DT Read's Tentacles of the Dominion

Seldom can an author change the entire basis for a series and have it work. John Ringo comes to mind as an author who didn't (and if you've read the Legacy of the Aldenata series AKA The Human/Posleen Wars then you're familiar with the Callie Trilogy. I kinda didn't like them because they didn't fit.) quite make it fit. I never liked the Callie trilogy much, not because it was poorly written, but because it didn't fit the series. 

Enter D.T. Read and her latest (re)release, Tentacles of the Dominion. I was a bit leery at first because I had advanced warning that this was a book unlike the first two books and I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out. I was worrying for no reason though, because this is a damn fine book. 

I've remarked before how well Read writes family life and Tentacles of the Dominion is actually the best example of that so far. Lujan Sergey has been badly wounded while protecting an important person at a treaty signing. His son Tristan, the main character of the first two books, is literally light years away fighting on another planet. His wife is left alone to be with him while he tries to recover from a nearly body-wide paralysis plus blindness and deafness using methods that would not be available in the real world. Read gets into Lujan's head. Read gets into his wife Darcie's head. 

Lujan's recovery is totally believable if you excuse the Science Fictional methods used to make it work. He struggles. He fights. Lujan is an admiral in the Sperzah, which is a spaceborne version of the Navy SEALS and he refuses to give up like one. He has that ungoldy persistence combined with stubborn pigheadedness that gets him through anything he needs to get through. If he pushes himself further than he should at times then so be it. You don't accomplish great things by refusing to challenge yourself or by thinking small. Basically, when I finally get to sit down and have a drink with all of my fictional friends, Lujan gets a double. He's hard core.

Darcie is the kind of wife that every man wants. She's tough. She's loyal. She sticks by her man no matter what it takes and helps bring him through the fire regardless of the cost to herself. Seriously, I've got a lot of respect for her and she gets a girly froo-froo drink, too. Make that two. She's earned it.

Oh, and a moment between Lujan and his mother and sisters deserves mention, too. Mom is totally believable to the point where I didn't know whether to laugh along with her or cry for Lujan. Either way, it worked out well and I had a good time with it. And when Tris makes it back, there are times when I almost did well up.

I mean, I didn't, obviously, because I'm Jimbo and Jimbo is a big, strong, proud, smart, brave, rough, tough guy.

Of course, I taught my daughters to be all of that and they still cry, but not me. Nope. Never.

But yeah, speaking as a guy who lost his dad unexpectedly, I felt for Tris when he came back from deployment. He hadn't lost his father but in some ways it had to have felt like he did. The dude in the hospital bed wasn't the guy he went rappelling with last book even if he was. If you've ever seen a loved one go through something catastrophic you'll get that. 

But I also felt for Luj. I'm watching my oldest grow up. She's a high school senior this year, just drove me out to dinner and is getting invitations from lots of colleges because of her brains. I always raised her to do her best and succeed but it's still hard to believe that she's so old and grown up now. It's the same for Luj, who sees his baby grown and helping Dad when he needs it. It's a weird thing if you haven't experienced it, but any parent who has been through a similar time can read that part of the book and feel it in their soul.

That's not to say that Tentacles of the Dominion is all family and medicine. There is a big-time political plot going on complete with spies, duplicity and murder. There are a few action sequences and they work where they're supposed to. We get that whole pulse pounding feeling a couple times and it's fun but that's not what Tentacle of the Dominion is really all about.

If you're a fan of my blog then you're familiar with my whole "someone to root for and someone to root against" thing, then you know I love to hate a good villain, and TOTD has one that I just want to reach out and touch, preferably with a bladed weapon in his core region. Seulemont Remarq is sneaky. He's slimy. He's duplicitous. He'll do whatever he needs to do to achieve his ends and he has no sense of remorse. His only loyalty is to himself and on that level he's a fanatic. He seeks power for his government, but not as a loyalist. His goal is to empower the government to empower himself.

He's got friends and followers, or at least accomplices, in high places, too. There is indeed a great deal of corruption in the government and it seems to be spreading. They even manage to get Lujan retired while he is convalescing, thus removing him from a position where he has a chance to really influence what happens next. It almost has an air of legitimacy but it's fake. And, of course, nothing is worse than fake legitimacy, with the possible exception of my sense of humor. Even that's only possible though.

I do find myself a bit bummed that this is the end of the trilogy because I feel like there is more story to be told here. I won't go into details because it would spoil too much, but I truly do feel like there should be at least one more book to detail the fallout from this one. I think I can get up with saying that there are some loose ends that need to be tied up. Then again, I hear that there are some sequels coming, turning this into an ongoing series once again and that your favorite blogger might have something to say about how they go. 

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Burnt Fuses

Tentacles of the Dominion
D.T. Read
Theogony Books, 2023

Tentacles of the Dominion is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you. And, not to be that guy about it, it is Christmas time and I know you've got some shopping to do. So clicky the thingy and throw some pennies atcha boy.

D.T. Read's Apprentice to the Gods The Seventh Shaman, Book Four

 (Author's note: D.T Read will still be getting her review as part of my Memorial Day Event. I know that I had originally promised it would be this book but I got excited and jumped the gun. She has another series out, The Sergey Chronicles, and I'll be reviewing book one from that series instead. Oops.)

So I'm totally going to review D.T. Read's Apprentice to the Gods without every third word being a spoiler.

Totes.

Watch me go.

I'm all over this.

Well, at least "all over." 

Seriously, this is a REALLY good book but how do you not spoil too much?

Okay so I've reviewed the first three books. For purposes of this review, I'm going to assume you've read the first three. If you haven't. hie thee off to the two links listed above and then go read the books. I'll wait.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Okay. ARE YOU DONE YET? Sheesh. I gave you at least five seconds there.

And I never, and I mean ever, put this this early in the review but don't read Apprentice to the Gods as a standalone. This book is part of a series and it really only works that way. That's not to say it's not a good book, because it's amazeballs,  It is to say that ATTG is awesome in large part because of how well it connects with what has come before. It also works (at least it feels like it does) as a bridge to the rest of the series.

There are certain moments in certain series where the entire story turns on that one moment. The death of Sturm Brightblade in The Dragonlance Chronicles comes to mind. So does "No Luke, I am your father." for the original Star Wars trilogy. Apprentice to the Gods contains that moment for this series, I think. I mean, the last three (at least! WHO ELSE IS EXCITED?!?!?!?!?!??) books of the Seventh Shaman haven't come out yet and I could be dead wrong, but it was definitely _a_ turning point even if it wasn't _the_ turning point.

Something big happens though, and it changes the trajectory of Ku's life. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worse, but it'll never be the same. It's definitely not all bad though. Ku is a man with a destiny and he knows it. Ku needs training outside of what he received from the military and he gets it but I'm damn sure that not everything he needed to know and learned can be termed as "training."

Ku, like many other men throughout history, became a father for the first time while serving a combat deployment. He ends up at home for his first extended period of time since that happen in Apprentice to the Gods. He honestly hadn't been married for all that long before he deployed either. What this translates into is a man who needs to learn how to live in a family as a husband and father. And the military, or so I've been told, doesn't do much to prepare its troops to deal with these kinds of tasks. He does about as well with his first diaper as I did though. I'll give him that much. Then again, there's a reason why my oldest daughter had the nicknames Stink and Poops while she was a baby.

She'll kill me if she reads that. 

Pray for me.

For what it's worth though, Ku is a good dad and does as much of the stuff that I've been told multiple times that men don't do as I did when I was married and lived with my kids. Well, except that we had disposable diapers. Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with THAT.

Things are going well for Ku in the sense of his immediate family, but not on the macro scale. There is a lot going on that may very well end up requiring his military skills. I'm only seventy percent sure of that at this point, but I'd be shocked if I'm wrong. There is a fight brewing and I'm not sure how big it's going to be, but I'm guessing somewhere between huge and gigundus. And yes, gingundus is a word. I just made it up.

And it's serious because Ku has some serious religious obligations coming up too, and they're likely to require a whole bunch of his family and military skills. There are shades of prophecy involved here and it's not always clear what is literal and what isn't. Ku has a lot riding on his shoulders. I don't think I'd want some of his responsibilities. I'm not sure he does. What he does have though is guts and to spare. He's a man that is stuck in a situation he can't get out of and does what is required of him BECAUSE it is required of him. That's all anyone can ask I guess, and I find it utterly realistic and understandable.

I'm thinking his religious training benefits from his military training in ways that may not be apparent until you think about it, but it makes sense. As a matter of fact, I think it might be the only way to make some of it make sense. Military training is conducted at a high rate of speed and things are condensed into the smallest amount of time they can take up and still be useful. Ku, and his wife Derry, get a lot of that in Apprentice to the Gods. That makes sense because she's military too, but they have to learn a lot in a short amount of time. Anyone who has been through Basic Training knows how that feels. 

And Ku also ends up being an imperfect human being. He makes one very serious mistake in the book that almost costs him one of the most important things in his life and it hurts him. It hurts him bad and it makes him do what he should have done previously. He learns from it though, and I'm thinking that will stand him as well in books to come as it does in this one. 

If you're annoyed by the fact that I keep bringing up future boks in The Seventh Shaman just know that it doesn't annoy me at all. That's because I'm geeked up on this series and can't wait to find out what's next. Unfortunately, I may have to wait longer for the next one as I'm told that it may be up to a year before it's out.

Don't worry about me though. I won't cry about it.

Much.

Probably.

Or at least not in public.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Chants

Apprentice to the Gods The Seventh Shaman, Book Four

D.T. Read

Theogony Press, 2023

Apprentice to the Gods The Seventh Shaman, Book Four is available at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

D.T. Read's Running From the Gods

 

So, listen: There are two types of geeks in the world: Pendantic Science Fantasy haters and super cool  Star Wars fans. I know which camp I fall into. I, therefore, was really excited when I picked up my copy of D.T. Read's Running From the Gods. Seriously, look at that cover and there had to be some fantasy in the work based on the title. Not only was I in no way disappointed, Running From the Gods exceeded my expectations. Seriously, I had a good time with this one. There's a bit of Space Opera here too. It's like a giant smorgasbord of Speculative Fiction Awesomeness.

Our main character, Ku, comes from an abusive background. He lost his father as a youngster and hasn't been fully trained as a chanter, which reads as kind of a priest cum physician with a dash of summoner added...

Yeah. I kind of got the feeling that there is a lot more potential than what we get to see in the first book. That's okay though, because it's clearly labeled as first in a series and it's best for an author not to show us everything in the first installment. I find myself already wondering where and how he's going to get his chanter training given the fact that he's a member of a military that's currently at war with a foreign power and apparently losing. I'm guessing he's got a lot on his plate with just that.

Running From the Gods is very much a Hero's Journey kind of book. More than that, it feels like the whole Seventh Shaman series is going to be a Hero's Journey. I like that. People have been telling stories in his vein for literal millennia because it's a good format. It's entertaining, it's easy to follow and the familiarity provides comfort to counter the anxiety when the main character runs into problem after problem. I'm starting to detect a bit of The Chosen One trope as well, but I'm not sure. Ku himself doesn't know what the future holds for him although, because of a ceremony shortly after he was born, the rest of his tribe seems to. Ku is worried that he might be a powerful force for evil. I'm not sold on that, but how would I know? Read hasn't seen fit to tell us and I gave up trying to predict this type of thing a long time ago. I mean, I write fiction and I'm a pantser. If I was the author here, there's at least a fifty percent chance that I wouldn't know. 

Most of Running From the Gods takes place at pilot training. Ku is a bush pilot who joins the military while still underage and snags himself a pilots slot in training. Whether he manages to complete his training and earn his wings is anyone's guess though, as he is immune to neither failure nor demerits.

There is a hint of politics here as well, and I look forward to seeing more in coming volumes. Things are just kind of setting up right now, but that's good. As an Honor Harrington fan, I've seen how this kind of thing can grow and it's just starting to set up nicely. I can't wait to see where Read can take it from here. What's clear is that he's thought this out and that there is more coming. I'm sure he'll let us all know soon enough.

The relationships in Running From the Gods can be a bit complicated at times, and that's a good thing as well. I don't know much about D.T. Read as a person, but I'm willing to bet he's spent some time in some kind of military training, because he gets the way things work. The trainers aren't always nice but they can't be. Ku's fellow recruits aren't always his best buddies either, and that sucks because they kind of need to be. The way Ku relates to his family is sometimes complicated as well, and well...

Nevermind, that would be spoiling.

There is a lot of action here. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly things went south for Ku, in what way and what the outcome was. Once I found out that Running From the Gods took place mostly in a training environment, I figured there wouldn't be much life and death action. I was wrong. Things start out in a life and death crisis in the first few pages, followed by another one and then on and on...

Yeah, there is a lot of action to help move the plot along and keep people interested. It's well done, tightly paced and fun. Some of it is based on external threats, some on internal. What I don't see is anything that gets wasted. When Read wrote Running From the Gods, he very clearly had an idea of what he was trying to portray and how to use the events of his novel to accomplish that. I wouldn't mind sitting down with Read at some point and having a conversation with him. I'm guessing I could learn a thing or two and I'm working on a somewhat similar-ish story. 

I don't want to go too far down this road, but I feel like Running From the Gods did a really good job at two very closely related, but oddly opposite things: It gave us enough of a story to satisfy, but left a whole bunch of loose ends for the next however many books to tie up. I like that about it. I finished reading the book and wanted to download the next one.  I couldn't because it's not out yet, but that's hardly my fault. 

At the end of the day, and the book, Ku is a young guy with a promising future ahead of him. Read has been nice enough to invite all of us along for the ride, and I plan on fanboi'ing this entire series (yep, totes a word. I just made it up.) It's got a solid first book going for it and room for growth like you would not believe. Running From the Gods is the literary equivalent to a professional athlete who has just completed an awesome rookie season but still has plenty of upside.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Merits

Running From the Gods (The Seventh Shaman Book One)

D.T. Read

Theogony Books, 2022

Running From the Gods (The Seventh Shaman Book One) is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Blood of Cayn by Stormy McDonald, Alan Isom and Jason McDonald

(Author's note: I would like to take this time to apologize to Alan Isom and the McDonalds, as well as their publisher. This review was promised on release day. That was about three-ish months ago. Unfortunately, life happened and this got out late. Mea maxima culpa. Hopefully this review was worth waiting for.)

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Life is often good as a book blogger. People send you free books. You get to brag about reading them to a bunch of goofballs who think your opinions are worth reading. (No offense.) You are constantly looking forward to reading the next book and believe me there, there is a next one: You've got a bunch in your inbox. I mean, you are required to spend a certain amount of time in your pajamas with your feet up, reading. Sometimes you may even find it necessary to have a glass of Coca-Cola in hand while doing so. It's a hard life, but it is a labor of love.

The problem with being a book blogger is that you are often sent only the first book of a series and sometimes it can be hard to have time to read the stuff you pay for. There is this constant nagging feeling that you should be reading something that someone gave you because they gave it to you. So often, that one Book One of something that you read that one time is the only book of the series that you end up reading because life.

What I'm trying to say here is that it's pretty awesome to be able to follow a series through to conclusion. You actually get to see the big payoff. You're not stuck stumbling on the edge of an abyss, wondering how, and if, the heroes are going to save the world and make everything right again. And - let's face it- when you love Epic Fantasy those are usually the stakes. And now I'm happy, because I just read Blood of Cayn, the epic conclusion to The Cayn Trilogy, written by Stormy McDonald, Alan Isom and Jason McDonald.

I don't want to give too much away, but this was seriously a good payoff. I mean, we've been through hell with these characters by now, right? They've revealed their true selves. They've won fights. They've lost fights. They've lost friends. As much fun as reading The Cayn Trilogy has been, I find myself relieved that I'm not one of the characters in it. They deal with a lot.

Through it all though, they're not just comrades, they're friends. Some of the risks the main characters take in Blood of Cayn fall under the heading of "inadvisable" to me. They still do it and they do it for each other. If you've got to go war, these are the people you want to do it with. It's always fun to spend time with characters you respect and admire and they live on these pages.

I love the world of The Blood of Cayn. It's a world on the edge and it's about to head over the precipice because of a plague. The entire series is, in essence, about the struggle against that plague and the war that it could cause. It's a worth cause. But it's not just the struggle I'm talking about here. I'm guessing there was some serious map drawing done for this thing. I hope it looks better than my artwork too, but no promises there. Seriously though, the authors of this series have done a great job of laying out their world and making it believable. I almost feel like there could be a geography class taught here, and that kind of created a bit of an (awesome) issue for me.

See, I'm a Dungeon Master. There were many times while reading Blood of Cayn that I felt it necessary to run off and add something to my campaign, since it's a homebrew and I can get away with that. I really enjoyed that aspect of it, but it did lead me to take longer to read the thing than I normally would have. Now, if I were one of the authors of this book, I may make sure never to mention to my players that I inspired the fight that almost led to a Total Party Kill, but whatever. It was fun to read. It was fun to play. And a little extra enjoyment never hurt anybody. Well, except four D+D characters but they don't really exist anyway. And really, the cleric live long enough to save them all, so why are my players whining?

It's weird, because I know Chris Kennedy Publishing does not have an RPG arm, but I'd pay to play in this world. Seriously. I enjoy the way that magic works. I love how well they thought out the world. I usually play a warrior, but for whatever reason, I see myself as more Chert the Cleric and less Grendel the warrior in this RPG. That could be because I have an affinity for dwarves, but I think it's because Chert is my guy. He's always there and he's a fantasy cleric the way they were always meant to be. Of course, we also have Jasper the portly mage to which I'm also partial, especially given the fact that I most likely outweigh him.  And then there's Sacha and Sehraine and Xandor and...

Yeah.

For me, one of the best parts of reading a series has always been welcoming yourmy old friends back into my life for  another go around. It's about finding the same people on the other side and getting another chance to (maybe, hopefully) see them taken down. It's about familiarity and not having to learn the seventy-three thousandth world this year. And yes, my friends, it's about a payoff. It's about seeing the crew finally live up to the potential that I always knew they had. Some things are better than money. A good payoff is one of them. That's what I got here. I got to see my people do their thing and do it well. It was a good time.

Of course, there's the let down, too: The trilogy is over and there is no sequel to look forward to. That's okay though, because I'm confident that these three will find another story to write somehow. I'm looking forward to see what they come up with. Oh, and if anyone sees Chris Kennedy, let him know I've got a Dungeons and Dragons group that would just love a chance to play-test a Cayn Trilogy related RPG. Seriously. Hit me up man.


Life is often good as a book blogger. People send you free books. You get to brag about reading them to a bunch of goofballs who think your opinions are worth reading. (No offense.) You are constantly looking forward to reading the next book and believe me there, there is a next one: You've got a bunch in your inbox. I mean, you are required to spend a certain amount of time in your pajamas with your feet up, reading. Sometimes you may even find it necessary to have a glass of Coca-Cola in hand while doing so. It's a hard life, but it is a labor of love.

The problem with being a book blogger is that you are often sent only the first book of a series and sometimes it can be hard to have time to read the stuff you pay for. There is this constant nagging feeling that you should be reading something that someone gave you because they gave it to you. So often, that one Book One of something that you read that one time is the only book of the series that you end up reading because life.

What I'm trying to say here is that it's pretty awesome to be able to follow a series through to conclusion. You actually get to see the big payoff. You're not stuck stumbling on the edge of an abyss, wondering how, and if, the heroes are going to save the world and make everything right again. And - let's face it- when you love Epic Fantasy those are usually the stakes. And now I'm happy, because I just read Blood of Cayn, the epic conclusion to The Cayn Trilogy, written by Stormy McDonald, Alan Isom and Jason McDonald.

I don't want to give too much away, but this was seriously a good payoff. I mean, we've been through hell with these characters by now, right? They've revealed their true selves. They've won fights. They've lost fights. They've lost friends. As much fun as reading The Cayn Trilogy has been, I find myself relieved that I'm not one of the characters in it. They deal with a lot.

Through it all though, they're not just comrades, they're friends. Some of the risks the main characters take in Blood of Cayn fall under the heading of "inadvisable" to me. They still do it and they do it for each other. If you've got to go war, these are the people you want to do it with. It's always fun to spend time with characters you respect and admire and they live on these pages.

I love the world of The Blood of Cayn. It's a world on the edge and it's about to head over the precipice because of a plague. The entire series is, in essence, about the struggle against that plague and the war that it could cause. It's a worth cause. But it's not just the struggle I'm talking about here. I'm guessing there was some serious map drawing done for this thing. I hope it looks better than my artwork too, but no promises there. Seriously though, the authors of this series have done a great job of laying out their world and making it believable. I almost feel like there could be a geography class taught here, and that kind of created a bit of an (awesome) issue for me.

See, I'm a Dungeon Master. There were many times while reading Blood of Cayn that I felt it necessary to run off and add something to my campaign, since it's a homebrew and I can get away with that. I really enjoyed that aspect of it, but it did lead me to take longer to read the thing than I normally would have. Now, if I were one of the authors of this book, I may make sure never to mention to my players that I inspired the fight that almost led to a Total Party Kill, but whatever. It was fun to read. It was fun to play. And a little extra enjoyment never hurt anybody. Well, except four D+D characters but they don't really exist anyway. And really, the cleric live long enough to save them all, so why are my players whining?

It's weird, because I know Chris Kennedy Publishing does not have an RPG arm, but I'd pay to play in this world. Seriously. I enjoy the way that magic works. I love how well they thought out the world. I usually play a warrior, but for whatever reason, I see myself as more Chert the Cleric and less Grendel the warrior in this RPG. That could be because I have an affinity for dwarves, but I think it's because Chert is my guy. He's always there and he's a fantasy cleric the way they were always meant to be. Of course, we also have Jasper the portly mage to which I'm also partial, especially given the fact that I most likely outweigh him.  And then there's Sacha and Sehraine and Xandor and...

Yeah.

For me, one of the best parts of reading a series has always been welcoming yourmy old friends back into my life for  another go around. It's about finding the same people on the other side and getting another chance to (maybe, hopefully) see them taken down. It's about familiarity and not having to learn the seventy-three thousandth world this year. And yes, my friends, it's about a payoff. It's about seeing the crew finally live up to the potential that I always knew they had. Some things are better than money. A good payoff is one of them. That's what I got here. I got to see my people do their thing and do it well. It was a good time.

Of course, there's the let down, too: The trilogy is over and there is no sequel to look forward to. That's okay though, because I'm confident that these three will find another story to write somehow. I'm looking forward to see what they come up with. Oh, and if anyone sees Chris Kennedy, let him know I've got a Dungeons and Dragons group that would just love a chance to play-test a Cayn Trilogy related RPG. Seriously. Hit me up man.


Life is often good as a book blogger. People send you free books. You get to brag about reading them to a bunch of goofballs who think your opinions are worth reading. (No offense.) You are constantly looking forward to reading the next book and believe me there, there is a next one: You've got a bunch in your inbox. I mean, you are required to spend a certain amount of time in your pajamas with your feet up, reading. Sometimes you may even find it necessary to have a glass of Coca-Cola in hand while doing so. It's a hard life, but it is a labor of love.

The problem with being a book blogger is that you are often sent only the first book of a series and sometimes it can be hard to have time to read the stuff you pay for. There is this constant nagging feeling that you should be reading something that someone gave you because they gave it to you. So often, that one Book One of something that you read that one time is the only book of the series that you end up reading because life.

What I'm trying to say here is that it's pretty awesome to be able to follow a series through to conclusion. You actually get to see the big payoff. You're not stuck stumbling on the edge of an abyss, wondering how, and if, the heroes are going to save the world and make everything right again. And - let's face it- when you love Epic Fantasy those are usually the stakes. And now I'm happy, because I just read Blood of Cayn, the epic conclusion to The Cayn Trilogy, written by Stormy McDonald, Alan Isom and Jason McDonald.

I don't want to give too much away, but this was seriously a good payoff. I mean, we've been through hell with these characters by now, right? They've revealed their true selves. They've won fights. They've lost fights. They've lost friends. As much fun as reading The Cayn Trilogy has been, I find myself relieved that I'm not one of the characters in it. They deal with a lot.

Through it all though, they're not just comrades, they're friends. Some of the risks the main characters take in Blood of Cayn fall under the heading of "inadvisable" to me. They still do it and they do it for each other. If you've got to go war, these are the people you want to do it with. It's always fun to spend time with characters you respect and admire and they live on these pages.

I love the world of The Blood of Cayn. It's a world on the edge and it's about to head over the precipice because of a plague. The entire series is, in essence, about the struggle against that plague and the war that it could cause. It's a worth cause. But it's not just the struggle I'm talking about here. I'm guessing there was some serious map drawing done for this thing. I hope it looks better than my artwork too, but no promises there. Seriously though, the authors of this series have done a great job of laying out their world and making it believable. I almost feel like there could be a geography class taught here, and that kind of created a bit of an (awesome) issue for me.

See, I'm a Dungeon Master. There were many times while reading Blood of Cayn that I felt it necessary to run off and add something to my campaign, since it's a homebrew and I can get away with that. I really enjoyed that aspect of it, but it did lead me to take longer to read the thing than I normally would have. Now, if I were one of the authors of this book, I may make sure never to mention to my players that I inspired the fight that almost led to a Total Party Kill, but whatever. It was fun to read. It was fun to play. And a little extra enjoyment never hurt anybody. Well, except four D+D characters but they don't really exist anyway. And really, the cleric live long enough to save them all, so why are my players whining?

It's weird, because I know Chris Kennedy Publishing does not have an RPG arm, but I'd pay to play in this world. Seriously. I enjoy the way that magic works. I love how well they thought out the world. I usually play a warrior, but for whatever reason, I see myself as more Chert the Cleric and less Grendel the warrior in this RPG. That could be because I have an affinity for dwarves, but I think it's because Chert is my guy. He's always there and he's a fantasy cleric the way they were always meant to be. Of course, we also have Jasper the portly mage to which I'm also partial, especially given the fact that I most likely outweigh him.  And then there's Sacha and Sehraine and Xandor and...

Yeah.

For me, one of the best parts of reading a series has always been welcoming yourmy old friends back into my life for  another go around. It's about finding the same people on the other side and getting another chance to (maybe, hopefully) see them taken down. It's about familiarity and not having to learn the seventy-three thousandth world this year. And yes, my friends, it's about a payoff. It's about seeing the crew finally live up to the potential that I always knew they had. Some things are better than money. A good payoff is one of them. That's what I got here. I got to see my people do their thing and do it well. It was a good time.

Of course, there's the let down, too: The trilogy is over and there is no sequel to look forward to. That's okay though, because I'm confident that these three will find another story to write somehow. I'm looking forward to see what they come up with. Oh, and if anyone sees Chris Kennedy, let him know I've got a Dungeons and Dragons group that would just love a chance to play-test a Cayn Trilogy related RPG. Seriously. Hit me up man.

Blood of Cayn
Stormy McDonald, Alan Isom and Jason McDonald
New Mythology Press, 2019

Blood of Cayn is available for purchase at the following link:(And per Amazon policy, I am hereby informing you that I will get a percentage of any purchase you make after clicking the link.)

Blood of Cayn

Tim C. Taylor's The Midnight Sun

In just about every war in human history (or at least the wars that I'm aware of, which is not the same thing) there seems to be someone who turns their coat, not just for glory and riches or to better themselves some other way, but because they honestly believe that a win by the other side will benefit not them personally, but society as a whole. Tories (who considered themselves English patriots) against Revolutionaries (who considered themselves to be American patriots) both believed that they were fighting for what was best for the people living in the Thirteen Colonies. During the American Civil War there were people who lived in the North but fought for the South because they didn't think that the federal government should be telling people what to do and southerners who fought for the Union because they believed that preserving the country was important. There were six generals included in the latter group. It happens.

And that, my friends is the principle upon which Tim C. Taylor's The Midnight Sun revolves. Both sides of the conflict in the book (and it's a book about mercenaries, so saying that there is a fight involved isn't really a spoiler, right?) think that they're doing the right thing although what each side wants is the complete and utter opposite of what their opponents want. Taylor seems to have a solid grasp of human psychology as it relates to warfare. I'm thinking that he's probably done some reading on the subject at some time. Then again, I haven't so maybe I'm wrong. It's just that, viewed properly, both sides have logic on their side.

Speaking of psychology, Taylor seems to have a solid grasp on the dedication of soldiers/mercs and how far they're willing to go to complete their mission. I find it telling that a big chunk of the story revolves around deprivation and a fight against a better supplied enemy. There are your usual deserters and diehards when things get tough. Again though, it's a difference in psychology and belief that separates the two factions. Taylor really does get it.

Taylor's aliens are a lot of fun, too. I have to admit that when I first started hearing about the Four Horsemen Universe, I hadn't really thought that Tortantulas would be much fun as characters. I had this vision of them as basically just giant killing machines. I was wrong. Betty, the Tortantula in the book, is as real a person as any of the humans in The Midnight Sun. Now, she doesn't always "get" humans, but how would she? She's an alien spider being. The fact remains that she relates somewhat and her misinterpretations are the stuff of epic humor. The commander of the Midnight Suns merc unit is also an alien and she is interesting in a different way.

Of course, The Midnight Sun isn't a boring treatise on human psychology. It's a novel about a war in space. There's love. There's hate. There's frustration. But, most of all, there are explosions. Seriously. The key to any good war novel is the fighting and there is plenty of it. Let's face it. Fans of Military Science Fiction like it because they love a good dust up. It has to be well written and believable but it has to be there. And Taylor delivers in spades.

Actually, this is the first time we really get to see CASPer versus CASPer combat and I love it. Don't get me wrong. I'm perfectly okay with CASPers going heads up with Oogar or Tortantulas or whatever but in a lot of ways, the CASPer is the most interesting war materiel in the entire series. It's humanity's great equalizer but it's more than that. They're mini-mecha and they're modular and can do all kinds of crazy stuff. It's like watching a young Mike Tyson fight himself. I loved it.

And not all of the combat is ground based. A pretty good chunk of it takes place in space. Not all of it is standard fare either. Taylor takes an angle on space tactics that I've never quite seen before and I love it. I don't want to go too far here and get into spoiler territory but be prepared to see fighting in zero gee in a new and interesting way. I had a lot of fun with that. I like when an author takes a new and interesting look into something we've all seen before and makes it fresh.

Something that often gets left out of war stories is the nature of the deprivation experience by troops fighting in sub-optimal conditions. On an alien planet it would be worse in many ways. Taylor shows that clearly here. The Midnight Sun is not Rambo. Things run out. Weapons needs to be reloaded. Parasites do their thing. Life sucks on every level. Just when things look like they're going to get better they get worse. People get wounded. Others get killed. Some of what these troops go through would make an Army Ranger want to give up but they embrace the suck and continue on mission.

Oh, and keep your head on a swivel. You think you know what's coming next but you're probably going to be wrong more than you're right. I'm reminded of the first time I read Game of Thrones. I had the whole series figured out in the first fifty pages. By like page one-fifty my pick for the Iron Throne got decapitated. Then I figured it out again. This time it took a couple of books for my pick to get greased. I mean, Taylor is not that ruthless with his main characters but don't take anything for granted. Things can turn on a dime.

This is the first book in the Four Horsemen Universe that isn't about the actual Four Horsemen companies. I'm okay with that because it's a good book and it advances the overall plot of the series as well. I suppose I should get used to it because there are others later in the series. I'm looking forward to them. I'm really looking forward to the book about Bjorn's Berserkers. I'll keep reading. I have to know how this war ends.

Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Rotten Worms

The Midnight Sun
Tim C. Taylor
Seventh Seal Press, 2018

The Midnight Sun is available for purchase at the following link:

A Fiery Sunset by Mark Wandrey and Chris Kennedy

(Every once in awhile, when life isn't going the way you want it to, a book can take you out of that stressful place you're in and move your mind halfway across a galaxy. Today and tomorrow, I'll be reviewing two such books. I hope you enjoy my reviews as much as I enjoyed the works in question.)

Having read The Revelations Cycle in the Four Horsemen Universe, I couldn't wait to get to the Omega War Series. The life of a book reviewer is, however, a rough one and I couldn't justify taking the time away from people who sent me review copies to pay for something. Then I found myself in a situation with no way to read e-books and a good paperback novel was just what the doctor ordered. Of course, I probably screwed up my prescription because A Fiery Sunset by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey is better than merely good. I mean that.

If you've read the Revelations Cycle then you've met the head of all of the Four Horsemen: The heads of the Mercenary companies known collectively by the same name. There is Nigel Shirazi of Asbaran Solutions, Jim Cartwright of Cartwright's Cavaliers, Sansar Enkh of the Golden Horde and Alexis Cromwell of the Winged Hussars.

If you haven't read the Revelations Cycle yet, you fall into one of three categories:

1.) Someone who doesn't like Military Science Fiction
2.) Communists who oppose the free market that allows smaller companies to flourish

or

3.) Someone who needs to get to Amazon and whip out the plastic money As Soon As Humanly Possible.

Of course, I'm willing to settle for quicker than that if you can figure it out. I mean, if it's worth doing in the next five minutes, it's probably worth doing yesterday if you can pull it off.

Oh, wait. Maybe I should talk about the book!

A Fiery Sunset is the first in the Omega War series. As such, it asks a lot of questions. There are things going on that we are not at all sure of the implications of everything that has happened and continues to happen. In some ways, the book functions in a manner similar to a detective novel or an episode of Law and Order. We're trying to figure out what's going on and who is at fault. Unfortunately, the Galactic Union doesn't seem to have a RICO statute and that makes things difficult.

Of course, the fact that the aliens are casting humanity as the bad guys doesn't really add a whole lot to their - and thus our - odds of figuring out just what is going on. All of the fighting does seem to take up a lot of time that the Horsemen could be using to figure out why this is all happening to them. There is a lot to A Fiery Sunset. I'm guessing Kennedy and Wandrey spent a lot to time planning just how they were going to get here, because this tome fits in damn near perfectly with the earlier books. They did a phenomenal job working everything together.

And that's where the really cool part of A Fiery Sunset comes in, because even though it starts the series off, it's also a payoff of sorts. The first four books were each about a different one of the Four Horsemen mercenary companies. They're really good books, but we don't see the companies or their commanders mix at all. The only recurring character is someone I would cheerfully push out of an airlock with no suit on just to see if the explosive decompression thing would actually happen. Who am I kidding? I'd do it, but science would be beside the point. No, I'm not going to paint you a picture if you haven't read the first series. Not even if it would look good on a CASPer.

That all changes in A Fiery Sunset. If any of you are fans of the Battletech novels (and please believe I am) you'll remember the time we finally got to see Jamie Wolf in the same room as Grayson Carlyle. Do you remember how cool that was? Do you remember how you wished it would never end? That's A Fiery Sunset in a nutshell. We finally get to see all of our heroes working together. It's freaking sweet. This isn't some "Scotty's stuck in the transporter" type junk either. Everyone is there because they need to be. Of course, this isn't the family reunion where you have to watch your great aunts and uncles sit around playing bridge. Lots of stuff happens and it comes at a very fast pace.

If you read my review of Asbaran Solutions then you know that I'm a huge fan of the way Chris Kennedy writes combat. If you read my review of Cartwright's Cavaliers then you know that Mark Wandrey does a damn fine job of it too. I'm guessing, based on the fact that I read too much and recognize certain authors' styles, that both wrote the combat in this book. That's good. They owned it.

Something that frequently annoys me in books, and something I struggle with in my own work, is that with big ensemble casts like the one is A Fiery Sunset it's not always clear why people are working together. There always seems to be that one annoying person who is just there because the author needs them to be with no clear cut motivation to show up. Not here. It's a fight for the fate of humanity and even the one company whose membership is nearly half alien has a definable motivation for being there. These characters make sense.

Combining characters can also provide some poignant moments and there is one character in the book that I can feel a lot of sympathy for. Dude goes through some major stuff and comes out okay. I like these kinds of moments in pretty much any book (if they're well done and they were here) but especially in works of military fiction or military history. A lot of people seem to forget that members of the military have real lives outside of just being soldiers/sailors, etc. It's not just that though. People who serve have feelings, too. Look, I'm a fan of free speech. If someone wants to throw terms like "baby-killer" or "bloodthirsty savage" around they have the right to do so. That doesn't make what they're saying correct though. Service members are people too. They love. They hate. Sometimes they hurt. What is truly amazing about members of the military is their ability to do their duty even when most civilians would fold up their tent and go home. It's not always easy for them, but they do that. We see some of that resilience here and it comes from one of my favorite characters. Kudos to Kennedy and Wandrey for giving a realistic depiction of military life instead of relying on negative stereotypes.

There is just so much here that works so well. I read this twice in less than a week because reasons, but also because it's just that good. Pick this one up folks, because it's that awesome.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Raknars

A Fiery Sunset
Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey
Seventh Seal Press, 2018

A Fiery Sunset is available for purchase at the following link:

Kacey Ezells' The World Asunder (The Psyche of War Book II)

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Dammit Kacey Ezell! I didn't want to like this chick. I mean I really, really, didn't want to like this chick. They thought she was dead in the first book. I thought she was dead in the first book. I was HAPPY about that fact. But not only did Adalina Sucherin survive in Minds of Men, she is the main character of Ezell's newest work, The World Asunder. I knew that going in and it almost made me not buy the book. Why? BECAUSE I HATED THAT BITCH! Of course, I'm a member of the CKP Facebook Group, and I mentioned this there and was reassured by none other than the factory boss himself.

Apparently, I'm even more forgiving than even I thought I was because I honestly did end up liking this chick. Of course, it helps that the only thing worse than a Nazi is a Communist and chick starts out the story being oppressed by Communists. Enemy of my enemy and all that. Oh, and she's helping to take care of a family of innocents caught in the aftermath of World War II. I guess that makes up for a lot, especially since there were a bunch of daughters. I have daughters, so I therefore have a soft spot FOR daughters.

Okay, so maybe there was more to Lina than I saw the first time around. Maybe, just possibly, she wasn't the ginormous [redacted] I thought she was. I mean, I could have missed something. Things happen and sometimes I don't reach my normal heights of absolute brilliance. I guess.

I'll say this much though: Having read her story, which starts in East Berlin during the Berlin Airlift, I am actually a big fan of one Miss Sucherin. It took her a bit to win me over, but that's not surprising. I wasn't ready to give this character the benefit of the doubt. What I'm going on about here is that Mrs, Ezell has done one hell of a job building a very flawed and believable character and making her believable. Seriously. Lord knows if she were my girlfriend I'd never allow her around a body of water bigger than a Dixie cup.

Lina is also a woman who has been through a lot. That makes sense. If anyone knows what the Soviet troops did in Berlin after they conquered it that makes sense. Any conquered city is going to suffer, but Berlin had one of the worst fates of any city in modern warfare and it's women suffered worse that its men. Russians raped every woman they could get their hands on and were perfectly happy to rape young girls if they couldn't find a woman. (Seriously, if you don't believe me, read A Woman in Berlin. )


Of course, Sucherin is not the only character in the book. This is a good thing. Characters grow a lot more when they have other characters to interact with. A lot changes for Lina throughout The World Asunder. It's actually pretty amazing how much she remains herself after all of the changes. Lina is a strong woman and that hits home for me. When my daughters were little, I used to ask them what kind of person they were. I made them tell me that they were Proud, Strong, Smart, Tough, and Brave. I wouldn't leave them alone until they did. Lina is all of the above and that makes her the kind of woman I really respect.

I want to be careful here. There is a family that Lina is staying with at the beginning of The World Asunder. They are totally believable. There are a lot of other characters too, but I don't want to go too far into them because the way this thing is laid out, I'd have to reveal the plot to show where everyone fits in. Suffice it to say that  they all make sense in context. Even when someone  did something I did't want them to do, I knew why they did it. I like characters whose actions make sense according to their own motivations. Ezell apparently gets human nature. And actually, the girls in that family have all of the traits I taught my girls to have too. Maybe that's why I liked them so much.

Speaking as a historian with a fancy sheepskin, I'd like to compliment the author on her historical research. The backdrop of this story is about as perfect as you're going to get from a work of fiction. There were many things that went on after the Second World War that the average American doesn't know much about. Many of them are things that I find regrettable. In The World Asunder, Ezell features some of them. The United States really did bring people into the country who were complicit in some of the Nazi atrocities perpetrated during the war. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't right. I happened though, because it was necessary. Ezell gives about as balanced a portrayal of these actions as I've ever read. Kudos to her.

I will, however, stress that you should not go into a novel like The World Asunder thinking you already know what's going to happen. As a matter of fact, a smart reader will keep their head on a swivel because you never know what's coming next. I'm not saying that the book takes a lot of weird jumps. It's written in a logical manner, but there are surprises aplenty if you're paying attention.

Paying attention....

Hmm...

Not going to spoil anything.

It's possible that I missed something somewhere though. This is actually a good thing for the author. It's good for The World Asunder as a work of literature. I'm just saying that it might be possible that one of the surprises would have been a little bit less surprising if I hadn't had my cranium inserted into my third point of contact. Then again, since I am a member of the Facebook group, I've seen other people post vaguely, and have reason to believe that they missed the same things. It was a lot of fun once I figured it out, and someone out there is the note-taking type who is going to figure it out early, but if you're not that one percent of all nerds supernerd, it will come as a shock and it's more fun that way.


So, I enjoyed The World Asunder so much that I'm afraid I'm going to be forced to nominate it for the Dragon Award for Alternate History. I'm afraid that I have not consulted Mrs. Ezell to find out if she has room for one on her mantle, but that is quite frankly not my problem. If she doesn't have room, I guess I'll just store it for her. Or sumfin.

Seriously. Buy it. Read it. Nominate it. Thank me later.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Boiling Beakers

The World Asunder (The Psyche of War Book II)
Kacey Ezell
Theogony Books, 2019

The World Asunder (The Psyche of War Book II) is available for purchase at the following link:



Oh, and I meant it when I recommended A Woman in Berlin. You can pick up a copy of that here:

Chris Kennedy and James L. Young Present Those in Peril (The Phases of Mars Book 1)

Welcome to the third and final installment of this year's Memorial Day Event, Day Late/Dollar Short Edition. My apologies, but as a Lyft driver in Detroit during the Movement Music Festival weekend, I was wiped by the holiday and, seeing as I hadn't done my review ahead of time the way I had planned it out months ago, I ended up sleeping when I should have been writing. I assure you I hadn't intended for that to happen, but I also had slept an average of about four hours a night for three days in a row and, when I got home from a memorial service on Memorial Day I sat down for "just a minute" and woke up five minutes after I should have left for work. Oops.

At any rate...

Today's review (that should have happened yesterday) is Those in Peril, and anthology edited by Chris Kennedy and James L. Young. I did Chris's Bio on Sunday and I'm extremely lazy, so you can feel free to look there if you want to know more about him. If you haven't read it, you probably should. He's an impressive guy.

The other editor of the anthology is James L. Young. He served in the Army after completing his degree at West Point. He served from 1997 to 2003. He was an armor officer, attaining the captain at the end of his career and was the Executive Officer of the First Stryker Brigade (C 1/14). He says he was stationed in both Korea and Germany. I wonder if he got any cool electronics for cheap, being that close to Japan. I would have if it would've been me.

Oh, and just to take note, the following authors of stories in Those In Peril are veterans or currently serving:

Kacey Ezell (her bio is actually here) is active duty US Air Force.
Stephen J. Simmons is a veteran of the US Navy.
Joelle Presby is a US Navy Veteran.
Phillip Wolrab is a veteran of the US Army.
Doug Dandridge is a veteran of the US Army.
Philip S. Bolger is a veteran of the US Army.
Justin Watson is a veteran of the US Army and a West Point graduate.

If I missed anyone, it is because I didn't see a reference to your service in your bio and I didn't do any real research. If this happened it is totally my fault and I apologize.


So first, a few thoughts on Those in Peril as a whole: I really enjoyed it. Then again, it's an Alternate History anthology featuring navies and naval combat and I've loved Alt Hist since I was first introduced to the concept. With the exception of the first story, it appears to have been set up in chronological order. I loved that about it. There is no continuity per se as each story has a separate Point of Departure and they don't work as a continuous story. That's okay though, and it's a lot easier to follow a bunch of different stories if they're in a definable order and you can get your brain to follow things in a logical order, if that makes sense.

Anyone who follows this blog ought to know that I'm a big fan of the Dama. She's one of the main authors in the Four Horsemen Universe and I'm a member of the fan club.  So when Those in Peril opened with "Naked," a story by Kacey Ezell I got excited, especially since I really liked Minds of Men, the first book in her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.
her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.

Up next is "Captain Bellamy's War,"by Stephen J. Simmons. a story in which the English pirates in the Bahamas declare independence and found their own nation. You can't beat a story that includes the phrase "Admiral Blackbeard." It's just not physically possible. But...

But...

It's a short. It needs to be a novel.

I WANT THIS TO BE A NOVEL.

*POUT*

*SIGH*

I guess Mick Jagger was right.

I can't always get what I want.

*WHINE*

NOT FAIR!!!

Well...

If Stephen J. Simmons gets it written and published, I promise him one guaranteed sale.

After that, we get "A Safe Wartime Posting" by Joelle Presby. It's the story of a guy sent out to keep the president's nephew from getting himself in trouble and features a setting with the US and Germany allied in fighting World War I. I really enjoyed this one. I could totally see Woodrow Wilson pulling a stunt like this, too.

"Beatty's Folly" by Philip Wohlrahb is another story about the US fighting against the British during World War I. It features an angry Theodore Roosevelt and that's a concept that should be more than a little bit frightening. It's predicated on the fact that France assisted the South during the US Civil War and kept the fighting going until 1867. The US supports a rebellion in Ireland. Lots of stuff goes boom. It's a good time.

"Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse" by Day Al-Mohamed is the story of Martha Coston and her invention of signal flares. I like this story because it brings up a good point about naval warfare and history in general: It is often the usung person that saves the day. In this case, it's a woman who knows a lot of chemistry. It also helps that she's no one's fool and pays attention to what is going on around her. Hold on: Could I have enjoyed this story so much because I like sciency females? Nahh...

"The Blue and the Red: Palmerston's Ironclads" is another story about the English and Americans trying to kill each other on the water, only this time with a twist: The main character is a reporter who gets captured. I had fun  with this one. Often in military history and/or fiction we read about the bond between all warriors but something that nearly always gets left out is that people outside the military form bonds too. This is a story (at least in some ways) about the bond between reporters. It features plenty of fighting to keep your bloodlust sated too.

"Far Better to Dare" by Rob Howell is the US vs. Spain ala the Spanish and American War only later in history and with better technology. We get a view from the deck of an American battleship. I find it interesting as well that they Americans in the story are able to identify only the class of their enemies and not the exact ships. It's the type of thing I'd seen in Star Trek a million times but I hadn't considered that it would work that way in the real world. That's a good bit of added realism that was really cool.

"Off Long Island: 1928" by Doug Dandridge is the story of a British and American war set in the late 1920s and a particular battle contained therein. I like this story a lot, both for the action and because the author included a conversation at the beginning that really helped place this story in context of a war that never actually happened. I really wish that there was a novel to go with this one.

Ahoy! A new Sarah Hoyt novel has been sighted off the port bow! That has me excited because I'm a fan and it's been awhile. "For Want of a Pin" is the story of a young girl from Portugal (where Hoyt grew up) fleeing an invasion by France and headed to Brazil. It's more character driven than combat driven, but I've always liked that about Hoyt's writing and this story is no exception.

"Nothing Sufficient Can Be Said to Describe It" by Meriah Crawford is the story of a man and his Grandaughter conversing about a battle he has been researching. Maybe it's just the historian in me, or maybe I'm going soft in my old age, but I really enjoyed this one. This story really has an episodic feel to it because of the letters and the breaks between them. I enjoyed it.

"Corsairs and Tenzans" Philip S. Bolger is the story of the US and Japan united in Alliance against Nazi Germany. I find the concept of an "Oahu Pact" to be fascinating. This is another one I'd like to see turned into a novel. I don't really like Germany's chances in a naval war against either country, quite frankly, but it'd be fun to watch them get taken down. Yamamoto Isoroku having a conversation with Chester Nimitz gave me goosebumps.  Well done Bolger!

"For a Few Camels More" by Justin Watson is the story of a Japanese submarine and her crew doing mercenary work after the end of the Second World War. This one has plenty of suspense and intrigue to go along with some actual combat. I have a soft spot for mercenary stories to begin with but this is a good story because of more than just that.

NATO Capitalist Running Pig-Dogs versus the Soviet Red Menace! "Per Mare Per Terram" by Jan Niemczyk is a story of the fight I wanted as a kid. It is also the story of the fight I feared would come as a kid. I'm from Detroit and we were a major industrial target. The thought of extreme heat followed by a mushroom cloud was on that freaked me out from way before I was old enough to actually be thinking of any such thing. Niemczyk may have set his story a couple of decades later, but it still scratches that itch for me.

Reading the blurb after the story, I realized that this was part of a novel. I went to Amazon to buy said novel. Then I realized that it wasn't there because it's a web novel, so I clicked the link. I couldn't get access. Does anyone know how I can access this novel? I need to know how it ends.

Anyone who reads the blog knows that I'm a James Young fan. Stories like "Fate of the Falklands" are why. The Falklands War is not something that is well known by American audiences but it should be. The fight doesn't turn out the way you'd expect (I mean, it's alt hist right?) but this is a damn good story. I've read it twice. I'll probably read it again.

All in all I really enjoyed this anthology. There may have been a few more stories centered around a war between the US and UK than was technically necessary, but I think that's just me whining because it made the work harder to review. (Seriously, two stories about the US and UK fighting are easy to differentiate if you've read the whole story. They're not so easy to differentiate in a paragraph as part of a review. Hopefully I did a decent job.) That much having been said, it's still a great book that's worth your time and money. I'm really looking forward to To Slip the Surly Bonds, the next anthology in the series.

Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Sixteen Inch Shells

Those in Peril (The Phases of Mars Book 1)
Chris Kennedy and James L Young ed.
Theogony Books, 2019

Those in Peril (The Phases of Mars Book 1) is available for purchase at the following link:

Chris Kennedy's Occupied Seattle

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This is the second installation of my Memorial Day weekend binge of reviews of books written by veterans of the American armed forces and featuring the United States Armed Forces in action. Mr. Kennedy is a former Naval Aviator. He flew the A-6E Intruder bomber off of carriers as well as the EP-3E reconaissance aircraft. He flew during the Kosovo conflict and during Desert Shield and Storm. He retired after 20 years as a Commander. Oh, and yes it's more Speculative Fiction than Science Fiction, but who gives a rip? It's a good book.

(Astute readers will notice that this is precisely the same paragraph I used before I reviewed Red Tide last year, almost like it was cut and pasted. What a weird coincidence. Oh, and I just got home from church and need to leave for work in a bit so this may be a little shorter than normal. My apologies to Mr. Kennedy. I hope he doesn't mind.)

WARNING WARNING WARNING: Reading Chris Kennedy's Occupied Seattle before you have to be someplace is contraindicated. It is also a bad idea to think you'll get to bed on time while reading this one. I mean seriously, you might want to contact your significant other and inform them that you'll be missing for probably about half the time it would normally read a book. Why only half? Because you'll be so engrossed you'll be done in half the amount of time that you usually would. Yeah, it's that good.

I like the way the plot works in this one. Speaking as a dude with a history degree who has done a lot of reading of military history, a lot of crap in war happens because something weird happens somewhere. Seriously, the mass bombing of London, and thereafter Germany, during World War Two happened because a German bomber got lost and jettisoned its bomb load over a civilian area (as opposed the the RAF base it was meant for). I seriously doubt that the Pentagon would plan to repel an invasion look anything like what happens in Occupied Seattle but the scenario contained in the book is actually believable.

Equally as important to the plot of Occupied Seattle is the old adage that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Contingency planning is a good thing, but the other guy gets a vote in how things go too. Neither side gets everything to go right, but the plot hinges on the small things that add up to big ones. It makes sense. War is a very human endeavor and things go wrong all the time. It's good to see a book that uses that very premise.


It's not my first time noting this, and I should probably be used to it by now, but it's always surprising to read a work written by a flyboy that does ground combat this well. The combat in Occupied Seattle is fast paced and frequent. This is the story of the US repelling a Chinese invasion of Seattle. There needs to be fighting. Kennedy does it well. I mean, Asbaran Solutions is still the best written ground combat I've read, but I think Kennedy will be okay with that, since he wrote Asbaran Solutions too. And that's saying something: I'm a huge Tom Kratman fan and he's a former infantry officer. I know good military fiction when I read it, and Kennedy has the technique down.

Of course, you'll get some sea and air combat as well. Kennedy does that superbly, but that's what he's experienced with in the real world, so it's kind of what I expected. That's not to say it was done well; far from it. I enjoyed those parts of the book immensely. I just knew that I would. 

I love the characters in this book as well. Whether it's two twins trying to outdo each other, or a pilot running a ground unit, they're well thought out and make sense. No one is perfect, not even the members of the military in the book. I can think of one particular Master Chief that doesn't quite fit the stereotype too. That's okay. People are people and they don't always fit into neat little boxes.

The civilians in the book act right as well. Americans are not lemmings who would follow an invader to their own doom. They wouldn't take an invasion lying down and they don't. Oh,and of course the American citizenry has a high incidence of firearms ownership and a large number of veterans mixed in. Kennedy nails the attitude of the common man perfectly.

I remember taking a writing class in college and my professor informing me that I used too many characters. I also know I've read a ton of books that had and needed a Dramatis Personae in the back. Kennedy manages to avoid all of that. There are enough characters here to make the story work but not enough to create needless clutter.

And that's it because I was supposed to leave here five minutes ago.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Expended Rounds

Chris Kennedy
Occupied Seattle
Theogony Books, 2015

Occupied Seattle is available for purchase at the following link:

Chris Kennedy's Asbaran Solutions

Yes, I'm reviewing Asbaran Solutions by Chris Kennedy. Yes, it is the second of the novels in the Four Horsmen Universe and yes, I can hear someone out there already:

"Dood! There are like a million novels in the Four Horsemen Universe and the Chris Kennedy Publishing Kindle Unlimited Writing Factory puts a new one out every four point three seconds. You are literally never going to catch up at this pace."

To which I reply: "Dooooood! I know. It's gonna be fun to try though. NOW GET BACK TO WORK PROLE!!!:

Or sumfin'.

Sorry, I'm in a weird mood today.

So yes, I picked up a copy of Asbaran Solutions because I felt like I needed more ass-kicking in my life. I mean seriously, who doesn't like to spend their time reading tales of derring-do and explosions? (And if you don't, why are you here?)

And this is definitely a book with a high amount of ass-kickery. Our main character is one Nigel Shirazi and his family has been fucked with. He seems to be less than okay with that fact in a "Michael Corleone said that this was too harsh" kind of way. (And if you don't get the Godfather reference, hie thee off to the video store. I'll wait until you get back.) Seriously, if he has anything to say about it, someone is going to pay for messing with The Family. Oh, and the Shirazi family owns the mercenary company Asbaran Solutions, hence the title of the book and the ability to commit the aforementioned acts of ass-kickery.

I really thought I was going to enjoy this one and I was right. I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would though. See, Chris is a veteran and, while Red Tide: The Invasion of Seattle was a really good book, I had to wonder if Kennedy was going to be able to deliver on the less formal atmosphere of a merc unit. Well, I'm here to tell you that he owned it. And, as the former commander of a 'Mech company cum regimental combat team in the universe of the Battletech board games and Mechwarrior pen and paper role playing game, stuff like that matters to me. Don't get me wrong, the troops follow orders (they wouldn't succeed otherwise) but you don't get the crisp salutes or the perfectly pressed pants that you would get out of a member of the United States Navy, where Kennedy served as an aviator. You also wouldn't see people switching between branches like a few switch between merc companies in the book. This is a good thing. Kennedy gets it when I wasn't sure he would. Troops sometimes talk back in ways that would get them in big trouble in an actual military and that makes sense as well.

It's interesting the way Kennedy uses the free-wheeling nature of mercs to move his story along too. In any type of military unit members are going to be faced with putting their duty over their personal feelings, but in a merc unit, sometimes it's possible to do what you want and get paid for it anyway. This is another positive about merc life that I was really happy to see Kennedy put that in his work. The ability to pick and choose contracts is what makes a merc unit different from a member of a standing military. The setup in the book just makes sense.

The fight scenes in Asbaran Solutions do something very well that I've never seen attempted in another book and I love it. Kennedy occasionally uses radio messages more than once to create a sense of simultaneity. (Oh look. I think I spelled that right!) You really do get a sense that there is stuff happening all over the place at the same time and it rocks. Seriously, if you're an author out there and you write military fic (whether SF or not) read this book because Kennedy puts on a clinic. I've never seen this before but I want more. It's not that reading things sequentially is bad ( I mean, that's how the human brain processes things so it makes sense) it's just that this method of writing adds a lot of excitement and a sense that things are occurring all at once. And guess what folks? Combat is chaos and Asbaran Solutions definitely gives you a feeling of being in a situation where no one is truly in control and there's no telling what could happen next. On the other hand, you may want to be careful here. Reading Asbaran Solutions before you call your girlfriend is contra-indicated if you want to call her when you were supposed to. (Huh? Experience? What? And I was only five minutes late. HMPH.)

Oh, and I kind of have to mention the aerial battles. Kennedy is, after all, a retired naval aviator and I expected these to rock. They did. I wonder how much of one particular scene was motivated by his training and how much was based on a personal fear, but I guess it doesn't matter. Just know that it was super believable and realistic and had me in physical pain just reading it. 

I don't want to spoil too much, but I really like Nigel's character arc in this story. He starts out as a spoiled little shit and ends up.. well, something else. All I'm going to say for the record is that it was a big improvement. By the end of the book I was almost to the point where I had forgotten just exactly how well I had initially wanted to clean his clock. The people around him have a lot to do with it. He doesn't just spontaneously learn to stop being a complete douche and that makes sense too. Maturation comes from dealing with people and experiencing things and that's how Nigel learns.

I've already picked up my copy of Winged Hussars, which is the book that follows this one in The Revelations Cycle. It's not by Kennedy. It's by Mark Wandrey but so was Cartwrights Cavaliers and that was amazeballs, so I'm excited. I almost feel bad for Wandrey though. I wouldn't want to have to follow a book like this. It's going to be hard to live up to.

Bottom Line:  5.0 out of 5 Red Diamonds

Asbaran Solutions: The Revelations Cycle Book Two
Chris Kennedy
Chris Kennedy Publishing, 2017

Asbaran Solutions: The Revelations Cycle Book Two is available for purchase at the following link:

Son of Cayn by Stormy McDonald, Alan Isom and Jason McDonald

Umm...wow. I just finished reading Son of Cayn and I honestly don't know where to start with this review. Don't get me wrong, it was a really good book. I enjoyed it. I'm just not sure where to begin because there was a lot in here. I mean, I guess I expected that. It's the first book in a fantasy series and those are frequently pretty busy. When an author (or in this case team of authors) has to not only introduce their characters but also their world, there tends to be a lot of information necessary. Every fantasy setting is different and when you couple in the setting and how magic works and what fantasy races exist.. Yeah, it's a lot.

The good news is that Son of Cayn not only very effectively manages to introduce the characters and show off the world, it also manages to do so without bogging down into infodumps and leaves room for later expansion. I'm an as yet unpublished fantasy author myself. I should probably go back and take notes on how they did it because they did a damn good job. I feel like I could go on a wagon trip (Most of the story is spent on the trail, facing danger while traveling.) along the same path the crew in the book did and not get lost. I'm not sure I'd wanted because I tend to be big on not risking my hide unnecessarily, but that's a separate issue.

If you're going to read Son of Cayn, and I recommend doing so, you had best be prepared for some pretty major twists and turns. Nothing is quite as it seems. Most people are not quite who they say they are. This is a very tightly plotted story and it turns on a dime. I enjoyed that. I'm reminded of a movie I watched with my dad back in either the 80s or 90s called Legal Eagles. It wasn't Science Fiction or Fantasy, but it had a great story and an ending that worked but that you never saw coming. My dad marked out because he couldn't figure it out and he was usually good at that stuff. It's that kind of a book.

Part of the surprises are people being precisely who we thought they were, even though they're nowhere near what we thought they were. Certain things happen that only make sense in retrospect. Sometimes a new talent emerges out of nowhere. Allegiances are sometimes a little murkier than you would first suspect. Seriously, don't trust any of these characters.

The fight scenes in Son of Cayn are awesome. I have been known to play the occasional game of Dungeons and Dragons and I really want a couple of these weapons. I mean, they're pretty awesome. I have a sneaking suspicion that one or more of these authors might be roleplayers themselves and that part of the reason these characters get such cool weapons is wish fulfillment. I'm okay with that though. It's entertaining regardless.

As if I haven't already made it obvious, Son of Cayn moves. There always seems to be something going on. It may not be what the reader thinks it is, but it's happening. You may not get a chance to catch your breath, but do you really want to? What's the point of catching your breath anyway? No, Son of Cayn is a book you go through at Mach Two with your hair on fire. It's more fun that way. Slowing down is for sissies. I mean, if you want to know the truth, if I wanted boring I'd read romance. The authors of this one keep things interesting, most often in the sense of the ancient Chinese curse.

I'm also reminded of another movie when I read Son of Cayn. I know not everyone is a fan, but there is a strong leaning toward The Godfather 3 contained within these pages. It's not really all that clear who the enemy is. It's not exactly clear if our heroes really have a singular enemy. Events happen but even after reading the book I'm not altogether certain which ones were related and which ones weren't. I totally feel like Michael Corleone reading this one. "Our true enemy has not yet revealed himself."

I really did get a feeling that there are several major players still missing from the board. Somewhere out there, our true villains are hatching their plots. Somewhere out there, there may very well be someone, or maybe a group of someones, that are on our side as well. We're being led into a much larger world than either we or our heroes anticipate. It's obvious that it's there, but not how far it goes. I'm excited to find out because there is a Lord of the Rings feel here. Right now it's just the Fellowship, but there may be entire kingdoms out there that we still get to journey to. None of the heroes of the book are kings or even nobles (well, probably. I mean, given the surprises so far...) but I can't help but think that at some point in the future of this series we'll be meeting oodles and bunches of them. Or maybe I'm wrong but hey, I'm a fan I get to have my theory.

That leads me to my one complaint about Sons of Cayn. It doesn't really have a Big Bad. Our heroes are totally worth rooting for. They're honorable and they're a caravan of people off to simply sell some soap. Their goals are the everyday kind of noble: Money to be earned, families to feed, etc.
hey're normal people for the most part, at least until things start to change. But there is no one person or thing to hate as such. I'm no fan of thieves and brigands, but they just don't engender the type of ill will that a Khan Noonien Singh or an Emperor Palpatine can. That much having been said, there is a strong case for keeping the reader wondering. It's always good when an author's audience wants more. That's why it's a series, right?

Speaking of which, I published this review on the release date of the book. It's about twelve thirty PM my time. I wonder: Should I start bothering the publisher for the sequel NOW, or should I wait until after dinner?

Bottom Line:4.5 out of 5 Bars of Soap

Son of Cayn
Stormy MacDonald, Alan Isom, Jason McDonald
New Mythology Press,  2018

Son of Cayn is available for purchase at the following link:

Son of Cayn