Review of Bloodstone by David Gemmell

I have just finished the final chapter in David Gemmell's Jon Shannow trilogy, and what a ride it was. I couldn't imagine a more satisfying conclusion to this thrilling series. Any fan of westerns, fantasy, post-apocalypse, or suspenseful action will love this series about a post-apocalyptic gunslinger that is known as the Jerusalem Man for his early quest for the lost fabled city.

This book has everything great about the other two volumes and more. It is the only book in the series that could not be read alone as it is dependent on so much of what happens in both of the previous books.

Here are some highlights about this particular novel:

1. This book has some very frightening moments with mutated, man-eating "wolvers" and the return of the deadly hellborn armies. This horror factor just capitalizes the heroic nature of those who survive and stand strong against the evil forces of the bloodstone.

2. All of the Jon Shannow books are philosophical. This one is doubly so, mixed with heaps of pathos and a more than a touch of melancholy, this book proves to be as thoughtful as it is exciting: a nice balance.

3. The character of Jon Shannow is shown as his most complex (and, thus, most human). His sacrifices are poignant.

4. Characters that were introduced in all three of the volumes really come to life here. Gemmell devoted a lot of pages for their development and personal tests and tragedies. When everything comes together for a real standoff with the surviving characters the reader is absolutely invested.

5. The Bloodstone is a villain that is truly fantastic and horrific. Gemmell has given us a devil that is believable and horrific in his conception.

Mr. Gemmell, like the Jon Shannow has moved on. I know I will not get the chance to read about Jon Shannow again. Except, you can bet that I won't be forgetting about his excellent adventures. In any case, if I do, I will be reading these novels again, I am sure. I can't recommend these books more to the true fantasy lover.

Review of Horns by Joe Hill

I understand that all reading is subjective, but let me tell you, Joe Hill has become compulsive reading for me. His first book, Heart-Shaped Box was totally frightening (so much so that I had to put it down for a while) and engrossing in its rich characterization. Joe doesn't just describe characters, he brings them to life in all their complexity (including moral). Although Horns is not as frightening as a book, it spends all the more time creating a situation that is fascinating, characters that are memorable and some interesting moral philosophy to boot.

I think Horns just may be one of my favorite books of all time. The story of Iggy Perrish and his friends and family is one of tragedy, love, and spiritual justice. Iggy wakes up from a night of drinking and mourning the love of his life that had been raped and murdered a year before (making him the most likely suspect) with horns growing from his head. When he tries to get help he finds that people's reactions to his presence is very revealing.

I could not stop reading this book. Beautifully written, it is a thoroughly engrossing dark fantasy novel that will leave you breathless. Stephen King has given us lots of wonderful gifts to the literary world through the years, but I think he'd agree with me, none of them compare to that of his son. I look forward with great anticipation for what comes out of this fellow New Englander next.

Review of Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

I have to admit that I am an unabashed fan of Stephen King. His work has inspired and informed my own writing. I firmly believe that someday he will be hailed as the literary genius of his time. Beyond that, he is a heck of a good tale-spinner, and I sure am glad that he has survived his brushes with death and continued to crank out quality fiction for the rest of us to admire and enjoy.

I did not want to love Full Dark, No Stars. Each story seemed too gruesome and bleak to love. In each case, I was left breathless in the face of his amazing characterization and plotting. I can't say I have loved every one of Mr. King's books (The Regulators, The Colorado Kid and The Wizard and The Glass complete that very short list), but I have come close.

Beyond the usual study of the darkness and, by contrast, the noble and enduring light in mankind, this collection of long stories almost completely follows a thread of destructive and murderous men and the women that make them pay. I've read reviews that have said that Stephen King is obsessed with breasts and doesn't know how to write women. I'm not sure that these people have really read Stephen King, otherwise they would understand how far off the mark these criticisms are.

I will now go through the works to discuss each:

1. 1922: A haunting tale in the vein of Edgar Allen Poe, about a farmer who kills his wife to maintain his way of life. A classic haunting psychological portrait of evil and madness.

2. Big Driver: Perhaps my favorite, this one stars a mystery writer and her ultimate payback against the man who rapes her and leaves her for dead.

3. Fair Extension: A deal with the devil story that is as wicked as it is unprecedented. Like much of the rest, I didn't think I would love this story, but left very satisfying chills.

4. A Good Marriage: A haunting and emotionally compelling story about a woman who, after 27 years of contented marriage, discovers that her loving husband has some very dark secrets.

I love this work. It served up a heady dose of catharsis for a guy who needed it at the end of a very long winter. I look forward with anticipation for Uncle Stevie's next publication.

Review of The Last Guardian by David Gemmell

This is the second novel of David Gemmell's that I have read, and the second book in the Jon Shannow trilogy. I have to say, I am amazed that David Gemmell is not a more common name in the fantasy world. I also hope that some day his works get translated into different mediums. Comic books would be great, but so would films or TV shows.

The Last Guardian picks up immediately after Wolf in Shadow, where Jon Shannow, the Jerusalem Man is continuing his search for the holy city, and being tragically accosted by villains and surrounded by death. He is a noble madman, who goes through a very satisfying arc in this second installment. David Gemmell is good at introducing lost of disparate elements into his novels until you wonder what the heck he could be thinking. He weaves these together in a most satisfying manner. He melds mythology, religion, and good old post-apocalyptic fantasy adventure in a great story. I can't wait to read the final installment, but I am hesitant, because I have truly fallen in love with this story and don't want it to end.

The story has action, and lots of despicable characters, and noble ones, too. Even the despicable ones, however, manage to find redemption. There is also a lot of weird events and historical/biblical events that are explained in an amazing way in a novel just under 300 pages. The story can be read on many levels simultaneously. It is one part pulp action, one part mythical western, and one part philosophical fantasy. If you used to enjoy the brain candy of Thundarr the barbarian, you will love losing yourself in the world of Gemmell's creation while being pleasantly surprised as an adult reader at the same time.

Perhaps, this isn't for every one, but if you're anything like me, a thoughtful lover of fantasy who get fed up with cliche and political dramas, you will love Jon Shannow and The Last Guardian.

Also, if you can't get your hands on The Wolf in Shadow, you can read this story as a stand alone novel.

Rating: five stars out of five.

Still here, plugging along

Hi,

I'm still here. I've even been writing when I can. I'm waiting on news of Test of a Prince. I am also writing my novel: The Hairy Monster Book. It is going well, and I'm having a great time. I hope to have this finished by the end of May. I am well over half way done the novel at this time. It isn't easy having to work, raise five children and the like and start a writing career, but I will do it. I'm having too much fun writing.

If you haven't seen the movie, Paul, go do so immediately. It is very funny, heart warming, and wonderful. It is irreverent without being cynical. I left the theater like a kid again. I can't recommend this movie too much. Even my mother left the theater laughing.

I've been reading some real good books lately. Next on the docket: Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars. Well, I wrote another 5,000 words today. Going to hit the hay. First, I'll post a review of my latest read.

Take care,
Trav

Review of Darkness on the Edge of Town by Brian Keene

This is the first fiction I have read by Brian Keene, but I can say that Mr. Keene has a brand new fan. Darkness on the Edge of Town is a 264 page brutal study of a small American town in the the twenty-first century that becomes surrounded by a supernatural darkness and consumed by the darkness that already resided within.

Being told from the first person perspective allows the story to remain mysterious, immediate and brutal. I particularly liked the fact that the novel succeeds in creating a reality that speaks to the experience of people of Generation X and younger. We no longer know our neighbors, we no longer enjoy a sense of community, however claustrophobic an experience that was for the baby boom generation and those of earlier generations. In this way, Keene's story is a bit more persuasive in its horror than such works as Under the Dome, that are still inevitably told from the narrative perspective of those who experienced a different America.

I did not want to like this book, as it is visceral, haunting, and deeply explored the edge of madness we all skirt at times. I did like this book, however, and for anyone who is sick of torture porn or stories where evil is so easily categorized and made mundane by Vampire detectives and the like, you will here find a story that will not fail to tickle your terror bone.

The book, in its veiled references and the characters' mad hypothesizing, alludes to a lot of historical horror, it also hints at the terror of existing in the black prison of a gnostic universe. I will read more of Keene's work, intrigued to see if he explores this vision in the rest of his body of work.

I will rate this book five stars out of five. I do this because I kept reading, despite the despair and terror I experienced. It is an apocalyptic vision that I will not soon forget. Now, I will wait for the sun to come out of the late winter sky and savor every last bit of its light.

Review of Suicide Kings, edited by George R. R. Martin

On the first Sunday of April vacation in 1987 I put down my comic book and went out for a bike ride. My mind on the four color adventures of my favorite heroes, I did not pay attention to where I was headed. I took my bike off a ten foot ledge and came centimeters away from dying or paralyzing myself. Stunned and with a broken collar bone, I was rushed to the hospital by my parents. Afterward, tired of sitting around in a sling, I followed my mother into the drug store where she was getting my much needed codeine. There my eyes fell on a new shared-world novel of superhero history, called Wild Cards. That week, recovering, I basked in narrative that explored a world of superheroics with much of the bombast and pathos of my comic books, but with so much more depth and intricacy. This was for what I had been craving. Each month running off the school bus, I had run to the mailbox to see if twenty-four pages of story had come. Here I had hundreds of pages of character development and intrigue. I knew that someday I would want to write fiction like this.

Finally, twenty four years later, I have had my first superhero story published (in Static Movement's Powers anthology) and a second accepted at Thousandfaces.com. I also just finished reading the latest installment in this series: Suicide Kings.

In the world of Wildcards, an alien virus was released over New York City in 1946. 90% of all those who contracted the virus died in horrible ways. of the survivors, 90% became hideously mutated due to a psychic reaction, their bodies twisted into parodies of the human shape. These were called Jokers. The lucky 1%, became aces, gifted with marvelous powers.

Suicide Kings is the third novel in a trilogy, that mostly details the aces (and some Jokers) who work for the UN sanctioned Committee. This novel can be read alone, of course, as each of the characters featured (each written by a different writer) follow complete character arcs, and the story, although following the events of the past two novels, is self-contained. If you are new to the WildCards universe, I would suggest going back and reading the first couple of volumes, recently reissued.

This book may be my favorite in the series so far. It may also feature my favorite character of the series so far: Rustbelt. Wally "Rusty" Gunderson is a Joker/Ace, who has indominatable strength, a skin of Iron, and the ability to rust any metal he touches. What makes him my favorite is his indomitable spirit and his heart of gold. He and the other main characters largely become involved with the People's Paradise of Africa, a burgeoning nation led by a sinister brother and sister, and supported by the insane and possibly most powerful Ace on the planet, The Radical. This story has so much intense drama, action, and suspense, I could not put it down. The bad guys are well developed and horrifically interesting. The good guys are fallible, often bumbling, and eminently admirable.

I won't give too much away, except to say that if you read the original novels back in the eighties and nineties, you won't be disappointed. Many of the old characters appear or are referred to by this next generation of heroes.

If you are new to the WildCards universe, I hope that you will pick this volume up and give it a try. The writer's have outdone themselves with creating a story that resonates with excitement and pathos.

Five Stars out of Five