Book Review: Rabbits

This year I'm keeping track of what I read. Whether I enjoy the book or not, I'll post a blurb and brief review. Most will be speculative fiction in some form—genres I gravitate toward in my own writing. Today, it's Rabbits by Terry Miles.

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses the entire world as its canvas. Since the game started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. The identities of these winners are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more dangerous the game becomes. Players have died in the past—and the body count is rising. And now the eleventh round is about to begin.

This one hooked me from the opening scene, and I couldn't turn the digital pages fast enough. The intrigue, the pacing, the action and dialogue—seriously impressive. I thought I'd found the next Ready Player One, only more adult in tone, more subversive, more grounded in reality. I'm a slow reader, but I got halfway through the book in only a few days, and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. That was the good part. The wondering. Because where it actually went was...yikes. Sure, there's a sappy happy ending, but it didn't feel earned after so much shark-jumping. A very disappointed 2 out of 5 stars.

EPIC Indie Summer Sale

This is my first time participating, and I've lowered the price on a few of my books: 

The Unusual Clients (Free), BackTracker ($0.99), and AGROTHARN ($0.99).

Madame Antic's ($0.99), Murders at the Manor ($0.99), and Captain Quasar ($0.99)

 

Check out the 200 other titles on sale right here.

New Release: The Interdimensionals Trilogy Concludes

Now Available

The battle has just begun. To save the future, Anthony Reynolds and Sephora Ashton must change the past by becoming cold-blooded assassins. The interdimensional entities have established a tetrarchy spanning four epochs of Earth, thousands of years apart. Anthony and Sephora will have to travel back through time and eliminate each tetrarch—hiding inside the skulls of unwitting human hosts—in order to destroy their foothold in our reality. Otherwise, the interdimensionals will absorb all that we have and leave us with nothing.

To accomplish their mission, Anthony and Sephora must rely on each other and trust Peter Gideon, a young man brought back from the dead who cannot leave the space-between-space without reverting to a mindless zombie. Traveling aboard his ethereal aeroship, existing outside of time, they will track down each of the tetrarchs' interdimensional signatures. But it won't be smooth sailing. The Moule people, possessed by the Red Queen's acolytes, are hunting them, determined to derail their efforts at every port. And Anthony, overwhelmed by doubts when he discovers who his parents were in the real world, may end up jeopardizing everything he and his friends have fought for.

eBook       Paperback

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Edits are Done

Even after working in education for 26 years, summer break has yet to lose its thrill. I didn't get into teaching for the summers, but they're a great motivator to keep me in the field for another twenty years or so. I've worked on a lot of projects around the house the past few summers, but this year I decided to buckle down and pretend I'm a full-time writer. So far, that's meant spending a week wrapping up the first draft of Angels & Androids and devoting the last two weeks to revisediting. I made a habit of tightening up the manuscript as I went along over the past year, so the final round of edits really wasn't too arduous. I cut a couple thousand words and added another thousand, so it ended up being about 91K. A little longer than the other two installments in this trilogy, but not by much. And, as promised, the ending is a satisfying one.

Writing two trilogies in the same world with many of the same characters is something I haven't done before, so it's a mixed bag to say goodbye. On the one hand, I'm relieved I was able to pull it off, I'm pleased with how everything turned out, and I'm ready to move on. But I'd still like to stick around for a while and see what happens next. Probably because I've been invested in these decades-spanning tales for so long, I can't help feeling like they're part of me. What a journey!

Next up: formatting the eBook, the paperback, and the box set. Time to put on my publisher hat.

Novel #24

It took me a while, but I finally managed to cross the finish line: 92K of futuristic action and adventure, mixed with some mystery and mayhem along the way. Readers who enjoyed the first two installments of Dome City Investigations can look forward to more riveting character development, thrills, and chills, while those who've also read Spirits of the Earth will get a kick out of the extended cameos. I did my best to wrap up this trilogy in a satisfying way without sacrificing any of the payoffs, and I'm pleased with how it all turned out. The cover and blurb are good to go, so after a few rounds of edits (130 pages down, 215 remaining), it'll be ready for an August 5 release.

Friday Freebie

A woman stalked by her double. A detective in over his head. In a city where the cops are on a mobster’s payroll, private investigator Charlie Madison stands in the gap. When a wealthy young socialite asks him to help her catch a threatening stalker, he takes the case. But things aren’t what they seem, and Madison has to act fast before he’s framed for murder. 

A life ended in flames. A detective sorting through the ashes. Private eye Charlie Madison saw plenty of bloodshed during the war, but he's never seen a billionaire burst into flames in his office. Until now. Searching for answers, Madison uncovers more than he bargained for: a bizarre mystery of human combustion that's smoking with jealousy, revenge, and murder. Add a pair of cops on his tail who are more interested in putting him out of business than seeking justice. It's just another action-packed day for the Charlie Madison Detective Agency. Now accepting...unusual clients. 

An honest cop impaled through the chest. A detective fighting his way to the truth. Private eye Charlie Madison saw his share of murder and mayhem during the war. But he's never seen anything like this on home soil. The culprit can't be human. A mandroid, then? Cyborg? Madison's investigation takes him deep into the underground world of extreme fighting—duels to the death, showcased beneath the city's biggest casino. Along the way, he discovers a new steroid quietly coming out of Little Tokyo. If rumors are true, it can turn a man into a killing machine. Before vengeful police can find and execute the murderer, another officer is found slain. With rogue yakuza, the Russian mob, and Federal agents in the mix, Madison must put the pieces of this violent mystery together before the city loses another good cop. Problem is, the killer may be one of his own clients.

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Book Review: The Silmarillion

This year I'm keeping track of what I read. Whether I enjoy the book or not, I'll post a blurb and brief review. Most will be speculative fiction in some form—genres I gravitate toward in my own writing. Today, it's The Silmarillion by legendary fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien:

Three Silmarils were jewels created by Fëanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. This is the ancient drama that took place long before The Lord of the Rings, events in which Elrond, Galadriel, and Sauron took part.

I've been meaning to read this one for a while now. I tried a couple decades ago, but I couldn't get through the first chapter. Expecting the engaging narrative style of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I was obviously disappointed by Tolkien's history text—or Bible, if you will. Because that's what this is: the origin story of J.R.R. Tolkien's world. It's grim and dark at times, but the final chapter, tying everything from The Silmarillion to LOTR, was the best part. Reading about the characters I know and love (Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and the halflings) was enough to bring a tear to my eye. After so much darkness, I appreciated this much-needed light at the end of the tunnel. 4.5 stars out of 5.

Keep reading

The Interdimensionals Trilogy Continues...

Now Available:

Anthony Reynolds and Sephora Ashton escaped from Madame Antic's sky city, and now they must navigate a new life in the dangerous ruins of London. Nothing is as it was in the technologically advanced Victorian city with no name. Here tribes of survivors hunt and gather in the dark of night, keeping vigilant watch during daylight hours. Mutant animals with poisonous fangs roam the outskirts, and, according to legend, mole people live underground. But if they exist and have managed to hide from Antic all these years, then they might hold the answers Anthony seeks. 

No one can tell him where he came from, or who he was before Madame Antic kidnapped him to play a role in her elaborate stage play. No one even knows what year it is. But when Anthony and Sephora are driven underground by gunmen wearing gruesome masks, they find themselves in a surreal subterranean refuge complete with its own lavish hotel and casino. There they meet the man responsible for it all, a man who claims to have answers, a man with a penchant for gambling with human lives: the enigmatic Monsieur Moule. 

eBook       Paperback

8K to Go

I'm up to 82,000 words in my current novel, Angels & Androids, and I'm closing in on the home stretch. Whenever I write a trilogy, I always try to make the final installment a real hoot and a half. I figure if readers have stuck with me for three books, there should be a major payoff for them at the end. There are few things I hate more as a reader than to get to the last book in a series only to find that the author has lost steam. Or lost interest. Or both. That's why I aim for a grand finale. A satisfying finish. And while it dumps a load of self-imposed pressure onto my shoulders, it's usually worth it in the end.

I had ideas for a couple of novellas in this series, which were going to be Mutants & Madmen and Zombies & Zealots, but I decided to cram everything into one action-packed novel instead. And so far, it's made for a very rewarding (and complicated) drafting experience. It's also been one of my more time-consuming projects to date. Usually, I can crank out a first draft in about four months. By the time I wrap this one up, it'll have been in the works for an entire year.

But I have to give myself some grace here. After four years of subbing, I'm teaching part-time now, which has required a readjustment to lesson-planning, grading, and attending meetings like old times. So my head space is a bit more crowded these days. Meanwhile, things with the in-laws aren't getting any easier. Dementia is a real monster; it takes your loved ones a piece at a time and leaves you feeling like a failure. Because no matter what you do, you can't make things right. You can only bring comfort and care, whether or not your efforts are remembered five minutes later.

Keep on keepin' on. Never give up, never surrender!