone, host to Anduriel of the Order of the Blackened Denarius – a group of fallen angels bound to silver coins said to be those that Judas Iscariot received for his betrayal of Jesus.

Review: "Boy's Life" by Robert McCammon

Every so often I lament the difficulty of finding what I consider good horror and solicit suggestions. Almost every time I do, someone brings up Robert McCammon’s “Boy’s Life” ($8.99, Pocket Books).

I finally got around to picking it up, and I disagree. Mainly because I’d really hate to classify this book as “horror.” Yes, there are horrific things in it. There are monsters and ghosts, there’s magic, there’s even a dinosaur. But there’s so much more than any one genre designation can hold.

The story centers around Cory Mackenson, a young boy growing up in the 1960s in Zephyr, Alabama. One early morning, as he rides along on his father’s milk delivery route, his life changes. A car rockets across the dark road, barely missing the milk truck, and plummets into the deep waters of Saxon’s Lake.

Cory’s father dives in to try to save the driver, only to find that the man has been brutally murdered – beaten, choked with piano wire and chained to the steering wheel to keep his body from surfacing. The only clue to go on is a tattoo of a skull with wings on the man’s arm and a bright green feather that Cory found at the scene of the crime and only he knows about.

Review: "Dawnflight" by Kim Headlee

One of the first advance copies of a book that I ever received for review was the Pocket Books edition of Kim Headlee’s “Dawnflight” back in 1999. Nearly 15 years later, Headlee has revisited the book, making a few changes and relaunching the series that never happened back then.

The book tells a familiar tale – the love story between King Arthur and Guinevere – but approaches it in a different way. In place of the courtly Lady Guinevere of most tales, we have the Caledonian chieftaness Gyanhumara, a warrior through-and-through who takes heads as trophies. That alone is enough to set it apart from most Arthurian stories.

After the forces of Arthur the Pendragon defeat Gyan’s people, she finds herself bound to marry one of the former enemies of her tribe as part of the treaty. Urien map Dumarec seems the most obvious choice, and despite misgivings, she agrees for the good of her people.

Review: "Raising Steam," by Terry Pratchett

The steam engine has come to the Discworld, but is the Disc ready? We find out in Terry Pratchett’s latest, “Raising Steam” ($26.95, Doubleday).

Dick Simnel, a young lad out of Sto Lat, has succeeded where many others have failed – usually in a messy pink mist. He’s harnessed steam to create the Discworld’s first locomotive, which (or should we say who) he’s named Iron Girder. And where else would he take this new invention but Ankh Morpork?

Dick ends up in the offices of one Harry King, a man who has made a very good living for his family in sanitation, but is looking for something he and his wife can take a little more pride in. He sees the engine as a way to provide that.

Review: "Promise of Blood," by Brian McClellan

I’m still a little uncertain about the introduction of black powder into my fantasy, but I have to admit that Brian McClellan does it with flair in “Promise of Blood” ($23.99, Orbit).

The story opens with a coup. Field Marshall Tamas and a group of co-conspirators have overthrown the government and dethroned the corrupt king Manhouch who has spent the nation into poverty and plans to sign a deal with their enemies, the Kez, to bail it out.

After the king and all of the nobility meet their end at the guillotine, the tough business of rebuilding and running the country begins. Tamas is besieged by royalists, logistical problems and threats of war, but also troubled by a mysterious threat uttered by Manhouch’s Privileged, the sorcerers of the realm, as they died. They warned him that he could not escape Kresimer’s Promise.

Tell-Tale Thoughts: "The Tell-Tale Heart"

Where else should I start this series except where it started for me, with "The Tell-Tale Heart."

Though I read the tale often for many years, I have to admit that college was likely the last time that I read it, and that's been a minute or two. I remembered it in broad strokes, naturally, but was surprised to realize that, even after all these years, I could still just about recite the first page of it word for word.

The genius of "The Tell-Tale Heart," as with so many of Poe's stories, is that the style of the story so essentially captures the madness and paranoia of the narrator.

Review: "The Hellbound Heart" by Clive Barker

Clive Barker's "The Hellbound Heart" ($11.99, Harper Perennial) represents a little unfinished business for me. You see, I'm a big fan of Barker, and I'm a big fan of the Hellraiser movies, at least the early ones, but I've never read the novella they were based on until now.

If you're familiar with the movie, you know the basic story. Unhappily married couple -- Rory and Julia -- moves into an inherited house and soon discovers that the husband's ne'er-do-well brother Frank is still in residence, sort of. He discovered a puzzle box, which opened a door that allowed a group of creatures known as the Cenobites to take him away for brutal torture. Now he needs Julia to help him restore himself and escape.

The movie and novella follow each other pretty much blow-by-blow. There are a few deviations in the movie, but in broad strokes it's the same. For the most part, it's one of those rare tales where I believe that I prefer the movie. I think I like the ending of the novella better, but the Cenobites, really, were made for the visual.

Tell-Tale Thoughts: An Introduction

"True! Nervous, very very dreadfully nervous I had been and am, but why will you say that I am mad?"

There are few phrases in the English language that have had the kind of impact on my life that one did.

I was in fourth grade, and while I was a regular reader, most of the stuff that I read wasn't very good -- TV show tie-in novels and the like. While on a trip to visit my aunt and uncle in southern Louisiana, I happened upon a shrink-wrapped package of three classics aimed at young readers. The one that caught my eye was an abridged version of "Moby Dick." Much to my chagrin, I have to admit that, to this day, I have never finished that novel.

It was another book in the package, though, that changed my world. "Tales of Mystery and Terror" by Edgar Allan Poe, a collection of four short stories -- "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Gold Bug."

Review: "The Golem and the Jinni" by Helene Wecker

In some ways, Chava and Ahmad, the main characters in Helene Wecker’s “The Golem and the Jinni” ($15.99, Harper Perennial), are not all that different from the thousands of immigrants that surround them in turn-of-the-century New York. As the title tells us, though, they’re far from the average immigrant.

Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay. She traveled to New York from Poland with her would-be husband, a ne’er-do-well merchant who, unable and unwilling to find a real-world woman, enlisted the help of a disgraced rabbi who doesn’t mind meddling in the dark arts for the right price. Unlike most golems, which are little more than mindless slaves, Chava’s master wanted her to have intelligence and curiosity. She was packed away on a ship to be awakened when they arrived in New York. Unable to wait, her master awakens her on the voyage, then dies, leaving her rudderless, a babe in a new world.

Memory Lane: "The Guns of Avalon," by Roger Zelazny

I began my second visit to Roger Zelazny's world of Amber with the intent to finish last year since the books are all fairly small, quick reads. Best laid plans and all that.

Finally, though, I cracked the cover on the second in the series, "The Guns of Avalon."

Prince Corwin of Amber has mostly recovered from his imprisonment at the hands of his brother Eric, and after his escape, his attention turns to revenge and reclaiming the throne, which he believes rightfully belongs to him. To do that, he must travel through shadow to Avalon, where he can get his hands on a secret that might allow him to do the previously unthinkable -- bring guns to Amber.

But more trouble is brewing in Amber than Corwin's escape and plot.

Review: "The Emperor's Blades" by Brian Staveley

So I finally cracked the cover on my first book that was actually published in 2014, and I made a good choice to start with Brian Staveley's "The Emperor's Blades" ($27.99, Tor).
Sanlitun, the emperor of Annur, has three children set on three very different paths.

The eldest, Kaden, is heir to the Unhewn Throne and the strange, fiery eyes that mark the line of the rulers of Annur. Kaden finds himself in a remote mountain monastery, learning cryptic lessons from the monks in residence -- lessons that he doesn't yet understand the purpose of and doesn't see how they will make him a better emperor.

Kaden's younger brother Valyn is sworn to a group of elite warriors called the Kettral. Highly and brutally trained, the Kettral attack in small groups from the wings of the huge birds from which the warriors derive their name. They are the emperor's elite strike force -- the Navy Seals of Staveley's world.

Review: "Among Thieves" by Douglas Hulick

I'll take a break from the books that I should have read last year theme to revisit one I should have read several years ago, Douglas Hulick's "Among Thieves" ($7.99, Roc).

This one has been on my to read list for quite a while, but kept getting shuffled down thanks to a natural reaction I sometimes have to thieves tales. Once I started it, I was immediately sorry that I'd put it off for so long.

Drothe is a member of the Kin, a surprisingly well-organized group of criminals and cons. He serves as a Nose, which means that his job is to hit the streets and find important and interesting information for an Upright Man, the crime lord for whom he works.

When Drothe isn't doing that, he's running his own games on the side. His latest involves an imperial relic that has gone missing in transit. As Drothe attempts to find his missing relic, he stumbles into a much bigger game, one that will most certainly change his life, and possibly the world.

Review: "The Crown Tower" by Michael J. Sullivan

What do you do when you end your series with some finality, but your No. 1 reader wants more tales about your character? Michael J. Sullivan takes us back to the beginning in "The Crown Tower" ($16, Orbit).

As Sullivan explains in the introduction to the book, his wife wanted to read more about his hero Hadrian Blackwater, but he felt that any other story he had to tell about Hadrian and his partner Royce Melborn would feel tacked on. Instead, he takes us 12 years into their past, to the moment that they came together thanks to a university professor.

Arcadius, of the University in Sheridan, has purchased Royce's freedom from Manzant prison and asks for a service in return. The professor was also friends with Hadrian's father and calls the warrior to him to fulfill one of his father's final wishes. The result is a near impossible heist and an unlikely alliance between the fierce warrior Hadrian, who is looking for something a bit more noble in life, and the ruthless and amoral Royce, whose response to every problem is a knife to the throat.

Review: "The Ocean at the End of the Lane," by Neil Gaiman

I continue my journey through books that I should have read last year with Neil Gaiman’s “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” ($25.99, William Morrow).

I’m kind of embarrassed that I didn’t manage to get to this book in 2013. There are few writers in the world right now that I hold in higher regard than Gaiman, and he doesn’t disappoint with this short tale of a man transported back to his childhood.

The narrator of “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” whose name we don’t know, has returned to his childhood home in England to deliver a eulogy at a funeral. Afterward, he wanders back through his past, visiting the place he once lived and a small cottage at the end of that lane where three exceptional women – the Hempstocks – reside. As he sits beside the pond at the back of the house, memories of his childhood, long locked away, come flooding back over him, and we, the readers, are taken along for an improbable and fascinating ride.

Review: "Doctor Sleep," by Stephen King

Long years have passed since the events of “The Shining,” and Danny, now Dan Torrance, has found himself in a position that, considering his father, he never thought he’d be in. He’s a raging alcoholic. After years of trying to deal with his talents, he turned to booze to numb them and drive them away. He wanders from place to place, finding work, usually at a local hospice, for as long as he can until the drink causes problems that he must run away from. His latest drunken misadventure, though, may be rock bottom even for him.

Running from it, he ends up in a small New Hampshire town. He stops there because his childhood “friend” Tony appears after a long absence, indicating this is the place. In Frazier, he finds something he needs – friends who are willing to help him and a job, which because of his talents, he’s quite good at in the local hospice. His talent, in fact, earns him a nickname on the staff, Doctor Sleep.

Favorite reads of 2013

It was a disappointing year for me as far as reading goes. Not because of the quality of the books, mind you, but simply because I had very little time to read, especially later in the year. There are still a number of books – including *gasp* a new book from Neil Gaiman – that I haven’t gotten around to, and I’ve only managed to read about five books in the last six months. That has to be a lifelong low for a guy that’s used to reading at least 40 a year, and it makes me want to cry. Here’s to fixing that problem in the coming year.

That said, I still read some pretty good books this year, so here’s the list. As a reminder, this is in no way a “best of 2013” list (they're not all even from 2013). Even in a good year, I don’t manage to read enough books to even remotely think I’m qualified to name the “best.” These are just my favorite reads of the last year (in alphabetical order by author, not order of preference).