fantasy

Book Report: Tales of the Risen Tide by David M. Reynolds #RBRT #YA fantasy #post-apocalyptic dystopian adventure

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I purchased this book for review as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team. All I can say is whew! This book took me on a breathless, swashbuckling adventure set on the seas of a ravaged Earth in the distant future. It is a fresh take from the many dystopian novels I’ve read and will appeal to YA and adult readers as well. The main character is Jimn Hatcher, a young lad who works under deplorable conditions welding holes in hull of a transport vessel, holes created by magflies, which eat metal. Jimn was given to pirates when he was very young because his homeland was starving and his parents wanted him to survive. The pirates sold him in turn to the owners of this transport vessel. Jimn longs to see land and people other than the cruel overseers of the ship. When the ship is attacked by pirates, Jimn finds himself on a wooden sailing ship called the Archon, populated by distinct, highly engaging and well-developed characters. The description of the Archon, the lands she visits and the people Jimn runs into –and away from – as he tries to discover more about himself and the past, are imaginative and colorful. One of the other compelling characters is Nix, whose story opens the book. She comes from an ancient people and is deaf. After she is captured by pirates and circuitously arrives on the Archon, Jimn is the only one who can speak with her via sign language. The Archon sails on dangerous seas as it seeks to stop a maniacal order of monks who are determined to obliterate all knowledge of the past, and we are treated to fantastical mechanisms and forms of humanity along the way as the Archon sails into uncharted waters. . The action is non-stop and the world building is fresh and vibrant. This is classical fantasy story-telling against the background of a tech-damaged world, with a clear love for what’s been created. The author’s imagination runs amok and I loved it. There isn’t space to write about all the wondrous and amazing adventures in this book – you have to read it. There is another book on the way, and I can’t wait. Five stars. About the author: A lifelong storyteller, David Reynolds grew up writing role-playing adventures for his friends, before graduating to filmmaking in his late teens. After nearly 20 years of making film – everything from zombie action movies to underwater fantasy – the author fell head over heels for the creative process that is novel writing. His foundation in visual storytelling remains a strong influence in his written work. When he’s not writing, the author loves to cultivate an eclectic set of interests and skills. Current obsessions include learning the Viola, boxing, sailing, and oil painting. He lives with his wife and young children in a sleepy village nestled between the wild woods of Dartmoor and the Devon coastline. 3 0

Book Report: Tales of the Risen Tide by David M. Reynolds #RBRT #YA fantasy #post-apocalyptic dystopian adventure Read More »

Book review: Goodbye Old Paint by C.S. Boyack (@vigilante) #paranormal #fantasy # science fiction

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Good-by Old Paint is the latest volume of C.S. Boyack Hat series. The main characters are Lizzie St. Laurent is a college dropout working multiple jobs to make ends meet. In the first in this series, she visits her grandmother’s house snitches a box from a moving truck and in that box finds a hat. But not just any hat. This Hat can talk and can alter its look to any fashion appropriate to Lizzie’s wardrobe. More importantly, the Hat can transport Lizzie to other places, once it’s on her head. Lizzie is taken by the Hat to a cabin owned by her grandmother, a place which no one knows about, and discovers she can play a mean jazz bass, when the Hat plays through her fingers. In Good-by Old Paint, Lizzie is a bass player in a band, trying to sell time shares by telemarketing without much success – even with the help of the Hat, and driving for Uber with little in the way of tips. She is visited by two special agents on special assignment from Section 13 of the FBI, one which deals with supernatural goings on. They request her to get rid of a large population of gremlins infesting a server farm of the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency in return for cancelling her seventy-two thousand dollars in unpaid student loans. She accepts. Let the fun and mayhem begin. Lizzie thinks she can get rid of the gremlins by shooting them with her .357 magnum revolver, but shooting them doesn’t make a dent. Her job is going to involve magic, and Lizzie introduces us to some old friends in a witches’ coven and some new, very odd ones – especially when Lizzie is the recipient of a curse that gradually turns her into a frog and has her eating dried crickets. I choked on my coffee when I was introduced to Dawson Charlie, a glob of sourdough starter that escaped from his crock, feeling frisky. The conversations between Lizzie and the Hat are hilarious, and she is constantly flummoxed as her, a rusted-out Mini Cooper with a torn roof, refuses to start without a booster. This author comes up with the most inventive, imaginative characters and this book is full of humor. Goodbye Old Paint is the latest in a delightfully fun series of whimsical fantasy with overtones of chick lit and Disney magic. As a novella, it is a fast, fast read, and I am definitely looking forward to the next Hat adventure. 5 stars About the author: Craig Boyack was born in Elko, Nevada, which the author claims has always been a little behind the times and gives him a unique perspective. He moved to Idaho in the early 2000s and jumped into his writing career where he found other writers and critique groups. He likes to write about things that are unusual, and his books are science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal designed to entertain his readers. The Hat is a seven book series, and the author has written twenty eight books in all, several of which I’ve reviewed and all of which I’ve liked. You can find the author On X @vigilante On his blog, Entertaining Stories: https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/ 0 0

Book review: Goodbye Old Paint by C.S. Boyack (@vigilante) #paranormal #fantasy # science fiction Read More »

Book Review: Once Upon a Time in the Swamp by C.S.Boyack (@virgilante) #dystopian spaghetti western #high adventure

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In an homage to spaghetti westerns such as Once Upon a Time in the West, Craig Boyack has created a rollicking, rolling, and compelling adventure in a post-apocalyptic American Gulf Coast world. I read it in one day, enjoying every morsel. Mari and her husband and young son enjoy a simple life as tobacco farmers, in a world that was torn apart by what appears to be a nuclear war – one which destroyed civilization, leaving only pockets of humanity here and there. One day when Mari is out hunting a turkey, raiders visit their farm and murder her husband and child, ransacking the house and killing one of their bulls. When Mari returns, her world is done. When the local sheriff has bigger fish to fry than find the killers, she buries her family and decides that her future is to seek revenge on the men that cost her everything. She’s not particularly suited for this adventure, but she packs up everything she thinks she will need in a one-axle cart made from the bed of red Chevy Silverado and hitches up her remaining ox to the buggy shafts. Dirt, the ox, is a major character in the story and with his six foot horn span and recalcitrant nature, the reader has to love him. Mari’s quest takes her across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and into Texas. Along the way, she camps most nights because she has no money and she spends that time considering her personal demons, with the help of pieces of tobacco plugs and moonshine called white dog. Mari is one tough cookie. The author paints the reader an unimaginable world created from what we know of ours, making the remains of ordinary things into a structural landscape that surprised me at every turn. Mari meets some fabulously drawn characters on her trek: Kelilah, a black woman living on her own in the swampy wilderness who rescues Mari after she is set upon by the men who killed Mari’s family; Miss Laura, the skeleton of a long-dead black woman, whose cabin provides Mari with things she needs to stay alive; an abandoned but loving hound dog she names Worthless; and Vance Dunham, an old man with a store where she can trade. He shows her how to use a revolver, how to shoot accurately and, most importantly, how to fight. Will Mari find the men she seeks and if she does, what will she do? And what will happen to her afterward? I leave it to other readers to find out, but the author will surprise you. I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it to any reader looking for a rip-snorting adventure with a tough central character. The story reminds me of Don Quixote and a Clint Eastwood western rolled into one. About the author: Craig Boyack was born in Elko, Nevada, which the author claims has always been a little behind the times and gives him a unique perspective. He moved to Idaho in the early 2000s and jumped into his writing career where he found other writers and critique groups. He likes to write about things that are unusual, and his books are science fiction, fantasy and paranormal designed to entertain his readers. You can find C.S. Boyack On twitter @virgilante At: https://storyempire.com/craig-boyack/ and on his blog: https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/ Once Upon a Time in the Swamp and his other books can be found on Amazon. 0 0

Book Review: Once Upon a Time in the Swamp by C.S.Boyack (@virgilante) #dystopian spaghetti western #high adventure Read More »

Introducing: Ritual of the Lost Lamb – a new book by Charles Yallowitz (@cyallowitz) #fantasy#magic#elves

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Charles Yallowitz is the creative and imaginative author of the Legends of Windemere series, bound to appeal to anyone who likes fantasy and magic, swords and sorcery, battles, elves and dragons. Amazon blurb Death is a blessing that the Baron is not ready to bestow upon his new toy. In the chaos surrounding the Spirit Well, Luke Callindor has disappeared and the only clue the psychic scream of agony that Dariana cannot ignore. Knowing that a journey to Shayd will result in their ultimate battle, the champions have devised another way to rescue their friend. With permission from the gods, Nyx has begun the Ritual of the Lost Lamb. It is a long and exhausting spell, which is made even more difficult by a new threat that is out to make all of the Baron’s enemies suffer. It is a race against time where every minute lost brings Luke Callindor one step closer to a fate worse than oblivion. Here is an excerpt to entice you: Having said her piece, Nyx gnaws on a hunk of jerky and sips at a waterskin while the others discuss her idea. She refuses to admit that she is having second thoughts about breaking a god seal even with permission. The last time she accomplished such a feat was by accident and resulted in her magic being sealed for days. Nyx shudders at the memory of feeling so many lives ending at her hands and takes a sloppy drink of leathery water to steady her nerves. The result is a full body convulsion of disgust and a hacking cough as the liquid goes down her windpipe. Flicking a green beetle off her shoulder, the channeler impatiently paces in a circle and wonders why the others are taking so long. The hairs on the back of Nyx’s neck rise and her arms become covered in goosebumps as a pulse of energy ripples through the clearing. She is about to ask her friends if they feel anything, but stops when she sees that they are frozen in time. The half-elf’s heart pounds in her chest as she fears that the Baron is about to attack. More terror seeps into her mind when she expects to turn around and find Luke’s tortured body dangling before her eyes. Not wanting to be caught by surprise, a flaming disc appears in her palm and hums as she searches for the source of the powerful spell. The snap of a twig to her left causes Nyx to hurl the fiery circle, which splits into a swarm of deadly copies that would destroy any normal enemy. Against the ebony platemail of Gabriel, the discs puff into balls of harmless smoke that remain hovering in place. “Your friends have agreed to your idea,” the Destiny God states, ignoring the mortal’s amusing attack. He removes his black cape, which becomes a vague chair for the nervously bowing channeler. “Now, this is unique. In fact, it is quite unheard of, which is why I am granting you an audience. The Law of Influence says I cannot get involved, but nobody has ever asked for permission to do something like this. Needless to say, all of us are very curious to see how all of this plays out.” “I want to unseal the Ritual of the Lost Lamb,” Nyx politely requests while she takes a seat on the cape. An enchanting warmth rises from the cloth and she nearly falls asleep from the blissful energy that infects her body. “This is the only way to save Luke without marching into the Baron’s territory. We both know that is what he wants. With the forbidden ritual, I can gather my little brother’s residual energy and bring him home. None of us will be at risk since it’s a combination of a summoning and teleportation spell.” “Strange that you know about a spell designed by channelers. Especially since it has not been used since the ancient Race War,” Gabriel says with a nod of his head. Urging voices in the back of his head causes the god to hum with his mouth closed, the spell jolting the sources of his rising irritation. “The Ritual of the Lost Lamb was taken from mortals before my time, but I understand the reason it made the gods worry. Such a thing could be the first step into summoning a deity against his or her will. Possibly even stealing immortality. Though I believe times have changed and we should reconsider the sealing.” “Time is also running out,” the channeler replies, shying away when the powerful deity stares at her. A flickering realization that the Baron’s power might be on the same level of Gabriel gives her the courage to meet the man’s piercing eyes. “I apologize for sounding like I’m rushing you. Yet, it has been said that the gods and goddesses have no concept of time since you exist forever. That means I have to push even though I want to speak with respect.” “In other words, you want a decision now.” “That would be best, sir.” “Sadly, I cannot agree to your terms.” “I haven’t made any terms.” ******* Need to catch Legends of Windemere from the beginning? You can start for FREE . . . ****** About the author Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing

Introducing: Ritual of the Lost Lamb – a new book by Charles Yallowitz (@cyallowitz) #fantasy#magic#elves Read More »

Legends of Windemere: Tribe of the Snow Tiger by Charles Yallowitz @cyallowitz #highfantasy

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Charles Yallowitz is the creative and imaginative author of the Legends of Windemere series, bound to appeal to anyone who likes fantasy and magic, swords and sorcery, battles, elves and dragons. I re-posted his humorous essay on Seven Signs You have a Dragon Infestation last week. His latest book in the Legends series is Tribe of the Snow Tiger. From a recent interview, he gives a hint as to what is driving this story: “An important part of this story involves rivalries, which drive many of the events. In fact, the idea of rivalries is one of the core pieces of the overall series. With a group of heroes and a separate group of villains, it’s hard not to pair them off and have grudge matches turn up from time to time. So, what are some things to consider when using a rivalry? Keep in mind that I’m talking as a series author.” Here is the Amazon description of Tribe of the Snow Tiger: Timoran Wrath has a shameful secret that is about to see the light of day. The noble barbarian has always been a constant source of strength and wisdom for his beloved friends. His loyalty has been unwavering and they know that he would never hesitate to lay down his life for them. Even in their darkest hour, the champions know that Timoran will come through and fight to the bitter end. Now they must return the favor as he reunites with his tribe and willingly faces the executioner’s blade. Is it possible that the honorable Timoran was nothing more than an illusion? Here is an excerpt: “The snow is too bright and level for me to see anything clearly,” the barbarian growls. The sound of shuffling and mild cursing draws his attention to Nyx who has sunk up to her nose in snow. “What are you doing, fire sprite?” Nyx shivers while squinting into the distance, her eyes coated in bronze energy. “The reason you can’t see anything might be because you’re too tall. I’m trying to see if there’s anything that breaks the level ground. My eyes are enhanced right now, but I don’t . . . wait a second . . . I think there’s something buried out there. A beast of some kind? It’s a very subtle up and down motion that reminds me of something breathing. It just stopped moving, but I don’t know what that means. I’ll lead the way.” Not waiting for a response, Nyx pushes through the thick snow and uses wind magic to gradually shift the powder out of her path. She does her best to move quietly and avoid disturbing whatever they are approaching, but the crunch of frozen grass beneath her boots makes the half-elf cringe with every step. A violent sneeze threatens to erupt from her nose, stifled quickly by a silence spell around her nostrils. Rubbing at her cold legs, Nyx is thankful when Timoran puts a vest made of black fur over her. The Ifrit hair warms her body and drives away the looming cold that has been brewing in her chest for the last few minutes. With renewed energy, the channeler walks a little faster and adds a simple heat spell to the wind that is steadily clearing the path. “Wow. Such a beautiful creature,” she whispers when she steps into a circular clearing that surrounds the dead beast. The enormous snow tiger’s blue and black fur is thick, the hairs sparkling when touched by direct sunlight. It has long incisors of glistening white that jut out of its mouth due to their size and sharpness. A slender tail lies limp in the exposed grass and still twitches as the muscles continue to lose their tension. Powerful legs and massive paws are splayed on the ground, giving the body the appearance of having peacefully died in its sleep. The gaping wound in the gorgeous snow tiger’s side is the only sign of an attack, the surrounding fur matted with aromatic blood. Timoran’s rage boils when he spots the three cubs that are mewling and pushing against their dead mother. Judging from their size and faint, black stripes, he assumes they are no older than three months. Rusty manacles are attached to their back legs, the chains running to a stake that has been driven into the muddy earth. Restraining his anger, the barbarian moves within reach of the animals and gently breaks the metal bindings that are bruising their ankles. Scared and confused, the cubs cower against the still warm corpse and hiss whenever one of the adventurers comes close. One of the snow tigers bravely charges at Timoran and bites his boot, proudly returning to the others when the towering figure moves away. My comments: This book is a great continuation to the Windemere series: the characters are interesting, not despite their various faults, but because of them, and the Windemere world is breath-taking in scope, as the world (which you can read about in the author’s blog) rivals Middle Earth in complexity and size. Take an adventure into this incredible creation! Also note the incredible covers for this series – they take my breath away! About the author: Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you, and his wife is happy he finally

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Book Review: Pearseus: Schism (Prequel to the epic fantasy series Pearseus)

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The author Nicholas Rossis is known to a lot of people, but this was my first introduction. I’d been promising myself to read something from his fantasy series for some time now and finally decided to begin with Schism, the prequel. Nothing like starting at the start, right? I’ve been reading more fantasy/science fiction lately (I’ll be reviewing Bone Wall sometime later this month) and am really getting into this genre. Right now it’s a lot like sushi – I love it, but not as a steady diet. This series explores one of the most popular themes in science fiction, the reboot of humanity. The prequel begins on board the spaceship UES Perseus, with celebrities and dignitaries celebrating the New Year and the dawn of a new century. The story unfolds through the eyes of several of the travelers, among them: Lucas Rivera, the Second Engineer of the Pearseus, who initially dreams of disaster; and First Mate Gerard Croix, who’d been hearing a voice whispering numbers in his head and who sets the coordinates to a new destination – this sends the ship through time and space, killing many aboard, to land on an Earth-like planet in an unknown part of the galaxy. Years pass with no hint of rescue. During that time, with leadership from Rivera and Captain Kibwe of the Pearseus, a fully functioning society evolves from the survivors. The planet is also populated by others, to which the reader is briefly introduced. The human settlers avoid them but these beings also avoid the settlers, which sets up stories yet to come. When Captain Kibwe dies, Croix campaigns to become a real Dictator, still guided by the voices he hears. His psyche fractures and the army he created of arm-banded youth takes over to enforce his leadership. Riots begin and law, other than his, is obliterated. I will leave it to now-and-future readers to discover what happens next. The author creates an interesting scenario, populates it with well-drawn characters, and prompts the reader to think about the shortcomings of human nature and intriguing clues of where he’s going next. Will I read the first book in the series? You betcha! About the author: Nicholas C. Rossis is clearly a sci-fi/epic fantasy author! His works include Pearseus, The Power of Six and children’s books, including the recent and very delightful Runaway Smile. He was born in 1970 in Athens. Greece, has a BSc in Engineering from the Technical Institute of Pireaus and a PhD in Digital Architecture from the University of Edinburgh. In 2000, he moved back to Greece where he has continued his career as web designer and teacher of design and has published at various colleges and universities. By his own description: “Nicholas lives in a forest outside Athens with his lovely wife Electra, beautiful dog and two remarkably silly cats.” He can be reached via His blog: http://www.nicholasrossis.me/ Twitter: @Nicholas_Rossis Facebook: www.facebook.com/NicholasCRossis 0 0

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