Long time No writing

Getting back in the saddle of writing everyday. I think I need a step-ladder. How do you write a proper sentence? How does a paragraph work? I need to filter the ideas into a sensible order in which I can write to my hearts content. I need to stick to a plan and JUST WRITE. I frequently make a habit of just talking about what I want to do instead of just doing it. 

What has that ever gotten me? NOTHING. All too often we humans do this. We tell our friends and families of our lofty plans towards greatness, or at least heightened mediocrity, and then one or a combination of the following happens:

1. It is forgotten about as the next dream takes over.
2. We are talked out of it for one reason or another.
3. The vampires of doubt begin to drain away our driving passion with their poisonous negatively charged nagging, causing us to question ourselves and eventually give up, because they have invaded our minds with ugly thoughts and doubts.
4. Oh look SHINY OBJECT. Oh yeah, what was I doing? I don't know move on.
5. Life - we let the everyday BS take over everything.
6. We warmly embrace the bad habit of making excuses, but that makes everything we don't do "okay."

Why do we allow these things to interfere, and how do all those dreamers who have made it big not let it happen to them? I know they work hard. I know they work tirelessly. I know that when an obstacle is thrust in front of them they find a way to go around it or blow it out of the way. I know that they are persistent. I know. I know. I know.

But...here I am sitting at a gaming convention. I feel the passion for writing seeping back in. I feel the need to create. I feel the need to start a project, a major project, a life changing project and finish it. I am still overwhelmed to some degree by all the little projects that need to be done but...I need to accomplish things for me and my soul. 

The Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

The Boneshaker

by Cherie Priest

What do you get when you cross the cogs of steampunk with the gruesomeness of zombies? You get The Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Haven’t heard of it you say? Well foolish mortal, now you have. Here is a book to fulfill your steampunked dreams, with excellent writing, superb machine craftsmanship, and zombies.

Here’s a brief synopsis:

Briar Wilkes (Blue) was once married to the man who created The Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. It was commissioned to dig deep into the Klondike for gold, but on its initial test run something goes terribly wrong. Several blocks of Civil War era Seattle are collapsed and destroyed as the machine digs its way through both foundations and rock, including those in and around Seattle’s financial district. But, the worst of the destruction comes from the bowels of the earth as a poisonous gas, known as The Blight, rises up, slowly killing all who breathe it, only to come back as zombies. Fifteen years later, the wall that was originally built to keep The Blight from spreading, also hold secrets that Briar’s fifteen year old son Zeke, wants to know about. The boy finds his way into the decimated walled-up inner city and begins his search for answers his mother never gave him. Briar follows her son in order to save him from dangers he could never have imagined, with the help of Captain Cly and his dirigible, and with the help of several characters who chose to live within the desolate walls. During her search for Zeke she must live through attacks by rotters, and the fiendish manipulations of Dr. Minnericht, who may or may not be her husband, all in order to find her son.

Sound good? It really is for several reasons.

The quality of the steampunk gadgets is believable. Electricity was still in its infancy and Priest shows this through some of the workings of the inner city. Power to operate most equipment has to be generated from steam, billows, pulleys, or static electricity. Items (with one exception) don’t magically operate on command, with no explanation as to how it is even possible. Priest shows the reader how modified weaponry and specialized ventilation systems work in her story, but the reader is not bogged down or overwhelmed by complex technical jargon. The fantastical devices are not the whole story either, but inanimate characters who add to the overall setting.

Another reason this was such a great read is that Priest did not fall into the trap of romanticizing Seattle that once was, and what it has become, or any of the characters. It was gritty and dirty with very few reminders of Seattle’s former glory during the 1880’s. The inhabitants don’t wax poetic over what once was, because they are forced to live in the very real and deadly present, in order to make it to tomorrow. Sentimental tripe is no where to be fond. She also did not feel the need to add any romantic attachments, which was wonderful, as too many books these days rely on that at some point in order to move a story along. Admittedly, this may have led to the lack of development in regards to some of the characters.

Finally, there are the zombies. In this book they are referred to as rotters, and I loved them. The explanation as to how they came about is plausible, poisoned by The Blight gas, and they are not all slow moving and mindless. These stinking rotting walking corpses can move it when they sense fresh meat, even going so far as to climb in one chapter, in order to get a tasty morsel. They can be killed in the time honored zombie way, by destroying the brain, but they are so aggressive and numerous, that for the few humans who live within the dead city it is usually more important to run away.

Cherie Priest has created a novel that is a must have in any steampunk and zombie library. While she played loose with the history of Seattle, it was not done in manner that became distracting. Her use of newly imagined machines and weapons adds to the overall story, instead of being the whole story. The people who inhabit her world are not idealized caricatures. And, the zombies, they are now longer human, just walking nightmares.

To Buy or Not To Buy, That is The Question:

Absolutely, Positively BUY THIS BOOK! Even if you know nothing about steampunk and/or zombie this is a great read.

If you enjoy this novel by Priest be on the lookout for her next Dreadnought, which releases September 28, 2010

Dead Eye:Pennies For The Ferryman by Jim Bernheimer

Dead Eye:Pennies For The Ferryman by Jim Bernheimer

Gryphonwood Press


This book has proven to be a pleasant surprise. I have tried and tried to come up with something witty and clever to introduce it, but I think the first statement says it all. I actually finished this book weeks ago, and have been pondering how to review it ever since.

Synopsis: Mike Ross has returned home from Iraq where he suffered both physical and emotional losses. He wants to get his life back together and find a direction by going back to school. In the meantime, Mike is trying to adjust to life with a new eye, provided by a donor, a donor who just happened to be a medium. Now that Mike is starting to be able to see through the donor's eye he sees ghosts, and is able to communicate with them. Some are good, and some are really really bad, bad enough that they want to possess him. Mike's adventures with the dead lead him to communicate not only with the recently dead, but those much older, some of whom have more to do with the world of the living then anyone ever knew.

What surprised me the most about this book was it's overall simplicity. There are paranormal happenings going on throughout the story, but they are not the whole story. It is the character interactions that takes center stage. Character development happens slowly over the course of the book, as the reader gets to know the leads and their motivations. Emotional motivation is kept to a minimum, while more common issues (i.e. money or lack there of) are what keep things moving.

The plot is simply as well. The course of actions taken by the characters to get to the end is not always straight forward, but it makes sense as Mike is trying to figure out what he can and can't do with his new gift. Bernheimer does not overlook the importance of a few good plot twists though. That being said, I had a problem with the ending feeling a little forced. The last few chapters do not complete the story, but set it up for sequels.

Finally, it was refreshing to read a ghost story with the lack of a real love story. Romantic love is not what pushes the characters or the plotline along. Too many paranormal novels rely on this emotion to keep the reader going. If done well, it can make a good read, if not, you get sentimental poop. Bernheimer avoids this trap. There is a potential for one, but the way he avoids it makes made this a better read for me.

What it all comes down to:

What I liked?

1. It was a really easy and enjoyable read. I found that when I stepped away from the book I wanted to get back to it to find out what was going to happen to Mike next, or what he might discover about his new gift.

2. Cheesey romance has nothing to do with this novel.

3. The reader learns along with Mike what he can and can't do. He doesn't just accept what he is and run with it. He tests it, as much as it tests him.

What I disliked?

1. I have to wait for a sequel.

2. There are a few places where I don't agree with the choice of how important plot information is given. They come across as clumsy writing.

3. I really don't have one.

To Buy or Not To Buy, That is the Question: Buy. It is a clean simple read for a paranormal book. The reader is not overwhelmed with information all at once, making discoveries as Mike makes discoveries. Personally, after coming off a very complex read I really enjoyed this story.

Okay, so that is what I think, but remember folks it's just an opinion.

Brain Busters

Rememberance Of Brains Past

Zombies Natural Habitat

Android Karenina by Ben H. Winters

Android Karenina by Ben H. Winters

Quirk took a chance with me reviewing another literary mash-up of theirs, Android Karenina, and I will admit that for the most part I actually enjoyed reading this novel. But let me start with the fun contest that Quirk is running.

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All you have to do is follow the link at the end of this review tp enter.

The story still follows the original drama and romance of Anna Karenina & Count Vronsky, and Kitty Shcherbatskaya & Konstantin Levin. Unlike the original though, this newly imagined world is full of androids and technology that makes all their lives easy. That is until an evil underground group of Russian scientist begin attacking all that they hold dear. Will their government protect them and theirs, and what happens when truths are revealed about their very own characters?

Ben H. Winters first showed up on the Quirk scene when he co-wrote Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Now he has taken on the challenge of a Tolstoy mash-up all by himself. Instead of monsters taking on pivotal roles, there are companion androids and an overwhelmingly large assortment of advanced technology.

Okay, first let's talk about the really big pink elephant in the room - Tolstoy. The original novel is over 800 pages long. Tolstoy loved words and loved description. He wanted the reader to understand every little idiosyncrasy of his characters. Winters has done away with about half the story, rewritten it with inventions that weren't even conceived of back then, and still maintained the integrity of the original. He uses Tolstoy's own words and then weaves in the impossible. Most of the time it is well done, but there are moments when the original wording is dense and hard to digest, but it can be slogged through, and it is worth it.

The descriptions for this book call it a steampunk inspired novel. I will agree with the inspired part, but Winters takes the mechanics way beyond simple steam driven engines. Everyone in high society has a companion android who anticipates the character's needs physically, mentally, and emotionally. The humans are completely dependent on them for every little thing, and this technology has been forced into every part of the story (i.e. robotic dice), which pushes the boundaries of reasonability with me. In the end, he makes use of these gadgets, and uses them or the lack of them to advance the story. Employing the androids as both characters and plot devices was successful, but reading the names of all these special gadgets was a tad burdensome at times, as I feel they were used with a bit of a heavy hand. It wouldn't have been so tedious at times if each mechanical device did not have a three part nomenclature. Luckily, Winters did not stick with just machines in this retelling of a classic.

There are a few other surprises in the new novel that I am choosing not to disclose as I found them to be interesting and surprising. When I thought I could predict where Winters was heading with a certain storyline he surprised me. What can I say - I like surprises, and I have read so much that that is very hard to do. Let go of all realistic expectations in Android Karenina and enjoy the ride.

What it all comes down to:

What I liked?

1. I always enjoy when someone thinks outside of the box, and Winters went way outside of the box with this one.

2. The basic essence of the original story is still intact with the twin love stories.

3. Winters' imagination did not wane, and he was able to carry this new Russian world to the end.

What I disliked?

1. The new technology was way too much at times.

2. Tolstoy is dense and really tedious at times. *Note - Please don't blame Winters for this, as very few people feel Tolstoy is an easy read.

3. ***Spoiler Alert ... I am not sure I agree with sending the characters all the way into space for certain chapters was necessary. The first time was distracting, but the second time was more palatable.

To Buy or Not To Buy, That is the Question:

I would have to say buy, especially if you enjoy books with heavy handed sci-fi elements.

Okay, so that is what I think, but remember folks it's just an opinion. Now click on Quirk contest and enter to win some great prizes. And for more information on Android Karenina published by Quirk simply click her name.