Poseidon's Children Book Review

Title: Poseidon's Children

Author: Michael West

Publisher: Seventh Star Press

Pages: 332

ISBN: 9781937929954

Much like the publishers that came before them, readers may not know how to classify Poseidon's Children at first glance. As Michael mentioned last month in his guest blog, "Bringing Poseidon's Children to Life"; without realizing it, he had found himself ahead of the publishing curve with a manuscript that would in today's market easily be labeled urban fantasy. An amalgamation of Leviathan sized nightmares written into 332 pages of hair raising, bone chilling, fist pumping action with a little bit of adventure thrown in for good measure, Poseidon's Children has the perfect blend of two popular genres: science fiction with overtones of horror.

And if you don't believe me, here's the synopsis from the back of the book:

In Poseidon's Children, man no longer worships the old gods; forgotten and forsaken, they have become nothing more than myth and legend. But all that is about to change. After the ruins of a vast, ancient civilization are discovered on the ocean floor, Coast Guard officers find a series of derelict ships drifting in the current–high-priced yachts and leaking fishing boats, all ransacked, splattered in blood, their crews missing and presumed dead. 

And that’s just the beginning.

Vacationing artist Larry Neuhaus has just witnessed a gruesome shark attack, a young couple torn apart right before his eyes… at least, he thinks it was a shark. And when one of these victims turns out to be the only son of Roger Hays, the most powerful man in the country, things go from bad to worse. Now, to stop the carnage, Larry and his new-found friends must work together to unravel a mystery as old as time, and face an enemy as dark as the ocean depths.

In his first book in a projected four book series entitled The Legacy of the Gods, West manages to take Atlantian myths -- you know, from the fabled, ancient city of Atlantis -- and imbue them into an already great story, bringing a richer tapestry of world building to the urban fantasy genre. This is something that I've found to be absent in other urban fantasy series as of late. Where most urban fantasy authors are happy with writing the same thing with only marginal re-imaginings, West has breathed new life into a bloated, redundant genre, commanding it with a voice that cannot be ignored.

Although it's not West's first published work, at times Poseidon's Children reads very much like a first novel. Slow in parts and lacking time for character development (this only applies to a few specific main characters), West still manages to pull off juggling such a large cast of characters fairly well, something he manages to pull off fairly well, with only a few bumps along the journey. Hopefully the second installment, Hades' Disciples will give the characters who weren't given the time to mature as main characters the opportunity to do so.

Fast paced and in your face, there were several scenes that scared the living piss out of me and several more that made Poseidon's Children a memorable read for me; one that I'm not soon to forget. If you're looking for that subtle horror that West does so well, then be warned because there is nothing subtle about this novel! From the first gruesome "shark attack," readers will know exactly what they're dealing with as they delve into the deep with Poseidon's Children.

If John Carpenter wrote prose, his pen name would be Michael West. Poseidon's Children reads exactly like a Carpenter film in all the right places, which isn't much of a surprise since Poseidon's Children was originally conceived as a screenplay. West proves that he can flawlessly write vivid scenes with a director's eye, tactfully inserting all of the Hollywood hallmark scenes and expectations into prose, without pulling the reader away from the story; explosions, fascinating creatures, budding romances between protagonists, a cult of chuthulu-like worshippers seeded on earth from an alien identity, and a fabled city risen from the darkest depths of the earth. This novel makes for one hell of a read. That's why I'm giving Poseidon's Children 8.5 out of 10 TARDIS's.

If you're looking for an urban fantasy series that puts a new twist on urban fantasy, then Poseidon's Children should be your next read!

~Rodney

Guest Blog: Author Michael West: Bringing Poseidon's Children to Life

2012 is going to be a big year for Sci-Fi Guys Book Review. Each month will see several authors either make a guest blog appearance or an interview appearance, which will focus on their new or up and coming titles. This month, and the first guest blog of the year on Sci-Fi Guys, is from author Michael West.

By now readers of this site should be familiar with West's name. Last year he made the Best of 20111 list not once, but twice. He also made the Most Anticipated Releases of 2012 list with his new novel Poseidon's Children, which launches the first book in a four part Urban Fantasy series entitled Legacy of the Gods. With the release of Poseidon's Children just a little over a month away, I thought it only fitting to invite Michael to share a bit of the story behind Poseidon's Children.

So, without further ado, here's Michael West:

Bringing Poseidon’s Children to Life

Or: How the Star Wars of Horror became the Texas Chainsaw Massacre of Urban Fantasy

By Michael West

I had a very vivid, very strange dream. Some dreams fade as soon as you open your eyes. Others stick with you for days. This particular dream has been with me for over twenty years. It involved an ancient stone temple, with odd markings etched into its walls, and a very seductive sea-creature. Most people have fantasies about movie stars and musicians; mine get directed by H.P. Lovecraft.  

Go figure.

Inspired by the visuals of this dream, I set about writing a screenplay. I was still in college at the time, studying film and television, still holding onto my boyhood dream of being the next Steven Spielberg or James Cameron. This was back when computers used huge 5 ¼” floppy discs to store information. I had a case full of them, and in between classes, you could find me in one of the campus computer labs, working on my epic. It was dark, filled with horrible monsters and bloody mayhem, with a touch of Science-Fiction sprinkled throughout; a project that I lovingly described to friends as “the Star Wars of Horror.”

I never finished that script. The more I wrote, the more I realized that the story I wanted to tell was just too large in scope for my meager budget at the time. Instead, I took all the work I’d done and began the task of converting dialogue and stage direction into paragraphs and prose.  

 When I finished the first third of my manuscript, I printed it off in sections using the computer lab’s dot matrix printer (Oh man, I’m really dating myself here!), and like a proud papa, I handed it off to some friends, asking them to offer their critiques. I didn’t have the time or paper to print more than one copy, so this huge ream of paper--about two hundred pages worth--got passed along from one person to another, each one writing me notes along the way.

Then, tragedy struck. Remember those 5 ¼” discs I told you about? Well, I lost them. All of them.  Don’t ask me how. I left them in a classroom, dropped them in a parking lot...to this day, I still have no idea where they are. At the start of the day, I had them, and at the end of the day, they were gone, and with them went my novel-in-progress.  

But at least I still had that hard copy, right?  

Nope. I went back to all of my friends, trying to track it down, but I had no better luck with them than I’d had with those classrooms and parking lots. No one seemed to know where that stack of paper was, and even if they did, nobody wanted to admit that they were the one who lost it.

And so, for a time, I tried to forget about the story and move on.  I mean sure, I could’ve gone back and started the novel all over again from scratch. But let’s be honest, shall we: it’s one thing to have your friends and family give you some bad feedback on a project, but when fate steps in and takes away all known copies of your work, that’s the universe telling you that you just need to stop. At least, that’s what I thought at the time. 

That dream just wouldn’t die, however, and the more I thought about it, the more I talked about it with other people, the more I realized that it was something I would have to tackle again someday. 

In the meantime, I got married. Three years later, my oldest son was born. And three years after that, with another son on the way, a friend from Indiana University unpacked a box of stuff from his college dorm room and found a stack of paper with my name on it.

Poseidon’s Children.  

The prodigal offspring had returned.  

And so I sat down and read the manuscript for the first time in almost a decade. A lot had changed since I’d written it.  In addition to my new family, I now had a computer in my home, and I’d written some short stories, found my voice as an author, a voice that now screamed in agony at the clunky prose and horrible dialogue on display in the faded dot matrix ink on those two-hundred pages. And yet, all those ideas that I’d been toying with over the years were still there, begging me to pick them up and play with them again. 

Over the next year, I rewrote the existing portion of the manuscript and just kept going, finally finishing the story. I weaved in more mythology, loading up the novel with all of those cool ideas that had been crawling around inside my brain. And when I printed it out on my laser printer, the final product was nearly eight hundred pages long and weighed over ten pounds, dwarfing the latest edition of the Indianapolis white pages. 

Obviously, it was in need of some editing. So I did what any professional author would do: I went to said Indianapolis phonebook and looked up “Editor, Books.”  Believe it or not, I found one name. She used to read slush for a New York publisher, but now she edited text books and instructional manuals for corporations. As luck would have it, the idea of working with fiction again excited her, and she agreed to help me whip my manuscript into shape. For the next two years, that’s exactly what we did.  

When we felt we had it ready, I sent it to several publishers. As a writer, you get a story in your head that you’re passionate about, and you just want to tell it in the best way possible. You don’t stop and think about what genre you’re writing in. But, since I considered myself a Horror author, I approached the Horror market first.      

Over and over again, the same response: “We really enjoyed Poseidon’s Children, but we didn’t find it to be scary enough to be Horror.” Based on some of the story elements, they suggested that I try a Science-Fiction publisher instead. And so I took their advice, hoping to have better luck, but finding only further rejection. “We found this to be a fast-paced, enjoyable read,” they told me, “but it’s just too horrific to be part of our Sci-Fi line.” 

So there I was, stuck with a book that everyone liked, but nobody wanted. No one could even agree on what it was! It was dark, that much was certain, and bloody; it had elements of Action Adventure, Mystery, Thriller, Science Fiction, and, of course, Horror. So where should I turn?

Frustrated, I shelved the novel once again, focusing instead on other projects. I published enough short fiction to fill a collection, Skull Full of Kisses, which was published by Graveside Tales, and I wrote two more novels, The Wide Game, also for Graveside, and Cinema of Shadows, which I sold to Seventh Star Press as part of a multiple book deal.  All Horror. 

And still, that dream kept gnawing at me. I loved those characters, that mythology, and I wanted to get it out there.  

I decided to take another stab at Poseidon’s Children. This time, I turned to the other writers of my writing group, Indiana Horror Writers, for suggestions. It was Maurice Broaddus, who was writing his own series of novels at the time, who told me that what I had was clearly Urban Fantasy. I questioned this, thinking that all Fantasy, even Urban Fantasy, had to have wizards and dragons. The more I looked into it, however, the more diverse the genre became. Urban Fantasy could have vampires and werewolves, it could have demons and monsters, even aliens.And the more I read, the more I thought that my novel was a perfect fit.  

I decided to do one final polish. I played up some elements, jettisoned others, and expanded the whole mythology into a series I was now calling The Legacy of the Gods. But I still kept it dark, kept it bloody; in fact, I lovingly described it as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre of Urban Fantasy.” Satisfied with the finished product, I approached my current publisher, Seventh Star Press, who had released a fair amount of Fantasy and Urban Fantasy before taking on my Indiana-based Horror Series, and I waited nervously for their response. 

When they told me they loved Poseidon’s Children, I was overjoyed, and yet I kept waiting to hear “but it’s not scary enough for this,” or “it’s too Sci-Fi for that.” This time, however, it was just right. They greenlit the entire series and set a release date for March of 2012; more than twenty years after that initial dream.

So now...here we are, on the eve of the novel’s release. Soon my faithful readers will be able to dive into the world I’ve been swimming in alone for so long. In fact, some reviewers already have their copies. "A little more gruesome than most of the Urban Fantasy novels I've read," one of them has already commented.

Oh yes, my work here is done.

A Look Ahead: Most Anticipated Releases of 2012

Since I've taken a look back on last year, I figured I'd give you all a glimpse forward of the titles that I'm most looking forward to cracking open in 2012. Some of these have book covers that have already been released, and other don't. For those books that don't have a cover yet, I'll post them when they're released. Also, not all of the books in this list have an available synopsis yet, but when they become available, I'll link them.

So, in no particular order, here's a list of books that I'm looking forward to reading in 2012:

First up, is Gaie Sebold's debut fantasy novel, Babylon Steel, which, although it came out in the very tail-end of 2011, I'm still counting as a 2012 release. From the moment I saw it on Amazon, I knew I was going to pick up a copy and review it. Luckily enough, the kind folks over at Solaris sent me a review copy, along with Christopher Fowler's new horror novel, Hell Train, which I'll also be reviewing soon.

One of my favorite characters in recent years has been James Enge's crooked maker, Morlock Ambrosius. Not only is James a great guy, but he's also one hell of a writer too. One of the first authors that was interview for the Sci-Fi Guys podcast, I've kept a very close eye of Enge since that interview, and I'm super excited for the release of his new Morlock novel, A Guile of Dragons, which is slated for an August release. Here's a synopsis of the book from amazon:

Before history began, the dwarves of Thrymhaiam fought against the dragons as the Longest War raged in the deep roads beneath the Northhold. Now the dragons have returned, allied with the dead kings of Cor and backed by the masked gods of Fate and Chaos.

The dwarves are cut off from the Graith of Guardians in the south. Their defenders are taken prisoner or corrupted by dragonspells. The weight of guarding the Northhold now rests on the crooked shoulders of a traitor's son, Morlock syr Theorn (also called Ambrosius).

 
But his wounded mind has learned a dark secret in the hidden ways under the mountains. Regin and Fafnir were brothers, and the Longest War can never be over. . .

Since the release of The Desert of Souls, I've had my eye on author Howard Andrew Jones. An editor for Black Gate Magazine, -- the same magazine in which Enge's Morlock first appeared, and Enge found his start -- The Desert of Souls is currently on my TBR pile, after accidentally stumbling upon it at my library. I've read the first chapter, and I'm seriously looking forward to not only reviewing the first book in the series, but also getting my hands on it's sequel, Bones of the Old Ones, which has one of the most badass covers I've seen in a while.

And while I'm on sequels, I'll throw a couple of more at you. First up, is the second book in Justin Gustainis's Occult Crimes  series, which started with Hard Spell, and continues with Evil Dark, which is slated for a May release. Hard Spell made my Top 11 List of 2011, coming in at number three. So, to say that I'm seriously looking forward to reviewing Evil Dark goes without saying. If it wasn't for being a sequel to a book I've already read, I probably would have picked this book up based solely on it's cover.

One of the authors that I've come to enjoy within the past few years is Karen Miller, whose novel A Blight of Mages also made my Top 11 of 2011 list. Since picking up and reviewing the first novel in her Rogue Agent series, The Accidental Sorcerer, I've been following her blog. After many troubles with her health, and fighting to finish the manuscript for the newest Rogue Agent novel, she's begun researching and outlining for a new series which she's dubbed The Tarnished Crown Quartet. Although I'm looking forward to reviewing Wizard Undercover, I can't help but daydream about her newest series. The first book of which I doubt we'll see in 2012. But that's okay, I've still got the rest of her Mages series to work my way through, starting with The Innocent Mage, and also books two and three in the Rogue Agent series to read before the fourth books release in late April.

Continuing on with sequels: although it's only recently been announced, Mike Resnick's third and fourth installments in his Weird Western Tales series, The Doctor and the Rough Riders and The Doctor and the Dinasours are on my list. The first because it has a 2012 release date, and the latter, because the series is just so damn cool. Steampunk set in the American West, with famous gunfighters... could it get any better than that?

I recently awarded Seventh Star Press one of the four publishers of the year, as well as small presses to keep an eye on in 2012. So, it's no surprise that three of their titles have made my list for novels I'm most looking forward to. This spring sees the release of not one, but two of those titles, including the first in a new urban fantasy series by Michael West with Posiedon's Children, and the newest sequel/prequel in Steven Shrewsbury's Gorias La Gaul series, Overkill. And the third title, which is another Michael West novel, Spook House, the third book in his New Harmony series.

In addition to Seventh Star Press in the Publishers of 2011 category, is Deadite Press. An imprint of Eraserhead Press, Deadite focuses on authors with a cult following, which makes perfect since as to why they're re-releasing a slew of old and new titles from such authors as Bryan Smith, Wrath James White, Edward Lee, Nate Southard and Brian Keene. In 2011 two of their releases popped up in my best of list: Brian Keene's Jack Magic Beans, and Nate Southard's Just Like Hell. With the release of so many back titles from such great authors, it's not a surprise to me, that several Brian Keene titles have made it into this post. An Occurrence in Crazy Bear Valley, The Cage, and Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes from the End of the World. For anyone who likes Keene, you should check out Deadite Press.

The third and final small press that I'm going to be keeping my eye on this year is Apex Books. With a plethora of awesome staple of authors, 2012 will see the release of several titles from fairly known names in the writing industry, such as Tom Picirilli, Brian Keene, Lavie Tidhar, Gary A. Braunbeck, Maurice Broaddus, and Jerry Gordon. All of these names have scheduled releases for 2012: Brian Keene with his novel The Lost Level, Gary A. Braunbeck with A Cracked and Broken Path, Tom Picirilli with What Makes You Die, and Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon with their new anthology Dark Faith II.

Since it's establishment only a few years ago, Angry Robot has taken the science fiction and fantasy genres by storm with their unique flavor of publishing. The final publisher on my 2011 list, they have some exciting releases scheduled for this year, including Dead Harvest by Chris Holm, and The Rat Corpse King by up-and-comer Lee Battersby.

I'm looking forward to checking out Nathan Long's Jane Carver of Waar, which (to the best of my knowledge) is his first published novel outside of the Warhammer realm. The cover looks badass, and the synopsis is even better:

Jane Carver is nobody's idea of a space princess. A hard ridin', hard lovin', biker chick and ex-Airborne Ranger, Jane is surprised as anyone else when, on the run from the law, she ducks into the wrong cave at the wrong time-and wakes up butt-naked on an exotic alien planet light-years away from everything she''s ever known. Waar is a savage world of four-armed tiger-men, sky-pirates, slaves, gladiators, and purple-skinned warriors in thrall to a bloodthirsty code of honor and chivalry. Caught up in a disgraced nobleman''s quest to win back the hand of a sexy alien princess, Jane encounters bizarre wonders and dangers unlike anything she ever ran into back home. Then again, Waar has never seen anyone like Jane before... Both a loving tribute and scathing parody of the swashbuckling space fantasies of yore, Jane Carver of Waar introduces an unforgettable new science fiction heroine.

Within recent months my taste has started to become darker and edgier. It was soon after I discovered this genre called Noir, that I dug in and started reading the essentials: Raymond Chandler and the likes. I'd just finished loading up on the classics, when I attended Context last year. While going through a bunch of out of print books from a dealer, I managed to meet author John Hornor Jacobs, who at the time I had never heard, let alone met. So, after a brief conversation on books, we parted ways. When I got home at the end of the weekend, I looked up Jacobs debut novel Southern Gods, and quickly became a fan of his blog. Although I haven't started Southern Gods as of yet, it's on my TPR pile, and my sights are set on his sophomore novel, This Dark Earth, which hits shelves in July. Here's a synopsis I managed to find on bookdepository.com:

In a bleak, zombie-ridden future, a small settlement fights for survival and looks to a teenager to lead them...The land is contaminated, electronics are defunct, the ravenous undead remain, and life has fallen into a nasty and brutish state of nature. Welcome to Bridge City, in what was once Arkansas: part medieval fortress, part Western outpost, and the precarious last stand for civilization. A ten-year-old prodigy when the world ended, Gus is now a battle-hardened young man. He designed Bridge City to protect the living few from the shamblers eternally at the gates. Now he's being groomed by his physician mother, Lucy, and the gentle giant Knock-Out to become the next leader of men. But an army of slavers is on its way, and the war they wage for the city's resources could mean the end of mankind as we know it. Can Gus be humanity's savior? And if he is, will it mean becoming a dictator, a martyr, or maybe something far worse than even the zombies?

Second to last on my list of books to check out in 2012, is a novel that Jacobs recommended not so long ago on his blog. City of Lost Souls is the debut novel of author Stephen Blackmoore. A urban fantasy tinged Noir, I can't help but salivate to the cover and the synopsis (taken from the author's site):

Joe Sunday’s dead. He just hasn’t stopped moving yet.

Sunday’s a thug, an enforcer, a leg-breaker for hire. When his boss sends him to kill a mysterious new business partner, his target strikes back in ways Sunday could never have imagined. Murdered, brought back to a twisted half-life, Sunday finds himself stuck in the middle of a race to find an ancient stone with the power to grant immortality. With it, he might live forever. Without it, he’s just another rotting extra in a George Romero flick.

Everyone’s got a stake, from a psycho Nazi wizard and a razor-toothed midget, to a nympho-demon bartender, a too-powerful witch who just wants to help her homeless vampires, and the one woman who might have all the answers — if only Sunday can figure out what her angle is.

Before the week is out he’s going to find out just what lengths people will go to for immortality. And just how long somebody can hold a grudge.

And finally, last but certainly not least, is Saladin Ahmed's debut novel Throne of the Crescent Moon, which extremely promising! Check it out:

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, land of djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, Khalifs and killers, is at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince.  In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings:

Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, "The last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat," just wants a quiet cup of tea.  Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame's family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter's path.

Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla's young assistant, a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety, is eager to deliver God's justice. But even as Raseed's sword is tested by ghuls and manjackals, his soul is tested when he and Adoulla cross paths with the tribeswoman Zamia.

Zamia Badawi, Protector of the Band, has been gifted with the near-mythical power of the Lion-Shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man's title. She lives only to avenge her father's death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father's killer. Until she meets Raseed.

When they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince's brewing revolution are connected, the companions must race against time--and struggle against their own misgivings--to save the life of a vicious despot.  In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn Dhamsawaat, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.

And of course, there are more titles that I'm looking forward to cracking open in 2012, but these are the core of my interest... for now!

So, what are some titles that you're looking forward to digging into in 2012? Leave a comment, and let me know!

~Rodney

The Best of 2011: Books

Now that the New Year is over with and things have had time to settle down, I figured I would go ahead and put up my Top 11 list of 2011. These are the the cream of the crop; the 11 titles that I enjoyed reading the most in 2011. This year I didn't get around to writing a review of everything that a read, let alone enjoyed, so this list might look a little different than the list of books that I reviewed in 2011.

Most all of the titles in this list, in one way or another, were published in 2011. For instance, Nate Southard's Just Like Hell was originally published a few years back as a limited edition, but this year Deadite Press re-released it in an affordable paperback, therefore counting as a 2011 release.

So, without further ado, here's my top 11 List of 2011:

1.) Every Shallow Cut - One of the most powerful pieces of work I've read in a long time. It's gritty, real, and has a razors edge to it that will cut you if you aren't careful. This is Picirilli at his best. It'll be interesting to see if Picirilli can top Every Shallow Cut with his forthcoming 2012 titles: What Makes You Die, which Pic has already stated is in the same vein as ESC. If you like Noir, and stories that don't have a happy ending, then this is your cup of tea. And it's a rather short read, which makes it even easier to digest. I knocked it out in only a few hours.

2.) The Wide Game - The debut novel of horror author Michael West. A writer, I think many don't have an eye on yet, but should, and soon will. A man who loves his cinematic horror, the knowledge and appreciation for the genre shine through in The Wide Game. Add to that beautifully written prose that will at once steal your breath, send a chill down your spine, and make you lose all track of time, The Wide Game takes the reader back to a time when horror was thriving. Back to a time where storytellers and Hollywood didn't rely on gratuitous violence and stupid gore to shock the connoisseur. Back to a time when this novel would have easily made the New York Times, and quite possibly rivaled the newest Stephen King title.

3.) Hard Spell - The first book in the Occult Crime Unit series by Justin Guistainis, Hard Spell is a hard hitting crime story wrapped in a balls-to-the-walls premise, masquerading as an urban fantasy detective story. If you like cops, vampires, and an author with a great sense of humor, then Hard Spell is definitely for you. As soon as I finished it, I was hooked and ready for more. I'm glad that the release of the next book in the series, Evil Dark, is only a few months away (April), otherwise I'd be having issues.

4.) Just Like Hell - One of the best novellas I read in 2011. So much of the literature that's crammed into the horror genre is nothing more than gore porn; written for the soul purpose of invoking shock and awe in the reader. It was refreshing to pick up a title that, although the cover would have you think otherwise, was nothing like what I thought it would be. "Don't judge a book by its cover," is I admit, exactly what I did. Luckily enough for me, I was proven wrong. There's nothing in life that's more shocking than the truth. Something that's surreal; vivid to the point of believing you saw it headlining the news. Just Like Hell was the read for me. More so than anything else I read in 2011.

5.) A Blight of Mages - One of the few books I read in 2011 that hit me emotionally, and made me think from start to finish. It wasn't until I read  A Blight of Mages, that the phrase: "respect isn't owed, it's earned," made sense to me, and since then it's taken on a personal meaning for me. Not many books in the past have made me think, or cared for the characters for that matter, as much as this novel did. The prequel to Miller's fantasy series Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, A Blight of Mages has spurred my interest even further for the 'first' book of the aforementioned duology. Which is on my TBR list for 2012. If Miller can do in the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology what she did in this novel, she'll not only have made an urban fantasy fan out of me, but a fantasy fan as well. Anything and everything I can get my hands on by her, I will.

6.) The Doctor and the Kid - The Doctor and the Kid picks up soon after the events in The Buntline Special. It's been a year since Doc Holliday fought alongside the Earp's at the O.K. Corral, and months since he tore across the Arizona Territory on Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Ride seeking vengeance for the assassination Morgan Earp.  From the very first word I knew that this book would be better than its predecessor, and fortunately enough, I was right. Mike Resnick manages to reinvent the gaps in Doc Holliday's life just enough to add in fantastic elements and re-write it enough to tell one hell of a good yarn. Where The Buntline Special focused on the Earp's, Masterson and the shootout at the O.K. Corral, The Doctor and the Kid focuses in on Doc Holliday, and his dealings with Billy the Kid. Throw in some shamanistic magic, steampunk gadgetry and a handful of awesome historical figures, and you've got my number six pick for Top 11 Books of 2011.

7.) Jack's Magic Beans - Alongside Just Like Hell by Nate Southard, is Brian Keene's novella, Jack's Magic Beans. After nearly five years of sitting unpublished (and me waiting), this delectable novella finally saw publication in 2011. When I heard that this was the case I immediately jumped on the chance to review it. Also published through Deadite Press, Jack's Magic Beans isn't just a novella; it's paired with a handful of short stories written by Brian Keene that although they don't really add anything to the main title, are nevertheless great nuggets for anyone wanting more Keene.

8.) The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson's triumphant return to the world he created in the Mistborn Trilogy. Set three hundred years in the future, everything that happened to the heroes in The Hero of Ages is now a form of religion. Wax, one of the few Allomantics who's a Twin Born returns home after twenty years in the Roughs. Forced to set his ways behind him and his guns aside, he's forced take on the family business much to the chagrin of himself and others. When the women he plans on marrying goes missing, Wax finds himself thrown into a web of mysteries that will change the city itself. Every bit of The Alloy of Law was fun, and I look forward to seeing what Sanderson writes next.

9.) Cinema of Shadows - 2011 saw not one, but two releases for horror author Michael West. Hot off the heels of his debut novel, The Wide Game, and a contract with Seventh Star for eight novels, Michael West returned in 2011 with his first release from Seventh, and the second book in his New Harmony series. Cinema of Shadows was everything that I could want in a ghost story: an intelligent professor with a sordid past, a group of teenagers searching for answers in a Ghost Adventures fashion, a haunted movie theater, a well paced story, and an exorcism from Hell. Plus a few familiar faces. Cinema of Shadows did not disappoint.

10.) Crab Town - Crab Town was my first official foray into the genre known as Bizarro. At first I wasn't sure what to expect, but after a long few weeks of doing some investigating, I finally decided on a Bizarro title to read. Crab Town is set in a post-apocalyptic future. One where radiation has poisoned the living, and balloon people are real. Carlton Mellick III manages to take a down right crazy assortment of ideas and make something intelligent and thought provoking out of it. Crab Town is the literary equivalent to the A-Team and Waterworld... minus the water.

11.) Devil Red - And last but not least is the newest entry in Joe R. Lansdale's Hap & Leonard series, Devil Red. With Devil Red Lansdale manages to keep all the familiarities of the past novels in tact,-- including Lansdale's memorable quick wit -- while subtly introducing hard cold realizations that will change the face of the Hap and Leonard's relationship, and their future as East Texas detectives. At first I wasn't sure how to react to Devil Red, but after several re-reads it all became clear. Here's the cover-flap description:

Hap Collins and Leonard Pine return in a red-hot, mayhem-fueled thriller to face a vampire cult, the Dixie Mafia, and the deadliest assassin they’ve ever encountered—Devil Red.

When their friend Marvin asks Hap and Leonard to look into a cold-case double homicide, they’re more than happy to play private investigators: they like trouble, and they especially like getting paid to find it. It turns out that both of the victims were set to inherit serious money, and one of them ran with a vampire cult. The more closely Hap and Leonard look over the crime-scene photos, the more they see, including the image of a red devil’s head painted on a tree. A little research turns up a slew of murders with that same fiendish signature. And if that’s not enough, Leonard has taken to wearing a deerstalker cap . . . Will this be the case that finally sends Hap over the edge?

Seventh Star Press Author Interviews and Give Away!



I'm excited to bring to you all the first interview of the year. And if I do say so myself, what a way to start off the year!

I've been a fan of Seventh Star Press for around a year now, so when they announced that they would be doing .$99 e-short stories, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I've been wanting to find a way to share the works of the Seventh Star authors I've read, without have to lend out my personal copies. So, when Stephen Zimmer asked if I would be interested in doing an interview with himself and two of the other featured authors and do a massive give away, I jumped at the opportunity.

There will be three give aways. Each contest winner will receive the eight short stories in their choice of electronic formats (Kindle, Nook).

In order to win, just leave a comment at the end of this post with your name and e-mail, or you can just e-mail me directly at scifiguysbookreview (at) gmail (dot) com or,  (scifiguysbookreview@gmaill.com). The contest will run from today until January 19th at midnight. The winners of this awesome give away will be announced the next day.

For those interested here's a breakdown of the short stories by their authors (with my rating of each next to the titles):

Stephen Shrewsbury:
Author and Finisher of Our Flesh 4/5
Insurmountable 4/5


Stephen Zimmer:
Temples Rising 3.5/5

Into Glory Ride 5/5

Lion Heart 4/5
Land of Shadow 3.5/5


Michael West:
For the River is Wide and the Gods are Hungry 4/5
Goodnight 5/5

Now, without further ado, I give you three of Seventh Star Press' authors, Steven Shrewsbury, Stephen Zimmer and Michael West:

SFG: “For the River is Wide and the Gods are Hungry,” has a very Harlan Ellison feel to it. Was that intentional?

MW: Well, the title is a tribute to Ellison, not the story itself.  I'm a huge fan of his work, especially his work for Sci-Fi televison. One of my favorite titles ever was for a classic Star Trek episode, "For All the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky." I always wanted to have a long, cool-sounding title like. The original title for my short story collection was My Skull Is Full of Dark Kisses, but some writer friends urged me to shorten it. Most publishers want short 1-3 word titles for novels and collections now, so I thought my best chance to have that long, cool title in was on a piece of short fiction, and this one really fits the story well.

SFG: “Author and Finisher of Our Flesh,” and “Insurmountable,” are the two Gorias La Gaul short stories that have been released in the first wave of the Seventh Star Short Stories. Because La Gaul has such a vast history, does it matter in which order these two shorts are read?

SS: Gorias is 700ish in THRALL. I’d say AUTHOR takes place probably two hundred years before that (and there are a few hints at the forthcoming prequel, OVERKILL, and a General from that novel, and a different realm, are mentioned in foresahdowing events there). For example, the monarch that might come to the throne is mentioned in AUTHOR, but in OVERKILL that man is long dead and his aged daughter rules. In this pre-flood world, many live to be to their 900s, but in different points of the world, the process is slower. INSURMOUNTABLE is earleir than AUTHOR by quite a bit, showing La Gaul a tad younger.

SFG: Your four short stories all seem to have a certain feel to them, each one striking a different chord with me as I read them. Is music a major factor in your writing? Were there any specific soundtracks or albums that you listened to while writing these stories?

SZ: I always listen to music when I'm writing, which is one of the main elements in my routine/setup, in addition to having a dedicated place in the house where I do my writing, and writing alone. The music helps me create that bubble that helps block off the outside world, and get me into the right zone every day.

As far as what I listen to, I primarily listen to hard rock and heavy metal, ranging from the more straightforward stuff like AC/DC, ranging up to the heavily orchestrated/symphonic like Nightwish, and everything in between. From Black Sabbath to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I love heavy-edged music in all of its forms. Sometimes I find myself gravitating to a certain kind of music on certain scenes, such as something big and epic like Symphony X, Nightwish, or Dream Theater for a large-scale, grander scene, to something like Slayer, Machine Head, or Testament when I'm doing a horror genre story, or one of the Abyss scenes in the Rising Dawn Saga. The music does help with the mood, as well as forming that nice backdrop that keeps outside sounds and distractions at bay.

With three of the short stories, I didn't have my mind set on anything absolutely specific music-wise. The fourth is an exception, as there is a fantastic Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath song, Glory Ride, off of their very underrated Eternal Idol album, which was part of the inspiration for the story Into Glory Ride. The song would fit very well with Marragesh at the end of the story! I titled the story Into Glory Ride as a tip of the cap to this inspiration!

SFG: “Goodnight,” your second short story from your TALES FROM HARMONY series, is an emotionally charged, hair raising story. After re-reading it several times, one thing stood out in my mind, and that was the old adage: “Write what you know.” Does this saying have any relativity to your story “Goodnight?”

MW: I’d had the idea of twins trying to fool Death for some time, but I didn’t really know what to do with it until I had children of my own. One night, while reading my sons a goodnight story, I had this image of my grandmother reading to them instead. So I decided that was the way to approach the tale.  When I finished “Goodnight,” I showed it to my living grandmother (something I’d written that I thought she might be able to stomach). She read it in one sitting, then told me that her childhood neighbor actually had the same accident as one of the twins in the story. She said she didn’t remember ever telling me that, and I didn’t remember ever hearing it.  I like “Goodnight” a lot, and it thrills me that the story strikes a chord with so many. It was named the Best Horror Short Story of 2005 in the annual P&E Readers Poll, and people still come up to me and tell me they’ve read it to their own children. One day, I hope to read it to my children’s children.

SFG: With the release of your next Gorias La Gaul novel coming out sometime this year, is there anything you could tell readers about it?

SS: OVERKILL takes place several years before THRALL, and everyone will get more glimpses of Gorias past, his upbringing and past exploits. Gorias’ is contracted by Queen Garnet of Transalpina to secure her lost granddaughter, who was abducted years before and lives amongst the pirates. But while he prepares to leave, aided by an amazon guard, a series of murders take place in the Capitol via the use of dragonfire. That is impossible since all the dragons are gone. Gorias is knee deep in royal intrigue, religious fanatics and pirates dealing in dragonfire from the mobile realm of the fallen angel, Pergamus. The book is an action packed, raw ride, full of dark humor and a few twists I think that will stun everyone.

SFG: Each of your short stories set in both your urban fantasy and epic fantasy series' are large, and sweeping, with each series consisting of six to seven volumes. Now that you're at, or close to the halfway mark in both series, have you found it harder to juggle of the characters and worldbuilding?

SZ: I haven't had any trouble at all. If anything, my understanding of the worlds just deepen and grow with the progress though the novels. I know Ave and the realms in the Rising Dawn Saga even better through the experiences of the short stories and the ongoing novel titles. As the two series have each been concentrated on, construction-wise, as full series, I have a very purposeful approach to each title in relation to the whole. Readers will find the first books to be very foundational, and subsequent books to have smoothly flowing threads from earlier installments, as well as a continuing acceleration in pace. The grand finales will be spectacular in scale, I can assure you of that, LOL!

SFG: With the announcement of POSIEDON'S CHILDREN, the first book in a four part urban fantasy series titled “Legacy of the Gods,” is there any chance that we might see some short stories released in the future, set in this urban fantasy series?

MW: I'm sure you will. I would love to put out some shorts between each novel to serve as a kind of bridge from one to the next, or to explore more of the mythology beyond what's in the books themselves. People who have read Poseidon tend to get very passionate about those characters and the world they live in. There are a lot of possibilities there. 

SFG: Yetis, giant flesh absorbing monsters, beholders, and dragons are just a few of the creatures that readers will experience when reading your stuff. With the antediluvian world that you have created within the mythos of THRALL and soon to be released OVERKILL, would it be safe to assume that Gorias La Gaul has seen and fought just about everything that stalks his world?

SS: You haven’t even seen the Cytaurs in OVERKILL yet…but he’s been through the ringer. In this time, everything was a different, I reckon, so Gorias has a long history to explore. He’s a fun character and at times the twists surprise me.

SFG: How does writing large novels compare to short stories? Which do you prefer more?

SZ: I love the novel format because it gives me the room to develop a number of threads, and weave together a more complex plot. As far as the process goes, novels and short stories are very different entities, and readers expectations can be quite different as well. Readers will give you a little more room pace-wise to develop a novel-length story, whereas an author really has to connect very rapidly in short fiction. Both still require the creation of compelling characters and good story concepts, but in short stories you do not have the time to thoroughly flesh a world out, or gradually develop a character like you do in a novel.

SFG: Is there anything that you gentlemen would like to add?

MW: I would like to thank Seventh Star Press for giving its authors this sandbox to play in.  It's a lot of fun for us as writers to be able to continue to explore our various worlds and characters outside the confines of the novels; it gives faithful readers a way to stay connected to the series, and new readers a way to discover us.  People are much more willing to take a chance on something unfamiliar if it costs less than a cup of coffee to try.

SS: Nab the eBook shorts and prepare for OVERKILL, a hard hitting work any action lover will enjoy. Be on the look out for me on the road this year at a Con or if my truck breaks down…

SFG: Thanks so much gentlemen, for taking time out of your busy lives and writing schedules to sit down and have a chat! I thoroughly enjoyed each and every short story that's been released through Seventh Star Press' e-book line thus far, and I can't wait to see what else you all have up your sleeves!

SZ:  Thank you Rodney! And thank you to everyone who has read this interview. Great to be here, and don't worry, there's a ton up my sleeves. Both series are fertile ground for a huge number of short stories in the long run, and I will be developing my steampunk characters, Harvey and Solomon, in further adventures, and also making some forays into horror very soon. Going to be a busy year! :)

Update: This contest is no longer open. Thanks go to those that submitted their information for some great reads!
~Rodney

Cinema of Shadows Book Review

Title: Cinema of Shadows
Author: Michael West
Publisher: Seventh Star Press
Pages:
ISBN: 9780983740209

In less than six months, horror writer Michael West has returned with his sophomore novel Cinema of Shadows. After picking up a copy of West's debut novel The Wide Game and loving it, I couldn't resist checking out Cinema of Shadows, to see if it held up to his other works.

If West's first novel The Wide Game is a homage to the '80's, then Cinema of Shadows continues this homage in a slightly smaller way is a homage to the Ghost Hunting television genre that's all but boomed within the last decade.

Tashima, Joss, Kevin and Kim are your typical college students, except for one thing: they've either seen, experienced, or are deeply interested in the paranormal. Which is why they're the four students Parapsychology Professor Geoffrey Burke picks to spearhead his newest investigation into the Woodfield Opera House-turned-Movie Palace. Throw in a love story, some beautifully written foreshadowing, a few old friends, exorcising of demons and a large explosion, and you've got one hell of a good story.

Although Cinema of Shadows  isn't a direct sequel to The Wide Game, it does take place in the same fictional town: Harmony, Indiana. So, it's won't be a surprise to the large majority of readers when a character from West's first novel pulls up a chair and stays awhile. This expanding of a town, like King's Castle Rock, is something that I thuroughly enjoy. Not only does it take you back to the same place time and again, but often times to the same characters, even if the main character only mentions them in passing.

West doesn't disappoint with Cinema of Shadows: he can still scare the hell out you without the blood and guts, or vulgarity that's typically associated with the Horror Genre these days. If anything, he's further shown that it's not all about zombies and werewolves, or god help us vampires, but about something more surreal and honest. And that kind of horror penetrates through every majorly charged scene throughout Cinema of Shadows.

And if that's not enough, West knocks it out of the park with the characters he's chosen to populate the pages with. He's managed to steer away from your typical whiny college student whose only looking for a good time. West has even managed to take a few overly done cliches and smash them out of the park, reassembling them into something that is unrecognizable.

I suggest grabbing the closest pile of blankets and a flashlight, because you'll be up way past your bedtime, hiding under the blankets, reading on while West effortlessly chills you to your very marrow. That's why I'm giving Cinema of Shadows 9 out of 10 TARDISes.

If you've already picked up Skull Full of Kisses, or The Wide Game, or for that matter are a Micheal West virgin, I highly recommend snagging a copy of Cinema of Shadows as soon as humanly possible. It's well worth the read!

~Rodney

The Wide Game Book Review

Title: The Wide Game
Author: Michael West
Publisher: Graveside Tales
Pages: 408
ISBN: 9780983314103

There are fewer things that I look forward to than picking up a debut novel from an author whose work I've already read. For me, Michael West is one of those authors. In August of last year, I wrote a review for West's short story anthology Skull Full of Kisses, and loved it. As I've mentioned before, if a writer can prove their worth to me through the form of shorter works, then more times than not, I'm all over their debut novel.


Therefore, The Wide Game was a No-Brainer for me.

Here's the synopsis from the back of the book:

On the advice of his wife, Paul Rice is making plans to attend his 10th year High School reunion. Returning to his boyhood home of Harmony, Indiana, he finds that he is still haunted by memories of that time -- memories of Deidra, his first love, and memories of the Wide Game. It was ten years ago that Paul and his friends watched their day of fun become a race for their lives, a fight for their very souls.

Now, as he meets the survivors of that day once more, Paul makes a chilling discovery: the incomprehensible forces that toyed with them have yet to finish playing their own game.

After having read the synopsis for the first time, I thought that The Wide Game would be nothing more than a psycho-slasher thriller, with an upset ex-lover or escaped convict obsessed with the idea of revenge in whatever way possible. I mean, what better setting would there be for a slasher than a cornfield full of teenagers? I was glad to be proven wrong. The Wide Game is something far better than anything I could have hoped for.

As with Skull Full of Kisses, I found myself returning to the pages of the book for a second time, only a few days after having finished it the first time. Specifically to that of Harmony, Indiana; to Paul and Deidra; and to The Wide Game itself. And most of it had to do with the relationships between the characters; most notably: Paul and Deidra. Their relationship is at the core of the novel, and the thing that first grabbed my attention.

It seems as though what constitutes as Horror these days, -- both in prose and the screen -- is nothing more than a quick fix of blood, guts and shock value. With The Wide Game it is more than that, forcing the reader to think and digest as they go; a breath of fresh air for those who have finally decided to breath good air.


Real air.

Throughout The Wide Game, the setting switches several times between the present, and the past, beginning with Paul, and then delving in to the meat of the story: his adolescent love life, the situations that have defined him as an adult, and the Wide Game itself. As the story switches focus, the cast increases, and as I was being introduced to the different teenagers that populated the High School of Harmony, Indiana, -- specifically the cadre of friends that band together throughout parts of the novel -- I couldn't help but be reminded of the 80's film "The Breakfast Club." Although a subtle nod towards the culture of the 80's, West does a marvelous job with making the reader feel as though they really are in the 80's; deftly submerging the reader into the culture of the era, without bogging down the flow.

As with any first novel there are problems, but they are far and few between. Although an explanation is given for the reasoning behind the forces controlling the game itself, there's never a really in-depth explanation given. And then there's the pace of the tale: overall, it reads smoothly, but there are some parts that seem to bog down the flow of the story. However it's nothing that will deter from enjoying the characters, suspense and over all brilliance of the novel.

And one last bit of interest: the same person who did the cover for Michael's short story anthology Skull Full of Kisses, also did the cover for The Wide Game. Another spot on (in my opinion) portrayal of West's work by horror author Bob Freeman, whose novel Descendant, I recently reviewed.

I loved every single page of The Wide Game, it's that simple. That's why I'm giving it 9 out of 10 TARDIS's. It's an excellent debut novel, and I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it's way onto my Best of 2011 list.

If you're tired of the monotonous plague that has destroyed the label of Horror, enjoy being scared out of your skull, and falling in love with the characters, then The Wide Game will make an excellent addition to your library.

~Rodney

The Wide Game: News, Book Trailer and Pre-Order

Last August I did a review for Michael West's short story collection Skull Full of Kisses. Since then, I've been eagerly awaiting the newest release from West: The Wide Game, which just so happens to be his first novel through the same publisher, Graveside Tales.

Here's the synopsis from the back of the book:

On the advice of his wife, Paul Rice is making plans to attend his 10th year High School reunion. Returning to his boyhood home of Harmony, Indiana, he finds that he is still haunted by memories of that time–memories of Deidra, his first love, and memories of the Wide Game. It was ten years ago that Paul and his friends watched their day of fun become a race for their lives, a fight for their very souls.

Now, as he meets the survivors of that day once more, Paul makes a chilling discovery: the incomprehensible forces that toyed with them have yet to finish playing their own game.

Above is the recently released cover art for The Wide Game, created by the awesome Bob Freeman who did the cover art for West's short story collection, and author of Descendant (click for my review of the book).

And for those book nerds and geeks out there who enjoy watching book trailers, the book trailer for The Wide Game went live Friday. Masterfully filmed and edited by Darkrider Studios. For your viewing pleasure, here's the book trailer:

The Wide Game is set to drop on February 15th, but if you want to be comforted in knowing that you've already reserved your copy, you can do just that here. And for those of you interested in procuring your copies in other ways, here's the ISBN: 9780983314103

Look for my review of The Wide Game sometime in the next week.

~Rodney

Skull Full of Kisses Book Review

Title: Skull Full of Kisses
Author: Michael West
Publisher: Graveside Tales
Pages: 212
ISBN: 8790980133882

Lately I've been finding myself reading more and more short stories, and enjoying them more than the typical novel. There's been a few collections that have stunned me in the past, but every collection pails in comparison to Michael West's Skull Full of Kisses. There's only two words that come to mind when I think about this marvelous collection, and those are: disturbingly brilliant!

Every story contained in this small, but remarkable collection not only makes a person think, but plants that thoughtful seed in the readers mind. And with each passing story that's read, that seed begins to grow, until finally you've reached the end, and left with a stunningly beautiful and haunting apparition that will follow you long after you've read the last word.

Although the collection is short, it's solid, compact, and written with a passion that's hard to find. Every story reads like polished gold. "Jiki" -- the opening story -- deals with Koji Ogawa, the newest member of the Yakuza who comes face-to-face with something more sinister than the mobster could ever dream of. Then there's "Einstein's Slingshot," which reminded me of a love child between Jurassic Park, The Mist, and The Outer Limits. There's also "To Know How to See," a sci-fi/horror hybrid that will leave you questioning the true identity of everyone around you; and then there's one of my personal favorites: "Sanctuary," which deals with travelers seeking for refuge from a Himalayan snow storm, but find something more when they hole up with a group of monks. And finally, to round out the collection, is "Goodnight," a heart-string plucking tale of a grandfather recounting a real-life bedtime story to his grandson.

I've read this collection five times in the last three months, and each time I've finished the book I've found myself stunned at what an amazing collection Skull Full of Kisses really is.West knows and loves his genre, and shows and shares it, with a remarkable ability to craft tales, and flesh out characters that feel alive. That's why I'm giving Skull Full of Kisses an 8.5 out of 10.

If you're looking for something that will seriously mess with your head long after you've put it down, I would highly suggest picking up a copy of Michael West's Skull Full of Kisses.