“His clothes and skin stank of hopelessness and self-disgust and other people’s blood.” For me to be immersed in a novel, I need a strong atmosphere and great dialogue. The most bittersweet thing about Peter Higgins debut, Wolfhound Century, is that he captures the bleak landscape and time period in such a brilliant way, yet…
“’He comes not for what you need, but for what you do not want,’ said the monk. ‘He is the unremembered man. He is the shadow, not the shadow-caster. He is the shadow of forgotten things, of neglect and of apathy and of lost cities. He is the end of all stories. He was the…
“In the kitchen Mom pours four glasses of wine. The bottle is half empty, which tells me she and Dad have been at it.” When I first heard about Zachary Jernigan’s work in short stories, I knew I had to pick this up as soon as possible. He was kind enough to send me an…
“Hear these portents, oh would-be master of masters, you who would be prince of the world, for these signs will see the undoing of all you have wrought. Mark the day a mirror beggars you of your reflection. Beware the hand of a dead king who will bring you to your knees. Fear the phoenix…
“Men, he knew, often hid their intentions from themselves.” I want to begin by saying that I’m very grateful for receiving this book free of charge from the author. Not an ARC, but a gift you could say. To that I am very thankful. No Return is a very strong science fiction debut, one of…
“But could you call it a victory if around a hundred thousand people had died? Was it really called winning when your own army was nearly destroyed?” There comes a time when the second book in a series in infinitely better than the first. While it had its flaws, Mark Charan Newton’s City of Ruin…
Acerbic Writing 