ABOUT:

Before the economic downturn, James Scottsdale did all the right things: he went to school and studied the right things, he had all the right friends, he had the love of a good woman and the support of his family. And then the economic crisis began and his secure life was suddenly not so secure.
Now, age 25, he lives on his mother’s couch, in debt and brokenhearted. All of that changes when The Boston 395 train line appears in his living room. The Boston 395 is like no train you have ever seen. Each stop exits into James’ life, revealing truths he would rather not deal with. Guided by The Conductor and populated by a colorful cast of characters, The Boston 395 will take James – and the reader – to places they never expected.

THE BOSTON 395 is a novella, sitting in the literary arena of magical realism/fantasy. The book follows its own rules and weaves an interesting world for the reader to get lost in, and to wrestle with.

REVIEW:

Jason Derr’s novella, The Boston 395, started off as a very captivating read with sharp wit and vivid details that really piqued my interest.  I’ll try to leave out all locomotive puns since the book is about a train, but by the end it had lost a lot of steam for me.

As stated in the blurb, James is down on his luck with no job and no love interest, and moving back in with his mother until things get better. All of a sudden, a train shows up in his mother’s living room, picking him up and transporting him back in time where he has to revisit different events that have taken place in his life – mainly the events responsible for how he got into his current situation.

While on the train, James encounters other passengers going through their own “trip” on the train, along with a peculiar train conductor.  Curiosity abounds as James and the fellow passengers explore the train and try to learn its real purpose and meaning. Unfortunately, too much time is spent trying to answer these questions and very little detail is revealed to James or to the reader by the end.

I also felt the events from James’s past just weren’t as awe-inspiring as I wanted them to be outside of the death of his father, but even it was an event he had missed when he left his father’s bed side to take a shower. One would hope a book being described as “magical realism/fantasy” would have more elements to develop it outside the sole plot line of a train pulling up in someone’s living room. While yes, that’s a major part of the story, it’s not enough to make up for where the rest of the story suffers.

One of the best attributes to the train is that it has a unique library of book that were never written like a part 2 to Treasure Island.  There are also books of dreams and random thoughts composed from the minds of people James knows.  But like everything else, the purpose or explanation of the library is never truly revealed.

There’s also no obvious distinction between the scenes of where James is on the train and when he is gone to a flashback, other than a hint by the change in narrative and the obvious change in scene usually directed by dialogue . The scenes are smashed together with no clear segue.  I would have almost liked to see the conductor leading James off into one of the train cars, a puff of smoke, or some wavy dream-like blur as a harp is strung and both the reader and James magically appear back in the past.  Instead, it just sort of happens in a blink which made the past and present story lines a bit rough when connected.

With James’s lackluster life pulling down the narrative and denying the reader of scenes that could have made this a much more engaging read, the book comes to a screeching halt that, dare I say it, is not a stop you want to get off at.  By the end, much like James, I was just frustrated.

Even the author relies on a pun with the Little Engine That Could by filling the page with the words “I think I can I think I can” off and on for more than a chapter, and even playing with the placement of text despite not having done it earlier in the story. And even then, we still don’t get a clear picture, and neither does James, of what the heck this train business is all about anyway.

Overall, The Boston 395 is a novella that clearly showed promise in the beginning but lacks a certain culmination of events and climaxes by the end.  Derr has a clear finesse for detail and characterization,  but denies his reader the answers to the real questions they’ll derive from the story line.

There Goes the Galaxy

Review by Bob Cherny

Brevity is the sole of wit and my dogs are tired.

Plot: Three stars
Characters: Three stars
Formatting and technical execution: Five stars
Humor: Two stars

This was pitched as a humorous take on a science fiction story and while parts of it are very funny and have a nice bite to them, the story goes on way too long. I had a lot of trouble finishing the book and put it down several times. The only reason I finished it was because when I requested it from LLBooks I pledged to review it. In order to keep my pledge I came back to it and eventually finished it. Fortunately, most of the last half of the book is pretty good.

There are flashes of brilliance like this passage:

Rollie leaned in. Bertram leaned in. Yes, there was definitely something small out there. One smallish thing where Rhobux-7 used to be.
So Rollie tossed himself into the pilot’s chair and moved the ship in closer. He directed the ship’s scopes to focus in. A magnified area formed in the window-screen. “It appears to be …”
“Yes?”
“… A sign.”
And the sign read:
You have reached the former location of Rhobux-7.
Sorry our planet’s not able to come to these coordinates
right now, but leave us a message at our Uninet site—
uninet.seersofrhobux.rbx.7.q1.gcu—
and we’ll be sure to get back to you.
For metaphysical emergencies,
visit our fellow prophets in the Nett star system.
Thanks for stopping by!

And then there are lengthy passages of parodies of instruction manuals that alternate between brilliant and boring. This is my favorite:

Peace Guard Nak cleared her throat. “‘Now that you finish install of Klinko LK-31 Prisoner Confinement System, kindly ready yourself to enter a very exiting new realm of inbreakable security. Please to welcome to the knowledge that, in proper use, the Klinko LK-31 will be always having for you a highest level of safety comfort with even your most dangerful apprehensions. It has specials super sensor to detect movement in confinement cell area. Also, it measure heart rate of cell occupant (if occupant is containing heart organ), as heart rate rise may indicate suspicious activity and nervousness in many lifeform. Klinko LK-31 Prisoner Confinement System is unharmable to hand-laser shooting, flame, and extreme weather condition if outside in its placement…’”

Zlotni grunted. “Are you using Translachew on that at all?”

“Look,” said Nak, “that’s what it says.”

“Skip a little,” Zlotni told her.

Bertram opened an eye and could make out some blurry uniformed beings standing in the narrow hall on the other side of the bars. One was leaning over a technical manual roughly the size of a mini-fridge.

“‘To begin good use of Klinko LK-31 Prisoner Confinement System, you are first to be finding the Klinko Prisoner Confinement System keypad.’”

Nak looked up as one of her fellow Peace Guards motioned toward the shiny new keypad.

“Good,” she continued. “‘Once it is to be in your eyeball-looking, find yourself pushing the green Start button.’”

Wezzag reached over and depressed a button on a keypad mounted on the wall. A bulb embedded in the hallway ceiling went green, bathing the cell block in a weird, slimy glow. “Next?”

“‘… But only after you to push the blue Clear button for clearing system …’”

Grumbling, Wezzag presumably pushed “Clear” and then the green button, which re-lit the hall light. “What now?”

“‘Now enter sixteen-digit number code which you choose.’” Nak looked up. “Anybody got a number in mind?”

But even it goes on much too long from there.

Bertram Ludlow, one of life’s basic archetypical sci-fi loser-heroes is kidnapped from his bedroom by a intergalactic miscreant, Captain Rolliam Tsmoorland. I am sure there is a pun in the name, but I have no idea what it is. He is quickly informed that his mission is to save the Earth, but from whom, from what and why are left mysteries.

Bertram’s meeting with the “seers” who inform him of his mission the “seers” are constricted by a dialectic that should be funny, but only serves to slow the action down.

The entire business with the real estate agent should be funny, but it goes on too long. Too much time is spent on the description of the real estate agent’s head. Okay, we got it the first time. The descriptions of the various corporations who are the potential buyers the agent is courting as might be quoted in their stock holder reports do not work and should be eliminated or drastically shortened.

The concept of the “Translachew” gum is quite good and provides the potential for pointed humor, but the humor takes too long to set up and once the punch line is reached, it is no longer funny.

The protest movement Bertram creates with its fall-out and the final conflict almost work. The narration in that critical scene is inconsistent and erratically paced leading to an ultimately unsatisfying ending.

This book would work well if it was two thirds its current length. I would expect a book like this from a first time author, but this author has won several prestigious awards. Maybe there is something here I am not seeing, but I do not know what it is.

A friend sent me a link to Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Blog, because she wrote a post comparing traditional and indie publishing. She was also mad at her publishers and editors.

On her Blog, Rusch wrote, “In the past two days, two different editors have told me that I don’t know how publishing works. One deigned to explain to me how something in book production worked when I questioned a scheduling problem in the publishing house. The other told me I had no idea how to write a good book in my genre.”

I then discovered that Rusch was a bestselling, Hugo-award winning editor and writer. Her novels have made the bestseller lists worldwide and have been published in 14 countries and 13 different languages. Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award.

I’ve never read anything from this author before, never even heard of her and she was debating with herself on her Blog the benefits of leaving traditional publishing and going independent. At the bottom of her post [link in the first paragraph of this review], she lists all the pros and cons.

Curious about Rusch’s work and fascinated by one of her plots, I ordered Diving into the Wreck from Amazon. It’s been years since I’ve read science fiction but occasionally if a story idea intrigues me, I’m hooked.

“Diving into the Wreck” is the first in a series. The second book is City of Ruins and Boneyards, the third in the series, will be out January 2012. Other than this series, Rusch has written too many books to count.

The main character is known as “Boss”, and she only has interactions with others when she feels it is necessary and operates everything on the job mostly by the book, since the few times she made exceptions and took risks, she lost people and the losses haunt her.

Boss makes her living scavenging wrecked spaceships and space stations, and studies some of the older ones for historical reasons. She also earns money taking tourists out to safer wrecks with historical value. Boss’s profession is similar to deep sea diving with its claustrophobia, dangers and no room for error. The only difference is instead of drowning, the slightest puncture to a space suit spells death in the vacuum of space.

The plot revolves around Boss’s discovery of an ancient 5,000 year old starship called a Dignity Vessel from an earlier earth culture, and the ship may have dangerous stealth technology on board that could change the balance of power in the that sector of the galaxy, which is a long ways from earth.

To find out, Boss hires a trusted team and leads an expedition to the ancient starship. She is extremely good at what she does and puts perfection and safety above being liked by others.

Once Boss and the team arrive at the Dignity Vessel, a string of events is set in motion linked to her childhood and the death of her mother, which is connected to the ancient stealth technology. That traumatic childhood event becomes the driving force of the novel.

I found the idea of diving into an ancient earth star ship with lost technology dating back thousands of years appealing and plan to read the second and third books in the series.

Thursday Thistle: A Fairy Tale

4 out of 5 Stars

Reviewed by Author C.V. Hunt

ABOUT:

Lethe: le the noun ‘le-the

1: A dark, forgotten land from which all of our fairytales originated.

2: A post-apocalyptic realm of twisted, magic wielding royalty locked in battle with a race of technologically superior Guardians (who seek to snuff out magic forever).

3: The world Thursday Thistle has journeyed to in order to locate Princess Monday, one of seven paranormal princesses each named after a day of the week.

In a world where speaking with “wise men” is more like dealing with tech support and romance can be deadly Thursday will have to contend with: the wicked cannibal queen, a zombie grizzly bear, wee werewolves, robot laser-shooting mermaids, a steampunk tortoise, and a Zen archer monkey.

Additionally, she will meet the Schumacher Hound and find a haunted Halloween cuckoo clock temple and that’s just the beginning in this tale of whimsical wandering in the dreamlike tradition of Alice in Wonderland.

Review:

Thursday Thistle is a teen girl living with her loving widowed father, and two ungrateful step-sisters that treat her badly. On a night when she is left alone in the house, she is visited by a strange two headed mouse that beckons her to follow without delay.

She had twisted and turned across a countless number of streets only to reach this place. A place where the streetlight oozed down, a greasy yellow spot on the asphalt and the two-headed mouse, which resembled a swirling oil slick, hurried across the lighted spot and down the hill. It went down into hell. No, that wasn’t right. It was colder, quiet, an unknown journey into the bowels of the world, down into long forgotten places where nobody walked, but sidewalks still remained.

Once Thursday has entered into this strange new land he is greeted with a nursery rhyme every time she tells someone her name:

Me-O-My Monday is missing and Thursday had come again.

With what scarce information she can gather, there are seven princesses in this new land, and Monday is missing. She takes it upon herself to seek out what has happened to Monday in the hopes of find answers.

Along her journey she is runs into an assortment of strange creatures and characters including: a cannibal queen, a nymphomaniac princess, zombie bears, and insane wise men, just to mention a few. Beyond battling these creatures to find answers, Thursday finds herself battling strong sexual urges in the presence of the princesses when she meets them.

August V. Fahren does a wonderful job assembling a strange and horrifying world that gives Alice in Wonderland a run for its money. My only grip would be that there were areas that seemed left out, as if the author expected the reader to already now certain information, and it left me slightly confused in an already maddening world. Thursday seemed to know things without being told in other areas, but overall I think the story was great and very imaginative.

Thistle Thursday was an odd collage of every fairytale, mixed with horror. This is definitely not a fairytale I was told at bedtime, but my morbid fascination kept me wanting more.

The contest is now closed. The Winner will be announced tomorrow, but please read the review — this is an excellent book and you’ll be able to purchase it come December 6, 2011

We’re pleased to announce a giveaway of a signed Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Jane Kindred’s The Fallen Queen giving YOU the chance to win it before you can buy it. All you have to do is comment on this post before midnight (PST) Black Friday (11/25/11) and you have a chance to win this amazing book. Rules: One entry per person, United States and Canada only. The winner will be selected using Random.org and announced on 11/26/11.

The Fallen Queen
The House of Arkhangel’sk
by Jane Kindred
Entangled Publishing
Copyright © December 2011
ISBN: 978-1937044534
eBook ISBN: 978-1937044527
Paperback $16.99
342 pages

About:

Heaven can go to hell.

Until her cousin slaughtered the supernal family, Anazakia’s father ruled the Heavens, governing noble Host and Fallen peasants alike. Now Anazakia is the last grand duchess of the House of Arkhangel’sk, and all she wants is to stay alive.

Hunted by Seraph assassins, Anazakia flees Heaven with two Fallen thieves–fire demon Vasily and air demon Belphagor, each with their own nefarious agenda–who hide her in the world of Man. The line between vice and virtue soon blurs, and when Belphagor is imprisoned, the unexpected passion of Vasily warms her through the Russian winter.

Heaven seems a distant dream, but when Anazakia learns the truth behind the celestial coup, she will have to return to fight for the throne–even if it means saving the man who murdered everyone she loved.

Review

Epic Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Romance, Angels, Demons, Heaven and Earth. I have been waiting for a chance to read The Fallen Queen for quite some time now. I’ve had the privilege of catching some snippets of the book while playing on Twitter, and the concept intrigued me, so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of the book. The Fallen Queen is full of angels and demons, but not in the way you might think. Jane Kindred has taken the story of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia and the fall of Imperial Russia and blended it with fantasy, with current day Heaven being a reflection of the happenings of Russia, 1918, down to the rumors of the escape of Anastasia. The result is an engaging tale which takes the reader through a maze of political intrigue, assassinations, and romance.

The book opens in the realm of Heaven with the Grand Duchess Anazakia Helisonovna of the House of Arkhangel’sk, a mere seventeen-year-old, playing against a demon in a game of chance at a wingcasting table in Raqia — a city of the Fallen in Heaven, and home to several dens of iniquity, such as the Brimstone where our Angel gambled her crystals away. And just like that — I was hooked. Raqia, the Brimstone, just the names set the atmosphere for what was to come. And opening with an Angel at a wingcasting table? Superb.

Our Angel, Anazakia, is a rather self-absorbed person at the beginning of the book, looking for fun and adventure, and didn’t realize she had brought on more adventure than she could handle. Using a form of magic, she split her essence, so there was a version of herself left at home to attend balls, or dinners, things that Anazakia herself would find boring, while the real Anazakia would sneak out of the palace and head to Raqia to experience life.

It is during one of these forays to Raqia when she finds herself at the wingcasting table facing the demon Belphagor, and is gambling away her crystals while her family is violently slain by her cousin Kae — including the shade of herself.

And lest you think that since this book is about Angels and Demons there are religious overtones to it — there are not. Angels are the Host and reflective of nobility and the supernal (imperial) family. Demons represent the peasant class. And in this peasant class is Belphagor, The Prince of Tricks, and the hero of the piece. Here is Anazakia’s description of Belphagor upon their first meeting:

Raqia’s reigning prince that night was a dark-haired demon with eyes as sharp as the waxed points of his hair. He played his hand as cool as you please and barely seemed to notice me, but he put nearly every card I discarded into play with his own and soon had me hemorrhaging both cards and crystal.
Smoke burned my eyes as the demon nursed his cigar in a deliberate distraction. When he took it between his fingers, I could not help following with my eyes. Beneath the tattered lace of his cuffs, black crosses and diamonds, interlaced with characters of an unfamiliar alphabet, braced his fingers between the knuckles like rings made of ink.

Kindred hooks the reader from the start and takes them on a wild chase from Heaven to the terrestrial plane of man, with the Grand Duchess in the care of two demons as she flees for her life. A brilliantly executed story and one any fantasy lover must read. Jane Kindred is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and would highly recommend you read The Devil’s Garden, a novella by Kindred which we reviewed in August while waiting for the release on December 6th of The Fallen Queen.

Don’t forget to leave a comment for the chance to win the ARC of The Fallen Queen.

Gundarland, a fantasy land presided over by magical Dwarves, Elves and Humans. They are in the first stages of their own industrial revolution, not very technologically advanced, therefore relying on their magic. The kingdom bathes in relative peace, disturbed only by the Defence Minister and the Secretary of Interior, who have turned the politics of the land into a turmoil of lies, spies and sabotage. They detest each other, the rest of the cabinet members being the only thing stopping them leaping for each others throats.

Unknown to the citizens of Gundarland an alien ship orbits the planet, piloted by the formidable Zaftans. Zaftans are described as being almost squid-like, slimy, weighing around four hundred pounds, seven feet high and to top it all off, they  reek of rotting fish guts. Oh, I forgot to mention that they spend their days destroying planets and killing entire species in their relentless search for minerals and precious metals.

Gundarland is their next target, being rich in precious metals and exotic minerals laden with rare elements. The Zaftan spacecraft, captained by a very aggressive Captain Yunta, orbits the planet deciding the best course of action. After kidnapping two citizens to learn the native language the Zaftans send an ambassador down to negotiate with the president. In exchange for the right to explore and mine one or two deposits of precious elements, ‘supposedly’, they will give Gundarland a solution to their pollution problem. However this is simply a disguise for what they really plan to do, suck the planet dry  and destroy anything or anyone who tries to get in their way.

After sending down robots to explore and map the terrain,  property damage occurs angering the masses. Our Dwarf hero, Drakin Gemseeker and his love interest, Leslie Higginbottom come to the fray after Drakin’s mine is trespassed upon by one of the robots. Upholding his fathers values Drakin declares war on the Zaftans and reunites with some of his old army friends to kick the Zaftans out of Gundarland. Assassination attempts, Murky politics, Romance and hilarity ensue.

Somehow Hank has managed to combine elements of politics and humor to create this epic tale. As he promised Hank has shown us an undiscovered side of Sci-Fi that has not been seen before. It’s brilliantly unique. He’s managed to cram so many opposing themes and made them flow together. Its kinda like a meal of Brussels sprouts and ice-cream and he’s managed to make it taste like chocolate. The first few sentences:

The Solar system flaunted unpretentiousness. It existed in a shabby neighbourhood at the raggedy end of an unremarkable galaxy and had a common yellow dwarf at its core with five planets in orbit.

My first thought was…quirky, unique, completely original, different, extraordinary… I could go on spewing out a torrent of synonyms but I think you get the point. I did find that this style of writing gradually faded out within the first few chapter, as if the writer had lost interest half way through and couldn’t be bothered to carry it on.

I see that this book has been quite hyped as being full of laughs and although still funny I wouldn’t say it was comedy, more like wit than anything else. It reminds me of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and very much like Pratchett’s books I can see this coming a long way and perhaps becoming a cult favorite.

I look forward to reading Zaftan Miscreants, the next in the planned three book series, and as much as I think that it’ll be every bit as good as its predecessor I am slightly disappointed that the book is set two hundred and fifty years after the first, I would of liked to see more of the characters. With a little recognition this could go a long way and I wish Hank Quense to have continued good fortune with his writing. I did forget to mention that ZE has also picked up a Readers Favorite award. To conclude, it’s a brilliant book that shows a new side of Sci-Fi rarely seen before. Buy it!

In life, we are often asked to believe in things that cannot be seen or explained. Our world is filled with unanswerable questions about creation, evolution, death, and the magic that binds us together. Doctors can explain how your heart beats and what part of the brain houses memories, but not why cancer spreads or Alzheimer’s steals away the ability to recognize your child’s face. When a book delves into how characters react when faced with mysteries such as these, you can be sure an adventure is in store. It is human nature to respond to tragedy differently, and Paul H. Deepan beautifully illustrates the tough choices a young hero must make when misfortune and magic collide.

The Fruit of the Dendragon Tree, opens on a struggling home haunted by the specter of death. Father and son clash as they strive to cope with the slow and difficult passing of their beloved wife and mother respectively. David cannot handle watching Mary waste away, her illness stealing away their time together. He turns to drink and succumbs to the terrible realization that there is no hope for his wife. Jake, on the other hand, refuses to believe that the end is coming and scours the internet night after night in a desperate attempt to find a miracle cure for his mother. It is during one desperate search that he is beguiled into turning to magic for the answers.

While David sleeps off his latest whiskey binge, Jake sneaks out of the house at the insistence of the resident class witch and loner, Jenny. She asserts that the answer to Jake’s prayers and his mother’s salvation lies in the woods where an ancient ceremonial ritual has been prepared. Jake is soon transported to another world by the magical rite of the Crones: an order of women charged with safeguarding the universe from evil and channeling the Craft to shape the future. He finds himself dropped into the middle of political and civil unrest as a power hungry Duke attempts to rule the realm of Tiramonde, thwarting the guidance of the Crones and upsetting the balance of good and evil.

Led by the witch Ureth, Jake comes to find that he is a part of a Tiramonde prophesy, set to awaken an ancient dragon Marfang who will cleanse the nation of the Duke’s evil:

“He who comes as Marfang’s Doom
Before the dragon Tree does bloom,
With Kildraig’s aid the ruby he
Will pluck from Marfang’s Dragon tree.
True of heart and brave of sword
He will defeat the Undead Lord
He who does the Dragon free
Will a mighty swordsman be:
No other can before him stand
Once he raises sword in hand.”

Jake must pluck the Fruit of the Dendragon Tree and give it to his mother to save her, as it has the power to grant life to the dying. During Jake’s quest to harvest this fruit and fulfill the prophesy father and son are reunited. David finds Jenny and persuades her attempt to use magic to bring Jake back. Instead, David is inadvertently also conveyed to Tiramonde. Once reunited, David and Jake set off on a whirlwind course to take up arms and fight the evil Duke, collect the Fruit, and save Mary. I won’t give away then ending, but Jake is forced to make a decision between father and mother: to save the one dying in his arms or fighting for life in another world. Could you make the toughest choice?

The Fruit of the Dendragon Tree was an interesting yarn that left me wanting more: a bit more fantasy and a little less outside agenda. Being the daughter and granddaughter of two Breast Cancer survivors, I am a champion for cancer research and finding a cure. I was there through the mastectomy, the radiation, and recovery. Cancer affects both patients and their families in a profound way, and I applaud Deepan for conveying this to an audience who may not have experienced it in their own lives. I think it is both beautiful and incredibly generous that partial proceeds from his book sales benefit Breast Cancer research. But, I believe this tale would have been more engrossing for the reader had it focused on expanding the universe of Tiramonde and the cast of characters within it, instead of trying to tie itself to a cause, no matter how worthy.

The most vivid and powerful passages of Dendragon are those where Deepan gets into the nitty-gritty of magic, lays into the history of Tiramonde, or paints a portrait of battle. Cancer, the suffering of Mary, and Jakes fight to save her seemed to be an afterthought, a method to use Deepan’s well written fantasy novel as a vehicle for Breast Cancer awareness. If Mary’s tangent better integrated throughout the plot, it would appear to be more than bookends to a larger, more mystical story. I would definitely want another go-round with Paul H. Deepan and all the fantastic characters and creatures his imagination can breathe life into. Fruit of the Dendragon Tree has only wetted my appetite for the next adventure.

A book’s cover is its calling card and this cover is gorgeous. A lot of times I’ll read a book and go back and look at the cover and realize how the cover didn’t quite capture the story, or how there are bits of the cover which don’t quite fit with the tale inside. But in this case, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect showcase for The Devil’s Garden. Right away there is the flavor of another land, with the promise of luxurious settings, and beautiful women. And you won’t be disappointed. But, as the description for the novella reads, In the Devil’s Garden, appearances can be deceiving…

Cillian Rede put little store in the magic of gods, but devils he believed in. At seventeen summers, he’d seen more than his share. Turn left or right and you would stumble over one in the city of in’La; among the marsh grass and the fragrant trees, intrigue and corruption were as likely to grow.

From the start Jane Kindred paints a picture; sure strokes which let us know we will encounter the magic of gods, and yet devils as well. In fact, returning to this beginning after having read the book, I truly appreciate how well Kindred set up the entire story in those few opening sentences.

We meet Cillian Rede at the start of the story as a seventeen-year-old boy, but he is quickly revealed as the sacred courtesan Maiden Ume Sky. Ume Sky is sure of herself, having earned her status of one of the most elite courtesans in the Garden, while Cillian is uncomfortable with himself as a male. Ume enjoys the power she has over men, knowing exactly what look will elicit the reaction she desires. She has practiced her art for five years and takes pride in her accomplishments. But her position is about to be jeopardized by her most influential patron, and she will be thrust into the middle of political intrigue and corruption.

Jane Kindred weaves a rich tapestry in The Devil’s Garden, lush and full of fine detail. The story is full-bodied, with all the right elements of love, hate, gods, devils, corruption, and even innocence, yet packed into novella length. An excellent read and one I highly recommend.

Reviewed by Daniel Tomas Pearson

Two millennia after three clans and their leaders go through Eon’s Door to find sanctuary in the world of Erla, a prophecy left to them by the ancients that created the portal is coming true. Shorran, sage to the clans, has stolen the portal’s key and is using the “awesome” power that separated the worlds to tear apart the very soul of Nature. The key must be taken back and Eon’s Door closed before it’s too late.

In the first part of the book we follow Miann, his mother, Amara has been killed by Shorran and his father, Amor, has sent him on a quest to find a “Child of doubt”, mentioned in the prophecy as the one who can help save the world of Erla. According to the prophecy he lives in our world , the world in which I’m writing this review. Along the way he enlists the help of various civilizations, from eagles to wolves to horses and the three clans. He finally makes his way to Bobby Wright, another person who’s filled with grief after the death of his father, sometime ago. Together Bobby and Miann, along with help from their friends manage to right their problems and to cut a long story short, defeat Shorran.

If there’s one thing that stands out in this book its the depth. There’s a lot of back story to the characters and the world, you pick up pieces of information throughout the story, adding and adding until it all fits into place like one big jigsaw. Unlike many of the fantasy novels I’ve read in recent months Eon’s Door is the one that hasn’t tried too hard, and in my opinion that’s a good thing.

I’m fed up of reading all the typical fantasy books that seem to be a spin off of Lord Of The Rings, One too many vowels in all the names of characters and places, relying on back story too much, laying on too much crap about dwarves and elves, making up separate languages and so on. This book is the outlier, it’s strayed from the rest of the flock and it manages to tell the story perfectly well, if not better than all the rest. The story might be slightly predictable, but it’s original and that makes it a good read. There’s also a lot of vivid imagery, plenty to feed to the readers hungry imagination.

However, I do have some bones to pick with this book. Most importantly is , in my opinion, the lack of atmosphere at certain places. I don’t feel any tension or happiness at the right points, it’s like a story with no feeling, no emotion, an empty shell. And this is reflected in the portrayal of the characters because I found that I didn’t feel for them, I found it difficult to empathise. At places I couldn’t care what happened, just wanting things to liven up a bit.

However, that’s not to say it’s all bad, because it’s not, a lot of it is excellent and if I could use the phrase “I couldn’t put it down” then I would, but its an e-book and so I can’t. There’s also the small matter of some events or scenes being too brief. At the beginning we see Miann on a journey to the Chrysos eagles, to seek their help. It was done in about two pages and it occurs to me that details of all his hardships along the way and perhaps reading of him reflecting on his mother’s death would have made it slightly more real in my mind.

But it’s easy to overlook these small matters because I did enjoy the book and I very much hope that it will become popular. I also noticed that there was a school study unit for this book and I must say, I’d rather do thirty percent of my GCSE on Eon’s Door rather than John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice And Men”.

I recommend this book to everyone who’s a fan of fantasy and wants something different. I’ll definitely be buying this when it comes to paperback because I have no doubt that this will be a brilliant addition to my extensive collection.

I won a copy of Emily Veinglory’s book in a give away through her well-known review site, POD People, last year and just got around to reading it.  I’m not much for M/M fantasy but since several of my recent reads fell into the supernatural/fantasy genre, I came across Father of Dragons on the book shelf and decided to keep going and read it as well.

I should point out that Father of Dragons fell more into the fantasy genre than into M/M for me.  Despite being gay, I’m usually turned off by most M/M romance or erotica.  These lines are thinly crossed especially when the material is written by a female (often heterosexual) author. Veinglory concentrates more on other storylines and less on the male romance.  While the sexual content is there, its clearly not her focus and this made her book a much more entertaining read for me, especially for someone who usually avoids fantasy all together.

Father of Dragons is the story of a young man named Xeras.  He is haunted by the voice of his lover who has been executed for no reason.  The book opens with Xeras encountering a female dragon while lost in the forest.  He awakes the next morning and is informed by a male dragon that the female dragon implanted an embryo in his side.

Veinglory’s use of dialogue also comes very naturally.  She knows the dialect and its very believable for the time period and genre approached here.  The banter between Xeras and his dead lover was often sweet and sometimes comical.  There’s also not too much dialogue.  The author pushes her story forward with colorful descriptions and narrative that were much more interesting and unique to me.  The dead lover’s speech in italics also made his and Xera’s conversations easy to follow.

Xeras soon finds himself attracted to a Duke named Carly and faced with the chance to confront the dragons that have been attacking the locals. But there are bigger problems echoing from Xeras, homeland and he and Carly find themselves wrapped in a world of magic, all while the voice of Xeras’ previous lover echoes in his ear.  And lets not forget the baby dragon growing inside him!

Veinglory’s characters and the plot are far more fascinating here than the sex.  I’m not saying she can’t write spice, and those scenes were certainly appreciated, but I was drawn to the story more than anything.  That says a lot because usually its the other way around and I’d prefer to just get on to the sex.  Also the idea of a man being pregnant with a dragon was strange, unusual, and new to me, ultimately making this read very enjoyable and different.

This is the first book I’ve read from Samhain.  It is well polished and I found the “clean” cover to be very attractive.  Most erotica or M/M romance slaps a shirtless torso on the cover and immediately tries to appeal to our visual senses.  Veinglory’s writing stands alone and deserves a cover such as this one.  If you enjoy fantasy, dragons, and a touch of M/M, then I highly recommend this read to you.