“Why is it always a blonde?” About once a year there comes along a book that irks me for a strong reason. A very strong reason. It might be the author’s vast credentials that appear to have been squandered, the inability to push the genre when it wishes to do so badly, or just the…
“Such was the tyranny of the gods, twisting devotion until sacrifice was made to feel like a privilege, until allegiance became no more than slavery by another name. And what did the immortals offer in return?” It’s no surprise I was a little hesitant to review an excerpt for a book. I mean, while this…
“The young ones smiled through their hunger and dreamed only of biting the horizon, of the great iron machines eating up earth beneath their wheels, and of freedom.” There’s a Steinbeck-esque feel between these pages, to the Great Depression backdrop to the broken down automobiles to the darkness creeping in on the edges. Problem is,…
“My lighthouse is no longer lit, Virgil, Because there are no more boats to warn off. Five hundred years ago we landed here, And five hundred years ago we, well… stopped.” They say that nothing is original anymore, and oftentimes I am hard pressed to agree. Until now. The past year has seen little in…
I wanted to try something different. See, time’s getting shorter and shorter for me, so I thought: What jives with this and still gives me my reading fix? Short stories of course! So I’m deciding to both hone my reviewing skills and my comprehension while still being on the go. Because yes, that makes sense.…
“Thorn put a brave face on it, as always, but a brave face can be a brittle thing.” My second Abercrombie was no slouch, I’ll give him that. He has writing chops like you wouldn’t believe, but then, I don’t think I need to rehash the praise you’ll see everywhere. Man’s a genius, putting it…
“Education teaches us how to think, intelligence how to question, and our morality what to do with what we know. Be wary then of the educated, intelligent, and amoral person, for they will know only that they can do a thing, not whether they should.” A book’s worth is usually gauged by its ending. A…
“Common wisdom affirms against the drinking of whiskey during daylight hours, and while I can see the merits of the argument, it is not one to which I hold.” It’s no surprise that I worship the ground Polansky walks on; or paper he scrawls his chicken-scratch on, if you want to get technical. The man…
“The past. That’s all it is. A dead currency. She runs ringers over the stubble of the buzz cut on her scalp, feeling the occasional scar, counts five different ones, each with their own story.” If you enjoy your sleep, do not pick this book up. If there is one thing Bergen does right (and…
“Never enter into a battle that you have not already won.” There is a war between the two great Houses of the Walled City. The wealthy Medici’s fight for control of the spice trade against the Duke and his family, the Lorraines. Lines are drawn in the populace by a simple glance at your facial…
Last year we saw a big increase in what many where hailing as the next new sub-genre, Flintlock Fantasy. Big name authors like Brian McClellan and Django Wexler were churning out fantasy novels set in-between the Renaissance and Industrial Eras. They were stories focused on militaries and gunpowder. Hell, McClellan has a magic system devoted…
“Patience breeds perfection.” Sometimes you just need a fun story to break you out of the dull literary crap. And Brandon Draga’s subtle twists in his debut is exactly the kind of comfortable fantasy tale I needed. This pulpy Sword and Sorcery doesn’t take itself too seriously, inserts a whopping dose of humor at every…
“Regret is a poison every bit as malicious as revenge.” Edward Knight’s second book in the Ashes Saga picks up where we left off, with Dagan wandering around the city with no purpose, only a past fire to guide his way. But that aimless shamble doesn’t stop him. He watches men get killed in broad…
“The purpose of Russian roulette is edification. A lesson that poses the question: is there a bullet or is there not?” Time travel is not a subject I usually adore. It’s hard to execute correctly. There’s this little thing called the Grandfather Paradox, and that’s where most of my criticism comes when I see time…
“The danger was more subtle. It was the danger you feel when you stare into the eyes of a resting lion. It is the unspoken threat of harm from one who knows he is more powerful than you. It is the danger that comes with the wind on an icy night.” When a self-published author…
Acerbic Writing 