When you ask author Valerie Griswold-Ford how she got her contract for Not Your Father’s Horseman, she will tell you, “Well, Tee suggested I finish the manuscript and then pitch it to Dragon Moon. What Tee didn’t tell me was he pitched it for me to Dragon Moon and got me a contract.” So, yeah, I figured a great motivator in getting your first novel done was a contract.
Review: “The Dark Path” by Walter H. Hunt
Reviewing books, especially when you’re trying to write your own, makes you a bit self-conscious. When you’re asked for an opinion, you have to approach each title as a reader who is looking for a good escape. That self-conscious feeling only gets worse when I review works written by people I know. I want to give an honest opinion–but if I don’t like it, the friendship is irrevocably marred.
Review: “Across The Nightingale Floor” by Lian Hearn
Billed as “Asian Fantasy,” Across the Nightingale Floor is an epic tale of revenge, intrigue, and love unrequited. At least, that is what the book jacket says. The writing style could have ascended me to a higher plane of enlightenment, but its absent plot, vapid characters, and stilted dialog made me want to commit hari-kari.
Review: “The Incredibles”
What Monsters, Inc. did for monster movies and creatures in the closet, The Incredibles does even more for comic book heroes and James Bond flicks.
Review: “Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars”
Do I have an agenda in reviewing this highly anticipated and primarily fan-promoted mini-series Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars? Perhaps. Am I a fan of Farscape? The answer is “Frel, yes!” Does this mean that if The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark produced a four-hour epic-size crap sandwich, I’d be happy regardless?
I hate to disappoint you all out here, but no. If anything, my expectations were completely out-of-bounds and over-the-top. I don’t think I was alone on Sunday night in my outlandish and outrageous expectations. And with what was riding on this mini-series, the Farscape crew had a lot to face and even more to overcome.
Review: “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”
The summer began with Van Helsing returning to the days of the creature feature and the Hammer House horror films. It ends with a return to the days of mechanized monsters and Saturday afternoon serials.
Move over Indiana Jones. Make room for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow!
Review: “The Dark Wing” by Walter H. Hunt
An alien race, following their religious doctrines, shatter their latest peace treaty with the Sol Empire by launching an unprovoked attack against a deep space outpost. This time, however, the war between humans and aliens takes on a far more sinister overtone as the admiral of the Imperial Fleet proclaims himself “The Bringer of The Apocolypse” or The Dark Wing, a Military SF epic from Walter H. Hunt and Tor Books.
Review: “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown
If Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed the television show 24, the end result would be The Da Vinci Code, a strap-yourself-in-and-hold-on-for-dear-life of a read that lives up to the hype and does not disappoint.
Review: “Tinker” by Wen Spencer
If heavily armed elves, a demonic conspiracy, and a girl genius doesn’t sound like a wild enough ride, how about Pittsburgh being the epicenter of a dimensional rift. Welcome to Wen Spencer’s Tinker, a book that is an adventure worth every page!
Review: “SOMETIMES THE MAGIC WORKS: Lessons from a Writing Life” by Terry Brooks
Take a sneak peek into the imagination of an amazing writer…and a good guy to boot. Sometimes The Magic Works is a book for everyone who either loves to write, loves to read, or loves to dream.
