RIP Robbie Coltrane

Ya know, it's weird. My geekery has traditionally been focused primarily on the things I grew up with. I've been told that I watched my first Star Trek episode the day my parents brought me home from the hospital. I was six when my mom took me to see the original theatrical screening of Return of the Jedi. I remember watching the original Battlestar Galactica when is was the new thing and that's why I got into the reboot. (And, all of my hatred of reboots aside the BSG reboot was better than the original.) I watched and collected GI Joe and Transformers. I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, read the comics and played the Tabletop Role Play Game by Palladium Books. Ditto Robotech.  I was into Green Lantern  when the only way to see him on screen were the old Super Friends/Justice League cartoons. Dungeons and Dragons and all of the related novels took up an amazing portion of my high school years. I've talked about my old school connection with Battletech here before. When I list my fannish favorites, those are the things I'll always list first.

Of course, I've learned to learn other things along the way. I'm a huge fan of Big Bang Theory and I absolutely love all things Babylon 5. The Walking Dead was an obsession until Rick left in a helicopter (yes, I get Andrew Lincoln's reasons for leaving. They're valid and I'm not hating. It's still not the same show.) If you don't know I love Declan Finn as an author and his Saint Tommy: NYPD series most of all this must be your first stop by the blog. Welcome.  The Honor Harrington Series is a huge part of my life. I'm part of the fan club and have met some very close friends through it, good people all. But...

For the most part the stuff I came to later lags behind as far as being one of my favorites. The problem isn't the newer product, it's me. When I first started reading the Honorverse I was already in my twenties. I wasn't as jaded as I am at forty-five, but I wasn't the wide-eyed youth I'd been at eight, either. I had hardened and the new stuff couldn't embed itself into me the way it could have when I was younger and softer.

The one exception is Harry Potter. J.K Rowling created a world so vibrant, so beautiful, so horrible and so scarred (true Harry Potter fans will get this) that it shines as well as the things I read in my youth. This is despite the fact that I was introduced to the HP franchise by my ex-wife who I don't exactly like much anymore.  And one of the greatest characters of the franchise has always been (and always will be) Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts. 

Hagrid was the warm and loving friend. The guy who will always do his best for his friends, come hell or high water. He didn't have the best impulse control, and his tongue may have wagged just a bit too freely,c but he always meant well and there really isn't anyone in the entire HP universe who would have been more loyal or loved more fiercely. I mean, seriously, who goes out to a giant camp to rescue their brother, who beats them up when they leave? Hagrid was the salt of the Earth and a guy whose example very few people would live up to. I'm still a bit miffed that Harry didn't give one of his sons the name Hagrid, but I suppose I should get over myself.

I probably need to stop here and explain something: I'm an American and I consume mainly American movies and television. That's not to denigrate any other country and their products. it's just a product of where and when I was raised. So when I started catching news of the HP movies and who was acting in them, I kind of just shrugged. I didn't know much about any of the actors or actresses because I hadn't seen them before. I guess I just don't watch enough of the Beeb. Also, I haven't been a fan since day one. By the time I picked up my first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had already been released, the first movie was out and the second was only a week away. Fortunately for me, there was a local movie theater that ran older movies at a huge discount and I was able to see the first two movies on the big screen a week apart. I was blown away.  Yes, the books were better but WOW did those movies work. They came as close as any book to movie translation I had seen previously and only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has come closer since, but that took two movies.

And a huge, huge, HUUUUUGE part of that was Robbie Coltrane in the part of Hagrid. When in your life have you seen a better translation of a character? Part of it, admittedly, was the make-up. That part of the crew deserves a standing ovation, but it was a whole lot more than just looks. I mean it. If you're a fan of both the books and the movies (and you should be because both are awesome) I dare you to re-read the series and NOT hear Hagrid saying "I shouldn't have said that," in Robbie's voice. Go ahead, I'll wait.

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YOU FAILED!!!!!

Granted, it's not your fault. It's Robbie Coltrane's fault. He played that part so well that he ruined our ability to picture Hagrid as being other than the way Robbie played him. Well done, Robbie.  And you said it best, didn't you?<"The legacy of the movies is that my children's generation will show [the films] to their children," the clean-shaven actor said. "So you could be watching in 50 years time, easy. I'll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will. Yes."

He has, sadly, been proven correct. Given how close that interview came to the end of his life, I'm forced to wonder if he knew something that we didn't. Then again, if he did, it wasn't really our business. That much having been said, I'm convinced that he'll also be proven correct in fifty years time. I mean that. Shakespeare's plays sold out the Globe Theater in his time and Dickens had more than one novel that was serialized in magazines before being bound and sold as a book. J.K Rowling's work is just as good and will stand the test of time. I'm calling it right now. 

And when I'm sitting on a couch somewhere in the future with one of my grandchildren (should God and my daughters be willing to provide me with them) we'll have Harry Potter on the television just like I had with their mothers. We'll be laughing at Hagrid when he goofs something up, we'll be crying when Norbert has to leae for the Dragon Sanctuary. We'll shake our heads at the injustice of it all when Hagrid is carrying Harry's body back to Hogwarts. 

And all through it, the work of Robbie Coltrane will shine through.  I don't want to know how much time he spent learning his craft. It was obviously too much to comprehend. I don't need to know how much time he spent rehearsing the part. That was obviously a large number too. I don't need to know what he was paid or what his benefits were. None of that matters to me. Here is what I do know:

As long as someone is watching the Harry Potter movies, as long as someone is reading the books and picturing the characters the way they looked on screen, as long as one group of Potterheads exists on the internet, until the last copy of the last existing Harry Potter crumbles into dust, the legacy of not just J.K. Rowling but EVERY ACTOR in the series lives on. Robbie Coltrane will be with us as long as we remember him. So will Alan Rickman and all the rest. So, may your body and soul rest in peace, Rubeu... err...

Robbie Coltrane. Lay down your woes and gaze upon what comes after this life. But know that you're not gone from our lives, nor will you be forgotten. You will live on in the lives and memories of generations not yet born until some English Literature student curses the series for its impenetrable language the way modern students curse Shakespearean actors. Fly high, my friend. I'll see you when I get there and a whole bunch of times between now and then on film.

Some Harry Potter related products are available for purchase at the following links. If you click the links and purchase literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Interview with Blaine Lee Pardoe

Jimbo: Today is an exciting day for those of us here at Jimbo's Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews (and hey, there may be only one of me in meatspace, but at Jimbo's I'm Editor in Chief, Head Writer, Vice President for Marketing, Head Cook and Bottlewasher, so _I_ qualify as a "we".) Seriously, I'm geeked. It's not everyday that you get to interview an author whose work you've been reading since you were in high school, especially when you're in your mid-forties. Seriously, I picked up Highlander Gambit right when it came out right at the end of my senior year of high school. I've been a huge fan ever since. It actually hurts a bit to mention a Battletech novel because of some unfortunate things that have happened lately, but everything in its turn. First off, let's just greet one of my favorite Science Fiction authors. Hello, Mr. Pardoe. Say hi to all of the fans out there!

Blaine Lee Pardoe (BLP): Greetings! It’s great to get a chance to connect with you. I’m used to hearing from fans that they read me when they were kids – in a way, we grew up together. I’ve been writing military sci-fi for a long time.

Jimbo: I know there has been some controversy lately, but first thing's first. You're an author, so let's talk about what you've been up to lately. I know, I'm a day late and a dollar short, but let's talk a bit about your most recent release, A Most Uncivil War Book 2 in the Blue Dawn Series. Now we have a very strict policy against spoilers her at Jimbo's that we follow at least nienty percent of the time on a good day. So, without revealing anything the spoiler haters will want to beat me up over, tell me a bit about about A Most Uncivil War and the prequel, Blue Dawn.

BLP: First and foremost, this is a political thriller – an alternate history where radical progressives have violently overthrown the US government. I guess you would call this as conservative political thriller. They implemented Social Quarantine Camps, socialized businesses, allowed for bands of Social Enforcers to doll out their own form of justice…essentially smothering any opposition. America has been rebranded as Newmerica. The police agencies of the nation are federalized in the NSF – the National Security Force. America’s history, identity, even its national anthem is gone. There is no voice of opposition, they have been smothered and driven into silence.

The series is about a group of individuals that rise up five years after this coup to attempt to return to some sense of normalcy. The first book, Blue Dawn, sets the stage for the start of an uprising with the restoration of an American President. In A Most Uncivil War, free elections are called for which triggers a violent response from Newmerica. This is the start of a second American civil war. The next book in the series comes out shortly, Confederacy of Fear, which will take the civil war to new and dangerous levels. I am working on book five of the series right now.

The series presents readers with what the nation would be like if the progressives got everything they wanted. Big government becomes huge government. Citizens are encouraged with reparation points to turn in their neighbors for even the slightest transgression. The divides that rip at our country now are torn wide open in the series. Someone called these books a “wake up call,” and in many respects they are.

Jimbo: Those sound like a lot of fun, and also highly topical. Can you tell me how much of the story you took from the current day's headlines? Quite frankly, I'm a guy with a history degree and what I see from the left reminds me a lot of things I've read about in both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. What do you think?

BLP:

I try and avoid direct comparisons to the Nazi’s or Stalin, but they are often unavoidable. What makes the series work is that it is all based on proposals and statements by progressive leaders. All I have done is take them to the next level. For example, President Obama had suggested the nationalization of police forces at one point. AOC has called for ‘retribution’ against Trump supporters, to the point where she said they are keeping lists of who to target. ANTIFA and other entities are very much like the Brown Shirts in Germany before WWII. So the real world plays a big part of the Blue Dawn series.

 Much of what I am going for is a French Revolution vibe. The French Revolution was popular at the time, but eventually the extremists ran out of targets for their rage. When that happens, they began to turn on their own. Look at that they did to Robespierre. When you are dealing with extremists, they have to have a target or they are no longer valid. This plays out in the novels.

The books are alternate history. They are designed to make you think. Some conservatives that have read them say that get angry seeing what a progressive US might look at. Good! Fiction should spark good discussion and debate.

JImbo: I agree. Quite frankly I'd like to see more high schools and colleges teaching Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom and less teaching The Communist Manifesto. But enough about that. Having heard about your recent troubles I was afraid you might give up the publishing game. There seems to have been a lot of hate headed your way. Then I heard that you have a new project coming out with Creative Juggernaut and WarGate Publishing. I'm excited! No one wants to see one of their favorite authors driven from the field. So, what can you tell me about the upcoming novels in the Land & Sea series? Do you have a release date yet? I'm told that the first three books will be Splashdown, Riptides, and Storm Surge. I'm definitely looking forward to these. As a matter of fact, Galaxy's Edge referred to Land & Sea was "Tom Clancy with mechs." I need some spoiler-free details about this if you wouldn't mind. What can you tell me that you won't get in trouble for releasing?

BLP:

Well, first of all, I will always be writing. I retired early from corporate American to do just that. I would have been happy to write BattleTech, but the license holder decided, after 37 years, to end that relationship. I ignore most of the hate – because it comes from a minority of fans. Besides, it is time to look to the future, which for me is Land&Sea and Blue Dawn.

I was stunned and honored with the reference to Tom Clancy from WarGate after they read Splashdown, the first book of Land&Sea. This book shares a lot of hallmarks with Clancy’s political thrillers. To fully understand the new threat in the series, you need a big ensemble cast and to craft the story on a global scale. The first three books do just that.

These are some of my best characters I’ve created. There is a lot of meat on their bones. Their arcs are huge, some going far beyond the first three novels that kick off the series.

Land&Sea is enormous in scale. The first three books have a diverse cast of characters that have neat connections with each other that readers will see over time. This isn’t all about blowing stuff up, politics and other contemporary issues come into play. It’s set in 2039 – so it’s near future. There are some new technologies, but much of it is like what we see every day now. I want the readers to feel comfortable, before I make them uncomfortable.

The series is pure military sci fi at its core – much more reality based than BattleTech. We have Mecha in the form of ASHUR rigs, Augmented Soft/Hard Unconventional (Combat) suits. Our ASHURs make sense in the context they are presented in. They are similar to what you saw in the film, Avatar, but a little smaller and with some interesting combat systems. Semi-autonomous drones, especially GRD’s (Ground Robotic Drones) play key roles on the battlefield as well. Management of the battlespace is critical.

The enemy is something unique and cool. I won’t tell much about them until the first book, Splashdown, drops – but I assure you, this is not your typical experience in military sci-fi. There’s almost a horror factor that comes into play when characters are dealing with unknowns – and I wanted to put the reader through that same experience.

The first three books set the stage for the universe for readers. Book four is already done in draft and I am working on book five right now. With the first three books done, fans will not have to wait for years for the next one. We hope to have six books, if not more, the first year alone! Needless to say, this series will make a big splash when it comes out.

This war is a global one. It is massive in scale and we will get to see a lot of different responses to the threats from different countries. Not to mention we get the military hardware the ASHURs from different countries as well.

I am looking forward to other authors contributing to the series as well.

Jimbo: That sounds awesome, but from what I hear there's more. Did I read something about both Role Playing and Tabletop War games associated with this? I love both and I know what you can do with a gaming property. What can you tell me about those?

BLP:

I actually did the initial design of the RPG and the tabletop game. It’s moving into full blown development shortly. The goal here is to have the tabletop game focus on small unit actions. For Brent Evans and the rest of the team, we wanted to make sure that people could create RPG characters and could have them take part in the tabletop game. A lot of game systems don’t design that integration from the ground up, but we are.

Some of the miniatures are done and in production. We will be making an announcement shortly about being able to purchase those. Working with the team at WarGate, you will see some other franchise related products that are going to be available soon.

We have some other related projects in the works that fans will be surprised and delighted with…things that go beyond the novels and games. Brent Evans, who started Creative Juggernaut (our gaming company) has been compiling a lot of artwork for that we will be leaking out to the new fans of Land&Sea.

Jimbo: Okay, so now that we've had a chance to establish some bona fides for those that haven't read you in the past, can you tell us where to find your work? Drop a link or two.

BLP:

You can go to Amazon.com and search for my name. That will get you to my sci-fi, military history, true crime, and other book genres I write in.

If you want to know more about Land&Sea, you can connect with us at our blog: https://creativejuggernaut74396517.wordpress.com/ or www.creative-juggernaut.com or at WarGate https://galaxysedge.us/wargate-books-to-publish-nyt-bestseller-blaine-l-pardoe-and-brent-evans-landsea-trilogy/

I can be reached at www.blainepardoe.com

On Twitter: @bpardoe870

And on Facebook.

Jimbo: Thank you, Mr. Pardoe. I'd hate to let everyone know what a great author you are and leave them hanging about where to find your work. But on to other things. You were recently cancelled by Catalyst Games Lab, which has announced that they will no longer publish any new writing from you. Before we get into whys and wherefores, let's get into ramifications a little bit. I mean, my father was a McCoy and my mother was born a Wallace. I've been a fan of the Northwind Highlanders (and their creator) for over twenty-five years now. They're a mercenary unit from Scotland. If you wouldn't mind can you tell us about what it means to you both on a personal level and a business level to lose those opportunities?

BLP: Personally it was a blow. I trusted Catalyst and thought that we are on friendly terms. I felt betrayed. I also was infuriated. The President of Catalyst assured me he would be telling the fans about it – but he never did until I went public. I was always active and engaging with the fan community. I went public to explain to the fans why they weren’t going to see products that they knew I had written. I had included a lot of fans in my fiction, and they deserved to know why they won’t be seeing their names in print.

Financially, it didn’t mean that much to me. Writing BattleTech was never about the money. Ultimately though, it was focused on gaming-readers. It isn’t the 1990’s any longer. People reading BattleTech fiction are those that are playing the game. In reality, with all of the new book deals, I stand to make more money since I was cancelled.

That’s why I am excited about working with the team at WarGate. First, they are very fan focused. They have a subscription service where fans are treated as insiders who get books well in advance of the public. They respond to their fans quickly and effectively. The guys I am working with are fun to talk to and seem to have a good pulse on military sci-fi market. That brings me to the second point – they are not limited to gaming reader community. WarGate targets the huge military sci fi market – which is far larger than BattleTech.

It really opens up a lot of fantastic opportunities to push myself and the stories I write. All Wargate is focused on is producing top-notch products and taking care of their fans.

Jimbo: Okay, so I've seen a lot of offended people talking about your cancellation. No one seems to know what the specifics are though. The thing is, when I was going to school for history they taught us to view the primary sources - what was written or recorded at the time of an occurence- instead of taking the word of someone who wasn't there and has no direct knowledge of what happened. So tell me, Mr Pardoe: What got CGL so fired up that they cut ties with one of their best authors? Please be specific so that we can make up our minds based on the details.

BLP: I was told, directly from Catalyst’s President, that it was because an online stalker, who I have a protective order against, had complained to Fanatics, the license holder. That was the primary reason – or so I was told. I was told some of my political views were offensive. Some of their other authors and artists, however, espouse radical left-wing views – from support of ANTIFA to wishing all conservatives rot in hell. When all was said and done, I am the only contractor that they took action against. That confirms for me that this was about my politics, and not anything else. CGL sided with the small group of woke readers.

It amazes me that Catalyst would side with a person that threatened my life, whom a Virginia court and law enforcement have validated was a threat. They made a poor business decision, and upset their fan base in the process.

JImbo: And for this you got cancelled. Is Freedom of Speech not a principle we should all keep in mind? Does this seem fair to you?

BLP: Fair isn’t a concept when you are dealing with the woke mob. Freedom of Speech is subject to mob-censorship. These folks do not want dissenting voices. You are not allowed any opinion other than those they endorse.

The woke mob is into slapping labels on everything I have ever posted. Some of their labeling is based in pure stupidity. For example, when I saw a picture of Joy Behar of the view, I wrote, “You could throw her in a pond and skim ugly for a week.” Was it funny? Absolutely! It was intended to be humorous. They labeled it as a “Misogynistic” attack. Apparently you can’t comment about figures in public…that, or a lot of lefties think Joy is sexy. I refuse to apologize for being right.

I was shocked that my editor at CGL felt the need to send me a message calling my work “drivel” after my cancellation. The same man told me months earlier that my novel, Hour of the Wolf, was the biggest selling novel in Catalyst’s history. I was under the impression we had a great relationship, but in reality, his politics came first. For me, it told me how deep the woke problem is at that publisher.

Worse was that many of the crazies felt the need to justify what they did. They did so by attacking any fan that disagreed with my cancellation. It’s not enough that they won, they demanded everyone applaud their actions. The only word I can come up with for them is sick.

JImbo: It's crazy. So, how have you been treated by the fans on either side? Have your detractors at least kept it civil, since that's what they've always expected from conservatives? Have those who support you made their voices heard?

BLP: Easily 99% of the feedback I have been sent personally has been positive and supportive. Online, less so; though the vast majority feel this was a bad call on the part of CGL. A vocal minority of fans have said it is great to have me censored and removed. Being loud online does not make them right, it just makes them loud.

Strangely, a number of these people have ‘demanded’ that I remain quiet about this. I refuse to comply with those requests. I invested 37 years of my life to supporting that franchise and its fans. I find it amusing that they desire me to self-censor and go away, after they have attacked my values, ideals and me personally. I assure you, I will never buckle to these people.

Most fans can separate an author’s political views and the products they create. After all, as a writer, I am simply producing a consumable entertainment product. It is content. I strongly feel that if you don’t like my views, then you don’t have to buy my stuff. That system has worked for centuries. There’s a lot of authors whose stuff I read who are crazed communists. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy their stuff. Now, however, we have people who actually believe if you don’t like someone’s views, they shouldn’t be allowed to create. It’s called censorship at the source. They are embracing the very existence I detailed in the Blue Dawn series.

I have moved on to bigger and better things with WarGate books. The fans that I have cultivated over the years are welcome to join me on this venture. It will be refreshing change of pace from BattleTech. I am no longer burdened with almost four decades of canon. I am creating the canon from the ground up. I no longer have people looking over my shoulders and telling me to make changes based on their politics or perceptions of diversity. I get to write stories – great stories. I get to forge new heroes and antagonists. I get to create really neat gaming products that tie into the fiction.

Between the Blue Dawn series and Land&Sea, I have enough to keep me writing for the rest of my life. All the cancel-culture crowd has done is put me in a position to be more successful on every level.

Jimbo: Well, hopefully a chance to air things out here has helped. Having been through the fire though, how does it feel to know you'll be getting your work out there again soon?

BLP: It is fantastic. What many people don’t understand is that I am storyteller at heart. I like creating great and memorable characters. I enjoy writing good and compelling stories. Getting Land&Sea out there through WarGate is exciting and I am looking forward to the entire series connecting to a new fan base. We have had hundreds of people sign up at our site to keep in contact with us about the new universe.

I have no desire to be that guy that is a poster-child for woke censorship. What I want to do is write great books and stories – and WarGate is enabling that.

Jimbo: Okay, last question: I always feel like I forgot to ask something that the author wanted me to. So what did I not ask that you wanted me to, and how would have answered it if I did?

BLP:

“Are you working on some other things besides Land&Sea and Blue Dawn?”

Yes, I am. I just sold a story to Baen Publishing for an upcoming anthology – which is great. I have another series that I have ready in proposal form, once we get past the launch with WarGate. My daughter and I are working on another true crime book too. I even have a weekly show on https://www.thenexgenusa.com/ where I talk to other authors about their latest books. I even just did a piece for a Netflix series about a true crime case my daughter and I wrote about. There is a lot going on right now and I have to admit, it’s exciting stuff.

JImbo: Thank you for that, and for taking the time for the interview. It has been a real honor getting a chance to talk with you, Mr. Pardoe. If we ever bump into each other at a con the first drink's on me.

The Blue Dawn books are available for purchase at the following links:

Declan Finn's Blue Saint

So, yeah...

The emotional bond between someone who absolutely loves to read and one of their favorite characters is a weird one, especially when the reader starts the series when it first comes out and has to wait for each successive book. Cracking open the new book is like having an old friend swing by for a coffee. Like, you don't necessarily get as much time as you want with them but it's still nice to find out how they've been and what they've been up to.

"Go ahead and put your feet up on the table, Favorite Character and tell me about your adventures. How have you been feeling? How has your love life been? Kids doing okay? What losses have you suffered? What victories have you scored? What are you up to now?"

I'm not saying it's normal or a sign of sanity, I'm just saying that it happens. We smile with them. We cry with them. We laugh with them. We're happy when they're with us and we're sad when they're gone. Seriously, re-reading an old book can be like flipping through a family photo album.

Which is why it can hit us so hard when they die.

And, well, I don't do spoilers, but Declan Finn's Blue Saint is the last book in a series about a saint and there is no such thing as a living saint. Therefore saying that St. Tommy survived is pretty much like spoiling a movie about the American Revolution by screaming "The Americans win!" And seriously, I'm not going to conduct this review as a requiem of the life of Thomas Nolan (who, admittedly, was a better man than I'll ever be) but I feel the need to take this time to express my sense of loss and compliment both Tommy Nolan and Declan Finn on their accomplishment: Three deaths in all of the fiction I have read have brought me to tears; Sturm Brightblade, Fred Weasley and Tommy Nolan. Yes, I'm a Potterhead. Sue me.

Also like Sturm Brightblade, Tommy at least got the send off he deserved. Fred got hosed. That makes up for a lot. No one likes to see their favorite character die and ignominious death (Grayson Carlyle anyone?) and here he didn't have to. I've not seen a finer death for a character anywhere and that's saying something.

But hold on, now. There is a WHOLE LOT more to Blue Saint than the death of one character. There is love. There is loss. There's a lot going on here. There is a scene that reminded me of my only failings(?) not because of something awesome Tommy did but because of a human moment where he questioned himself. Maybe the best thing about Detective Nolan is that he has never been the arrogant, holier than thou type. He lives, he breathes and he questions himself, just like the rest of us.

A lot of relationships in the series are highlighted here in new ways and that works for me as well. Seriously,  think about it. If you had to go into a dangerous situation, who would you want at your back? Who would you want watching your family while you were gone? Are they the same person? What if they couldn't be? Blue Saint provides some perspective on those types of questions. It also, in a way, sheds a little light on the relationships of the people around us in ways that we wouldn't necessarily consider. I find this odd for what is primarily a first-person perspective book, but it's true. Actually, looking back on it, that's true of the whole Saint Tommy, NYPD series and your goofy reviewer is just now picking up on it. 

*SIGH*

No system is perfect I guess. I'll work on it.

The one negative (ish) thing I will say is that Blue Saint is in no way a standalone novel. This is Finn's masterwork, the result of a full dozen books worth of interweaving plotlines and relationships. Blue Saint is a serious achievement in finally bringing everything back together and tying it up with a bow on the package. I'm not saying he can't top it (as a matter of fact, I'm daring him to) but it's going to take some serious work. And a new reader coming in out of the cold is not going to understand the backstory. You need to understand the backstory to get the Blue Saint story. Read the first eleven books. I did. I'm glad I did. I plan to do it again someday. And that makes me happy because, unlike the real people I've lost, St. Tommy is still there to hang out with the same way I always have.

Of course, one of the areas that Finn has always excelled in is writing action. Seriously, Finn's asskickery kicks ass and he's outdone himself once again. I love the way these fights are choreographed. Things go boom spectacularly. The use of mini-guns was awesome. The way the team in the books has adapted things like holy water and incense to fight the minions of Satan has been amazing. And, of course, Nolan's personal arsenal comes into full play in the biggest fight in the series yet. The settings for the last couple are pretty epic, too.

Due to the weird nature of the app I used to read the story (FB Reader) I almost missed the fact that there was more story after Tommy passed. It really would have sucked to have missed what came after, too, because there is a lot of good stuff there. To misquote Kid Rock: "There ain't no story like a Blue Saint story because the Blue Saint story don't stop." (Yes, English. Don't tell me, tell Kid Rock.)

I'm not going to give up the end of the story, but I will say this: The mark of a terrific author, or any type of artist for that matter, is their ability to get an emotional reaction from their audience, whoever that may happen to be. Finn took me from crying to laughing in the last few pages of his book. There aren't many authors who could do that. Go buy the book. Then read the book. Then tell me how right I was because I AM right this time. And someone make the damn movie already.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Sappy Reviewers and my next years Dragon Award Nomination

Blue Saint (St. Tommy NYPD Book 12)
Declan Finn
Tuscany Bay Press, 2022

Blue Saint (St. Tommy NYPD Book 12) is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and get 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.

The System Apocalypse Series by Tao Wong

 

It seems like every time I read a LitRPG book, I think about how I should read more LitRPG. I love it, but I guess it came to be too late in my life to be a default like Space Opera and Epic Fantasy.  Every once in awhile, though, something will gain my notice and I'll feel the need to check it out. That's precisely what happened with Tao Wong's series The System Apocalypse. I think I picked the first book, Life in the North, up because it was in my Facebook feed and it caught my eye. I had never heard of Mr. Wong so I was a bit cautious at first but The System Apocalypse grabbed my attention from page one.

The System Apocalypse starts with our hero, one John Lee, on vacation in Canada's Yukon Territory. It's cold, he's camping and a little blue box appears in his vision. From there the whole world changes literally (well, fictionally literally) instantly, not just for him but also for the rest of the human race and anything else that lives on planet Earth. Animals and plants begin to mutate, people start dying in job lot quantities (think nuclear war levels of casualties only there are no actual nukes launched. Then it gets worse.) and no one and nowhere is safe. And yes, I've played Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games in the past, but in The System Apocalypse, there are no respawns.

The series goes through a few different arcs, starting out with straight-up survival. First John has to survive long enough to find another human being, then he takes part in helping others to survive. It's not as easy as it should be, either. Even with help, he loses people and on many occasions almost loses himself. John is a ball of rage and he doesn't always use common sense but even when he does the wrong thing it's usually for the right reasons.

The cast of characters he gathers around himself is long and distinguished. Most are human. A few are alien. They are, for the most part, all honorable beings who want to do what is best for themselves and for others. It's well thought out though, and they all seem to have their own motivations, even if it's only leveling.

If you're familiar with roleplaying games, whether online in games like World of Warcraft, Everquest, Eve Online or City of Heroes, on old-school platforms ala Wizardry and Shining in the Darkness, or tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, Heroes Unlimited, or Shadowrun, then you know how important leveling is. The higher a character's level, the more powerful they are. The more powerful they are, the better they can protect themselves against increasing threats. The more fighting they do, the higher their level gets. Well, for Combat Classers. The System also has classes in areas like crafting (artisans), growing (farmers), politics (duh) and even the media (one of my favorite side characters is a reporter named Harry). Everyone needs to level, but it is both easiest and most important for Combat Classers.

Also part of leveling, and one of the reasons it's easier to make/grow that new product or defeat that new monster, is gaining new abilities or spells or feats or...

Every game calls them something different and, in a lot of cases, there are different labels applied to different things in the same game. It can be a wee bit confusing until you get the hang of the game. The System is no different. There are a ton of abilities, skills, spells, affinities and probably some other thing that I forgot about. The System is actually pretty crunchy if you grok the term. If not, it just means there are a lot of rules and usually a lot of math.  It can be confusing to our heroes and definitely to the reader, at least at first. Just have patience and remember your first time playing your favorite roleplaying game. We were all confused and something Wong does well is have his characters share what they're learning with the rest of us.

Probably the most unusual thing about The System and it's leveling progression is the tier system. Most people start out with a basic class. That might be Farmer, or Construction Worker, but it might also be Soldier or Hunter or some other combat class. Fifty levels in a basic class opens up an advanced class. A Soldier might become a Sergeant. Fifty levels of and Advance Class opens up a Master Class. A Sergeant might become an Officer. Fifty levels of Master Class opens up a Heroic Class. An Officer might become a General. Fifty levels of a Heroic Class opens up a Legendary Class. That General might become an Emperor. It doesn't get any higher than Legendary, but few ever make it there.

Opening up new tiers is exciting as it leads to massive increases in abilities. One Advanced Classer could mow down an entire mob of low level Basic Classers fairly easily. A Heroic Classer might be able to take your planet over singlehandedly. Legendary Classers, especially if they're Combat Classers, probably run empires or command a bajillion troops and are not just deadly themselves, but make all of their followers even more effective. This is an amazingly well built system and I just hope I did a good enough job explaining it.

Speaking of leveling and Class Tiers, there is a moment in the series that almost made me quit reading it. I'm not going to go into details, but trust me when I say you'll know it when you see it. Wong promises to write what's missing in the Afterword and, while I believe we're still waiting, I trust him. But it did leave me seriously frustrated at the time. At the end of the day, I'm glad I kept reading because it is a truly awesome series, but I was more than a little bit shaken.

Once John learns how The System works at the most basic level and figures out how to survive and even thrive in the face of what his planet has turned into, we get into another arc. In this one, John and lots of others try to unite the Earth and elect a planetary ruler. It's not easy and the fact that there are aliens (John calls them "Galactics") all over the place just makes it harder. Then we get to watch John and Earth figure out their places in the universe. 

The final arc is probably my favorite, and not just because that's where all the fighting is. I love it because it is the struggle to find out what The System is and where it came from. Why does it exist? Is there a point to it or is it just there? I'll be honest, there is a lot of technical stuff here, but it all makes sense across a twelve book series in ways I can't begin to duplicate in a single review. 

The ending itself is satisfying in a way that I hadn't seen coming, even if it didn't give me quite everything I wanted. It works for the series and wraps things up in a way that leaves no loose ends. 

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Spirit Companions.

The System Apocalypse
Tao Wong
Starlit Publishing 2017-22

Life in the North: An Apocalyptic LitRPG (The System Apocalypse Book 1) 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.

Life in the North: An Apocalyptic LitRPG 

Destiny, Lightbringer and Dark Web by Declan Finn

 I just read three books in five days. I haven't done that in... 

Uhh...

Well, probably since before I got my driver's license, back in the early Nineties. I may have done it once since then, but I can't recall when it would have been. At any rate, this certainly isn't something that happens often. I don't really have that kind of time and I just can't, but this time I did. Don't ask me how it's possible. Also, don't ask me what's for dinner. I haven't got a clue. I haven't had time to cook. 

Of course, you'll want to know the names of the books. They are Destiny, Lightbringer and Dark Web, Books 9, 10 and 11 of the Saint Tommy, NYPD Series by Declan Finn. I'm pretty sure I've reviewed every one of the novels since Hell Spawn which, if you missed it, was Book 1. I've enjoyed them all, but these things just keep getting better. Tommy's network of allies and enemies keeps broadening. His characterization gets deeper. It almost feels like I could walk into the Nolan house and sit down for dinner with the family. Ya know, maybe Alex would be over and we'd have some spaghetti...

Yeah, these characters are that well drawn... err... written. Whatever. They're believable. 

So, I thought that since I was reviewing three books together, I'd give each a bit of space on it's own. They deserve it and so do my readers. So does the author for that matter. Even if he is a buttface. More on that in a bit.

Destiny

While I am one hundred percent certain that Tommy Nolan does not, under any circumstances, cave in to wrath, it seems that Declan Finn most certainly does. In this case, Finn got frustrated after the Italian government force him and his wife to pay an exorbitant fine while simulataneously having their travel plans cancelled because of an honest mistake. The Nolan family goes through basically the same thing and then...

It gets ugly.

Listen, I'm a history nerd with the degree to prove it. I've even got a couple of graduate credits in American History. I've always loved the history of both Ancient Rome and the Christian Church as well, but I never pursued those as a degree because I don't have the language skills. Seriously.

And what Finn does to some of the coolest historical architecture in Rome was kinda...

Well...

Were you a wrestling fan in the Nineties? Did you see the Undertaker/Mick Foley Hell in a Cell match? The one where Taker choke slammed Foley through the top of the cell into the thumbtacks? Do you remember running your fingers through your own hair, your eyes huge and your feet kicking? Do you remember the simultaneous feeling of "OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO COOL!!!!" mixed with "OH MY GOD THIS SUCKS!!!" with just a wee bit of "DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN?!" Do you remember that feeling?

Yeah, I experienced that a few times with Destiny. Seriously, Hollywood needs to stop rebooting crap and make this into a movie. 

Err...

Just as long as I don't have to be the one to pay for the special effects.

So it's only fair to say that the action scenes were amazing. Saint Tommy with all of his charisms and quite a few allies up against the best that Hell has to send after him. It's amazing and believable. Tommy takes a beating a few times. When he's up against what he gets thrown at him, that makes sense. He even has to be reminded to take care of himself at times.

And that's one of the things I like about Tommy Nolan. He's strong physically, strong at heart, and strong spiritually but we're reminded that his very strength is also a great weakness. He tries to take too much on himself and not accept help. I wish this didn't make as much sense to me as it does, but at the end of the day it's horrifyingly realistic. 

Also, the physical effects of aging are pretty accurately portrayed as well. It seems that our St. Tommy isn't as young as he used to be. I get that. I'm forty-five and sometimes my recovery takes a while longer. Since St. Tommy is forty-five in Destiny as well, it makes sense that he would suffer some of the same probl...

Hey wait!

Finn just said I was getting too old for something! You're busted, buddy. That's a one-ten millionth of a point deduction for...

uhh...

Sumfin' 

Pretty sure it was sumfin'.

The rest of the family is on vacation with Tommy. This doesn't start out as a business trip. It's weird because I never thought I'd say this about a St. Tommy NYPD book, but there is a certain Scooby Doo element here. Not the stupid humor thing, because that would never work in a St. Tommy novel. But it does have kind of an air of "Look guys, we're on vacation! This is gonna be SOO fun!" that then turns into "Uh, oh."Seriously, this thing needs two "Zoiks" and a "Jinkies"before the action really gets going. Well either that, or maybe I'm just a nerd.

Okay, not really. What it really needed was for my dispatcher to shut up and stop sending me off to make money while I was trying to read. Seriously, don't become a cab driver. But if you ever do, don't start a good book on the first. Just don't do it. That's the busiest time of month and it can be hard to do your job when your body is in Michigan but your mind is in another country fighting demons. I would definitely recommend reading Destiny, but I would also try to find an open spot in my schedule if I were you. It's going to take up quite a bit of your time after all, because you're not going to want to put it down.

Bottom Line: 4.9999999 out of 5 Missed Fares

Destiny

Declan Finn

Tuscany Bay Books, 2022

Lightbringer

Okay, so this time we're back on our side of the Atlantic and there are no more priceless historical artifacts around to mercilessly slaughter. That's a good thing. I like my violence with a side of not destroying the ruins of an ancient society.  I mean, it's not like Ancient Rome wasn't a cesspit, but modern New York is not only a cesspit, it's one whose loony ideas I have to deal with on a regular basis. 

And once again, as much as Finn says he hates his hometown you can tell how much he loves his hometown by how well he writes it and Lightbringer is no different. Anne Rice may have had a bigger love affair with New Orleans than Finn has with New York, but it's a close run race. The city itself oozes off the pages. All of New York's features and all of its foibles can be found here. It really feels like Finn hates the local politics but loves the city for what it is when he's not dealing with politicians. I have an urban fantasy work in progress and a lot of the reason I put it in the Detroit area is so that I could do Detroit as well as Finn does New York. 

I really like Lightbringer because Tommy Nolan finally faces something he can't take head on. I mean that sincerely. I love the fact that Saint Tommy is, well, a saint, but really if you pulled the prayer and the emphasis on piety and good works as a spiritual concept out of the books, what you'd have left is a superhero. Don't misunderstand me. I love superheroes. I just think that Thomas Nolan has a little more to him than Captain America or Superman. I mean, spiritually powered lightsabers are awesome, but...

I mean...

You can't solve every problem by stabbing it, or blowing it up, sprinkling it with holy salt or..

You get the picture.

And, as a man of faith who has been through some things, I can tell you truly that while God does answer prayer, it's not always with the answer you want.

This time around the man who can bilocate, levitate, call on angels for backup and outshoot pretty much anything he faces goes up against something that none of that will work on. In a sense, a very real one, you could say that he's facing his worst fear. And it makes him seem much more human than he had before. 

Sometimes with heroes, and it doesn't matter whether we're talking Bruce Wayne or Chris Kyle, Hal Jordan or Saint Peter, it's easy to forget that these are human beings. You get so used to thinking about what they've done that you forget who they are. There are times during Lightbringer when we're reminded that one Thomas Nolan is a man, just like the rest of us. I've always found Finn's characterizations to be realistic but after reading this one, I feel closer to St. Tommy.

And it makes sense, because two of Nolan's kids are adults now, and they are hardcore. It does the heart good to see the babies all grown up following in their fathers footsteps, still seeing the old man on a regular basis, hanging out and doing some of the heavy lifting. The way they show their support for their daddy the best way they know how. And the youngest, not yet grown, is showing signs (I think) of being something special herself someday.

But don't let me get too sentimental on you. I guess I'm just getting soft in my old age. There is plenty of over the top action to keep you entertained. Things go boom. Things go pow. Things go bop, bang, zing.  There's a collision or two. Some special friends show up when needed. A hole appears that wasn't there before. And, well...

Listen, this isn't a spoiler. It's in the title. But the book lives up to its title. Either you get that or you don't. If you do you already knew what was going to happen. If you don't you have no clue what I'm talking about. I just know that I was prepared to get really upset if I didn't see something occur and it did. If you don't know what, go read the book. If you still don't get it, leave a comment and I'll try to explain it to you. Then again, if you don't get it, maybe Lightbringer isn't the only book you need to read.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Soul Rings

Lightbringer

Declan Finn

Tuscany Bay Books, 2022

Dark Web

Holy Dichotomy, Batman! (Pun totally intended.) Dark Web is an awesome book but it shows one Lieutenant Nolan being torn in two directions. One is doing what he was born to do. Tommy fights evil like the champion that he is. But here again, he finds himself confronted with something he can't fight, and it's getting worse. I feel for the guy.

And it's weird because they always tell you not to meet your idols. The inference is that they won't live up to what you want them to be. Mr. Nolan finally comes up against a threat he has no defense against and it makes me like him more. There's nothing more humbling than watching someone go through something you can't help them with while wishing that you could. Tommy takes a metaphorical (and I think an actual) punch to the gut and it hurts.

I want to talk about this for a bit because it hit me pretty hard. Some authors do things better than others, right? Lots of people can write a book about friends and friendship but very few can do it like J.K. Rowling. Lots of authors write about battles in space but if anyone can do it better than David Weber I don't know who it is. Tom Kratman is the only human being on the planet who can write a training manual and make it entertaining. Declan Finn has always been the best writer I've read when it comes to combining spiritual matters with fun and action. I mean, who else can write a gun battle with a main character that prays the whole time and make it make sense? Finn is the only one I've seen.

What I never expected from a guy like Finn was for him to make me cry my own tears. I'm not that guy. Maybe as a kid I was, but I've been through some things since then. I got through a divorce without crying about losing my ex-wife. But Finn had me crying. I'm not going to tell you what happens, but once you figure it out for yourself, hold on. The part that really had me crying isn't quite here yet.

This is a big thing for me, because writing is art and art is all about evoking an emotional response. Sure, that might be excitement and aggression and with the Saint Tommy, NYPD Series it usually is. Tommy fights some really tough opponents and it's fun to watch him take them down a peg. That's why I like these books.

But I don't usually like things that make me cry. Crying comes from sadness and sadness sucks. I haven't shed tears of joy since...

Uhh...

I got a little choked up at my wedding I guess, but even then I didn't actually cry. There were no tears at either of my daughters' births...

It's just not me.

It is, therefore, a rare author that can make me cry and have me still enjoy their book. Finn managed to pull it off. Not to be that guy about it, but I didn't think he had it in him. His books are usually rollicking good fun, not the type of thing that would make me get all mushy. So kudos to one of my favorite authors for pulling off something I didn't believe possible.

And the thing is, this is NOT a tear-jerker. There is enough action in Dark Web to make a Rambo movie blush. It's almost non-stop. Finn brings out every monster he can think of. He leaves his hero weakened to face them in places. He pretty much (but not quite) drops a nuke from orbit. He brings back both old friends and old foes. Dark Web is the book where all of the things happen and nothing ever stops. Even when Tommy thinks things are boring, the rest of the crew would disagree.

Dark Web is the best St. Tommy, NYPD book yet and it's almost the last one as well. There's so much in here that I don't think I did it justice. Suffice it to say that I plan on re-reading this one soon. I went through Dark Web in one fell swoop on my day off because I couldn't stop reading it. I was so hooked into this one that I didn't want to do anything but rip through it as fast as I could. As a matter of fact, this one was so good, I think I give Finn a bonus one ten-millionth of a point to make up for the one I took away earlier.

Bottom Line: 5.0000001 out of 5 Shed Tears

Dark Web

Declan Finn

Tuscany Bay Books, 2022

And that's all three if you're keeping score at home. I'm a bit apprehensive about the next one. Blue Saint is the final book in the series and, if you know anything about the Catholic religion, you know there's no such thing as a living saint. We'll see how true that is on October Eleventh. I doubt Finn will make me cry two books straight though.

All three books are available at the links below. If you click a link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Interview with author L.S. King

 

Jimbo: Welcome to Jimbo’s Awesome Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews, where we’re all about promoting Science Fiction and Fantasy content creators. Seriously, if I didn’t love to tell you about  all aspects of Speculative Fiction I wouldn’t have put up over three hundred posts doing so. Today, we’re talking to author L.S. King, author of the new novel Raising the Stakes, the third installment of the Deuces Wild series. She’s very excited to share the news with all of us. Say hi, Lee. Drop a link to your author website and anywhere else you might tell the world about all of your work.

LS King: “Hi, Lee.” (Well, you said to say it!) Thanks for the interview! 

My website is https://loriendil.com

On the Contact page, all my social media, my newsletter, and my email are listed. So anyone who wishes to find me or my work can easily do so there.

I have two series at the minute. The one is space opera and the other is epic science fantasy. No magic, just forgotten ancient technology.

I do have a few stand-alone short stories in one series or the other, and a couple that are completely independent, although some of them are not currently available. That will change, eventually.

Jimbo: Great to see you Lee! So, before we get to the latest book in the series, tell us a bit about the first two, Beginner’s Luck and Stacking the Deck for those who may not have had the chance to read them yet. Try not to spoil too much for those that don’t like that kind of thing.

L.S. King: Beginners’ Luck is the story of how our two heroes meet and must work together to escape the bad guys. In the process, they end up getting in the way of more bad guys and some Very Bad Things happen. Spoiler: by the end of the novel, they have started to forge a friendship.

Stacking the Deck adds some flavor with some additional characters, some of whom cause headaches and some of whom are headaches. They are drawn unwillingly into various dangerous situations, such as attempting to break a planetary blockade with their lone ship.

Jimbo: Terrific. So tell us a little bit about each of your main characters, Slap and Tristan, and what makes them do what they do. I mean, a cowboy and a space pirate seem like a bit of an unlikely pair.

L.S. King: The two main characters are indeed complete opposites. One is altruistic despite the tragedies that have devastated him, while the other is cynical.

Slap is a rancher from a pioneer planet which uses “sustainable” ways rather than hi-tech. So when I say he’s a cowboy, I mean it. A gangster, in a drive for power, is trying for land grabs and kills his family, burns his ranch, leaving him for dead.

Tristan is a bit of a drifter from off-planet with a mysterious background. Is he a mercenary, pirate, assassin? Regardless, he proves he is a deadly adversary.

The two men discover this same gangster is after them both, and they are forced to work together to survive.

The idea for this broadly came from my favorite Western book, Shane.

Jimbo: Awesome. So I hear that the first novel, Beginners Luck, was serialized in Ray Gun Revival magazine. Tell us a little bit about how that works and what the experience of working with Ray Gun Revival was like.

L.S. King: I was involved (rather reluctantly at first, the phrase “dragged kicking and screaming” comes to mind LOL) in the creation of Ray Gun Revival. The idea was to bring back the old SF serial magazine with the fun of space ships, ray guns, and just fun science fiction stories. We had stand-alones we published every issue, but we wanted serial novels that would run a chapter a month, just like in the Old Days™.

Getting four people to do that was a bit of a problem. So my co-founder Johne Cook suggested I do one. I honestly wasn’t interested, but he hounded, er I mean, convinced me to do one of them as a proof-of-concept.

Sure. Just as a proof-of-concept. I guess I can do that. So I turned in the first three chapters and made it possible for the whole silly thing to end there if folks didn’t like it. 

And they did. So much so that when the storyline was finished a year and a half later, the publisher backing Ray Gun Revival released it as a novel.

The experience of working on Ray Gun Revival was extraordinary! I met so many talented writers and forged some amazing friendships that have lasted to this day. 

Jimbo: Thanks for that, Lee. Science Fiction owes so much of its success to the magazines that have promoted it since day one. It does my heart well to know that they’re still going strong. So, with Raising the Stakes recently released, tell me what Slap and Tristan are up to. How much trouble are they in this time? Remember not to ruin any big surprises.

L.S King: “Tell us about the novel, but no spoilers.” Oh sure, a piece of pie, as Carter would say! LOL

In this novel, several groups of bad guys are after our heroes (naturally). Some for obvious reasons, others...well, let’s just say it’s a bit of a problem when an entire galactic government is gunning for you.

An old friend of Tristan’s shows up, and causes some distractions in a manner only a woman among men can (for reference, see Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky), but they aren’t sure they can truly trust her.

In a strange twist, they discover that some planets are watched over by these strange beings with the ability to protect their planets. Tristan ponders if they are some sort of strange, noncorporeal aliens or something else. The natives of these planets claim these beings are not gods, but they certainly appear to have godlike powers. 

Slap and Tristan find themselves embroiled in a war between these ‘gods’ and the corrupt government that is trying to kill them.

Jimbo: That sounds like a lot of fun,but you have to picture this: I’ve read all about your books. I’m excited. I want them. But I don’t know what format they’re available in or where to get them. How about you save me from his galactic scale tragedy and fill me in on all of the relevant details.

L.S. King: All of my works can be accessed on my website, both in print and various ebook formats. From my site, you can click through to Amazon, Apple, Google, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and also Smashwords.

https://loriendil.com

Jimbo: That’s all good to know, but here at Jimbo’s we don’t believe in letting authors off that easily. Why don’t you tell us about some of your older works? I particularly enjoyed your Sword’s Edge Trilogy. Don’t be shy, Lee. I know you can be a bit modest, but you’re a good author so feel free to go on a bit and fill us all in on what you’ve done prior to your latest series. 

L.S. King: Sword’s Edge started from a dream I had circa 1985. It simmered for years before I started writing it down. When I finally did, I ended up with a world that had thousands of years of backstory as well as what was happening in their present day. 

The series has an epic fantasy feel but with forgotten ancient technology being rediscovered instead of magic. The books have some danger and derring-do (I must get in my quota of swords and capes), but also some soul-crushing moments of internal reflection and decisions which impact their entire world.

Jimbo: Sounds amazing. Let’s get a bit personal. Why Speculative Fiction and not some other genre. Seriously, what led you to the world of rockets, ray guns, elves and trolls?

L.S. King: ahem There are no elves or trolls, thankyouverymuch! LOL I’ll leave them in Middle-earth!
I was heavily influenced by Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits as a wee lass, and then by Star Trek when it came out in 1966. I remember reading The Runaway Robot by Lester del Rey and Forgotten Door by Alexander Key while in elementary school, and then I discovered Heinlein’s juveniles. 

I read other genres too, everything from Enid Blyton to Zane Grey to Tolkien (of course) to C.S. Lewis (I’m partial to his space trilogy) to Agatha Christie to Edgar Allan Poe.

I was also heavily influenced by Zorro which I openly admit is the source of my love for capes and swords.

Jimbo: Thanks for sharing. And if I were to, say, already have all of the L.S King books and needed something else to read, what authors/series would you recommend and why?

L.S. King: I have many favorite authors in so many genres, but since your site is SF/F, I’ll stick to those. 

I know these are a given, but: Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, Pohl, Sturgeon, van Vogt,  E.E. "Doc" Smith, Anne McCaffrey, Zelazny, Zahn, Cherryh, Le Guin—I could go on forever! And oh, yes, I cannot forget to mention Lois McMaster Bujold. Her Vorkosigan series is amazing! 

I have discovered some newer authors (or at least, they’re new to me, okay?):

P.A. Piatt. His Walter Bailey Misadventures are a hoot, and I love his space marine novels. I recommend starting with Honor Flight! DINLI! (Language warning, folks!)

Sarah A. Hoyt’s work is great. Her Darkship series is a delight. I think they’re only available in print right now, not ebook.

Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter series is fantastic (Language warning again!). He hooked me on the first book with his blurb about his protagonist tossing his boss out of a fourteenth story window!

Jimbo: I’ll have to check some of those out. Last question: I’m always afraid that I didn’t get to everything, so what did I forget to ask that you wish I had? Don’t forget to answer your own question, Lee.

L.S. King: I can’t really think of anything. I do have a couple of events coming up, and they can be found on my Events page for anyone local to the Mid-Atlantic area:
https://www.loriendil.com/events.php

And, thanks again, Jim, for this interview. 

Jimbo: Thank you! L.S. King, ladies and gentlemen! Don’t forget to pick up her book and show some love in the comments!