Bayou Renaissance Man

I'll be very grateful if those of you who've bought and read my latest novel, "A River of Horns", fourth in the Ames Archives, my Western series, would please leave a fair and honest review on its page at Amazon.com.




I fear that launching it shortly before Christmas as I did, many people bought it, but didn't read it immediately;  and now, having done so, they're not putting up reviews.  Despite selling reasonably well, it has only 14 reviews at the time of writing (all of them very positive, but simply not enough of them).

Reviews are critical to independent authors like myself.  They tell prospective buyers what to expect, and may be the deciding factor in their decision.  Sadly, many authors (including myself) have encountered steadily declining numbers of reviews over the past couple of years.  It's not that the books aren't selling;  it's that most people seem to have "switched off" from leaving them.  That hurts us, both short- and long-term.  It affects short-term sales, and it makes building a long-term readership for future books more difficult.

Thanks in advance if you're able to help.  In fact, if you've read other books of mine and not reviewed them, please consider leaving reviews on their pages, too.  It'll be a big help.

Peter

Alma Boykin is no stranger to readers of these pages.  She's a friend to Miss D. and I in meatspace as well as cyberspace, and we've enjoyed her books for years.  (We'll be spending time with her this weekend.)

Her latest novel in the "Colplatschki Chronicles" series is an interesting one.  "Fountains of Mercy" is the eighth in the series, but is actually a prequel to the other books.  It might appear at first to be a dystopian novel with science fiction overtones, but it's far from the run-of-the-mill in both genres.  Alma makes things much more technically interesting, and given her very extensive and varied background and education, she makes them believable, too.




The blurb reads:

Fires dance in the sky, and the great machines fail.

Colonial Plantation LTD can't decide what to do with Solana, also called ColPlat XI. Should it be a nature preserve, a living museum of pre-industrial techniques, or a standard colony? As the bureaucrats wrangle, a solar storm disrupts technology and reveals deep rifts between the colonists and their administrators.

Susanna "Basil" Peilov clawed her way out of the slums and wants nothing to do with the Company. Peter Babenburg just wants to build his water system and stay out of trouble. When the sky-fires come, Basil, Peter, and their families and friends stand between the colony and chaos. Company administrators assure everyone that replacement parts and assistance is coming, will come. Without those supply ships from the stars, everything falls apart and the colony will die. All that people can do is wait and hope for rescue.

The administrators never planned on facing a group of engineers, a crazy farmer and his wives, and colonists determined to protect their home. Hope comes from some unlikely places, and courage takes eccentric shapes.

It's an interesting book, and is currently keeping me busy turning the pages.  Recommended reading.

Peter

I'd initially planned my latest fantasy novel, "Taghri's Prize", to be a stand-alone work, without sequels.  However, a large proportion of the reviews on Amazon.com have hinted, suggested, or plain outright demanded that I write more in Taghri's universe.  I know when I'm beaten!  If I want to be a successful writer, earning a living, I have to give my readers what they want - and you clearly want more Taghri.

I've begun working out a plot for Taghri 2.  It's going to involve theft, plots against a King, skullduggery on the high seas, and city-states competing against each other for power and influence.  I'm already laughing as I envisage the complications that may ensue.

The third Ames Archives Western novel, "Gold on the Hoof", is preparing for publication right now.  I'm busy writing the third and final volume of the Laredo War trilogy.  Next will be the sixth volume in the Maxwell Saga.  Coming soon, possibly even before Laredo 3, will be the first Maxwell Omnibus:  the first 3 Maxwell books, plus a new short story set in that universe, to give people an incentive to read it.  I'm also working on a joint novel with another author, and a short story with a short-term deadline for another anthology.  That'll keep me busy for the rest of 2019 and into early 2020.

When most of that is out of the way, look for Taghri 2, Ames 4, a preparedness handbook (which we discussed in these pages earlier this year), and at least one science fiction novel in 2020.

They do say there's no peace for the wicked!

Peter

Miss D.'s and my friend in meatspace and cyberspace, Cedar Sanderson (whom you've met in these pages several times before), has just published a new paranormal/crime/whodunnit novel.  This one's called "Possum Creek Massacre".




This is the second novel in the "Witchward" series.  We met paranormal detective Amaya Lombard previously in the novella "Snow In Her Eyes" (which I also highly recommend).

The blurb for "Possum Creek Massacre" reads:

Renowned for her witch hunting skills, Detective Amaya Lombard knew that being summoned from the coastal rainforest of Oregon to the backwoods hollers of Kentucky meant the case was something special. From the moment she arrived at the magic soaked scene in an abandoned farmhouse she knew how bad it was going to be. She had no idea just how complicated it was going to get, professionally and personally. Now she must catch a killer before they catch her. The roots of evil plunge deeply into the past, and the blood soaked history of Kentucky’s witch warded houses and barns may hold the key to keeping her alive in the present.

If you'd like to read snippets from the book, Cedar has published two on her blog, here and here.

Cedar writes about this area from personal experience, living close to it as she does, and having traveled there with (and to visit) family.  She makes it come alive.  I'm looking forward to reading her latest book, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.  She's one of the few authors whose books I'll buy sight unseen, because I know they're sure to entertain and intrigue me.

Peter

Miss D. and I have found several very good restaurants by sheer happenstance during our travels, and enjoyed them immensely.  We ran into another one yesterday, on our way to Shreveport for a quick business trip.

Scrumbscious Burgers & Pieshakes is in a shopping center in Forney, TX, a little to the east of Dallas, just off US Highway 80.  Feeling hungry, we'd gotten off the highway and were idly glancing at restaurants as we drove through the parking area.  The place caught our eye, and on a whim we decided to try it.  We're glad we did!

Scrumbscious is a family business, run by a husband-and-wife team (with eight kids, no less, so one understands their urgent need to be able to produce large quantities of tasty food in short order!).  We wandered in to ask what a "pieshake" might be.  Turns out they offer a range of pies (chocolate creme, banana creme, coconut creme, sweet potato, peaches & creme, razzleberry, pecan, strawberry creme and vanilla creme) which can be either eaten in the traditional way, or whipped up with milk and cream into a shake.  Their pieshakes are apparently well-known at the Texas State Fair.  We sampled a chocolate creme pieshake, and it was very tasty.

Intrigued by the story and the atmosphere, we each ordered a Scrumbscious Burger, consisting of two giant patties and cheese with a range of trimmings.  They were IMMENSE!  They have to be the biggest burgers I've ever seen anywhere.




The owner assured us that there were twelve ounces of meat in each Scrumbscious Burger - but as Miss D. commented in an awed tone, she must mean cooked weight, not raw!  I'd swear there was more like a pound of meat in there.  There were a range of available toppings, some free, some at additional cost.  I went with grilled onions and mushrooms, and was very satisfied.  My wife had grilled onions and dill pickles.  Side dishes were sweet potato fries for her, onion rings for me - the best-seasoned onion rings I can ever remember eating, too, accompanied by a dipping sauce.  Delicious!




There was no way we could finish such immense portions, but we tried valiantly.  We were far too full for dessert, but wanted to sample the intriguingly named "razzleberry" pie (three different kinds of berry, combined in a single dish), so we ordered one to share.  It was extremely tasty, sweet but not cloying.




We ended up with three takeout boxes, which accompanied us the rest of the way to Shreveport.  We're tempted to drop in there again on the way back, to pick up takeout for our friends in north Texas;  but we have no way to keep the food hot and fresh on the drive home.  Pity about that.

We'll definitely be stopping at Scrumbscious again when we pass that way;  and if you find yourself east of Dallas, TX, it's well worth going out of your way to visit the restaurant.  Just make sure you're hungry when you get there!

Peter

... is available today only in e-book format for just $1.99.

If you want to understand something of apartheid-era South Africa, Rian Malan's book "My Traitor's Heart" is one of the few volumes I regard as indispensable.




Mr. Malan writes as an Afrikaner whose eyes were opened in his youth to the folly and impracticality of the apartheid system - but he didn't fully grasp its actual, innate evil until he returned to South Africa as an adult.  His book is a searing memoir of awakening, a documentary of the murderous blind hatred that overtook so many groups and individuals in South Africa during the 1980's and 1990's, and at the same time a vision of hope that has sadly remained unfulfilled . . . at least, so far.

The blurb reads:

Rian Malan’s classic work of reportage, My Traitor’s Heart is at once beautiful, horrifying, and profound in ways that earned him comparisons to Michael Herr and Ryszard Kapuściński and inspired the London Times to call him “South Africa’s Hunter S. Thompson.” An Afrikaner, Malan is the scion of a centuries-old clan deeply involved in the creation of apartheid. As a young crime reporter, he covered the atrocities of an undeclared race war and ultimately fled the country, unhinged by what he had seen.

Eight years later, he returns to confront his own demons, and those that are tearing his country apart. With unflinching candor, Malan explores the grizzly violence and perverse rationalizations at the root of his nation’s identity.

Written in the final years of apartheid’s bloody collapse, My Traitor’s Heart still resonates, offering a “passionate, blazingly honest testament” to the darkest recesses of the black and white South African psyches. “Those who read it will never again see South Africa the same way” (Los Angeles Times Book Review).

I can't recommend this book too highly.  If you have any interest at all in a country torn apart by racism and xenophobia, particularly in the light of the divisions increasingly apparent in these United States, you owe it to yourself to read it.  If you miss today's e-book special price, it's still worth buying at full price.  I have three hardback copies, in order to have spares to lend to friends, which gives you some idea of how much I value it.  I was there through many of the events he describes, and I can confirm that his account rings true.

"My Traitor's Heart" isn't light or easy reading, and may make you feel very uncomfortable in parts, but it'll make you aware of the realities of a terminally divided society as few others will.

Peter

Miss D. and I spent Tuesday night at the St. James Hotel in Cimarron, New Mexico.




As a historic building, it's fascinating, with authentic furniture, fixtures and relics of its past that are meat and drink to those interested in such things.




The hotel was a major way station in northern New Mexico during the years of the so-called Wild West.  As Wikipedia notes:

The St. James was first built in 1872, on the recommendation of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, by Henri (later Henry) Lambert, personal chef to President Abraham Lincoln. Lambert moved west and settled in Elizabethtown, New Mexico, with hopes of making a wealthy strike. When he found little gold, he opened a restaurant and saloon. At this time, Elizabethtown, Cimarron, and much of the surrounding area was owned by Lucien B. Maxwell and was a part of the huge Maxwell Land Grant. Maxwell enticed Lambert to come to Cimarron, whereupon he founded the Lambert Inn, which would later be renamed the St. James.

In its day, the St. James was visited by many famous lawmen and notorious outlaws and was the scene of many murders. A favorite saying in the area became "It appears Lambert had himself another man for breakfast." and the usual question around Cimarron was "Who was killed at Lambert's last night?" Wyatt Earp, his brother Morgan, and their wives stayed at the Inn on their way to Tombstone, Arizona. Jesse James always stayed in Room 14. Buffalo Bill Cody stayed at the Inn and took an entire village of Native Americans living nearby on the road with his show. The outlaw Davy Crockett, a descendant of the original Davy Crockett, killed three Buffalo Soldiers inside the hotel's bar room in 1876. Other notable customers were Clay Allison, Black Jack Ketchum, and Annie Oakley.

In 1901, when Henry Lambert's sons replaced the roof of the St. James, they found many bullet holes. A double layer of hard wood stopped anyone sleeping upstairs from being killed. Today, the dining room ceiling still holds some twenty bullet holes.

The hotel bar is infamous for the number of gunfights that took place there, and the number of people who died as a result.  The notorious Clay Allison (who ranched in the area) was a regular there, demonstrated by the number of fatalities he caused.  This list is provided to guests by the hotel.  Click the image for a larger, more readable view.




The hotel is said to be haunted by the ghosts of some of those who died there, with one room (no. 18) permanently locked and closed to visitors because of the allegedly malevolent nature of the purported poltergeist residing there.  You can read more about it here.  The main hotel is filled with photographs and relics of that period, and will repay a visit by anyone wanting to "reach out and touch" the history of the Old West.

Unfortunately, as modern accommodation, the St. James leaves a lot to be desired, judging by our room in one of the newer annexes.  For a start, it offers no luggage carts at all!  In this day and age, particularly with bags and suitcases having to be carried in from the street and (in our case) across a courtyard, surely that's a basic necessity?  The receptionist was kind enough to summon a maintenance man to help us carry our bags to the room, but no-one was available when we checked out, so we had to make multiple journeys ourselves, in the rain.  I wasn't impressed.

The room also gave cause for concern.  It was neat and clean, to be sure, but the mattresses and beds were so soft as to provide almost no support at all, which meant that both Miss D. and myself suffered from sore backs in the morning.  The heating arrangements were adequate, but confusing, with an old-style heating system around the baseboards plus a window unit that could provide warm or cool air, according to its settings.  Figuring out how to balance the two was tricky.  Then, there was no desk or writing area whatsoever - surely a basic necessity in these days of laptop computers?  We had to rest our laptops on our beds, which isn't good for their ventilation systems.  The complimentary internet access was more alleged than real, with frequent interruptions in service and occasional complete shut-downs lasting fifteen minutes or more.  (That may be the result of poor signal reception in the annex, rather than the main hotel;  I couldn't say for sure.)

The restaurant was also somewhat disappointing.  The food was well-cooked and tasty, but the selection was very limited.  In a hotel founded by a chef, I'd hoped for a more extensive menu.  I suppose, to be fair, the demand for it in a relatively poor area such as northern New Mexico, and a run-down town like Cimarron, simply doesn't cost-justify that, but it's still a pity.  I enjoyed my bison burger, but Miss D. was suffering from altitude sickness after almost a week at what are (for us) nosebleed altitudes, so she couldn't finish hers.  It made a suitable midnight snack, later that evening.

The hotel's charges appeared excessive.  Including local taxes, we paid over $145 for our room for one night.  That's more than a much better equipped and more comfortable room would cost us in almost any other town, at any quality hotel such as a Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites.  We won't willingly stay at the St. James again under such conditions unless the hotel at least halves its prices.  They clearly expect visitors to pay them for the sake of the history of the building and its artifacts, and perhaps to be able to say that one has slept in the same room as a famous historical figure.  Sorry.  Neither works for me.  As a hotel, this was not value for money.

So, I guess I'm in two minds about the St. James Hotel.  As an historical location filled with interesting artifacts, it's well worth a visit.  From the perspective of a place to sleep, based on the room we were allocated, I don't think it's an attractive destination.  I suppose "you pays your money and you makes your choice", as the old saw reminds us.

Peter

Friend, fellow author and supper breakfast lunch frequent meal companion Old NFO, a.k.a. Jim Curtis, has just released the latest novel, "Twilight", in his Grey Man series.




The blurb reads:

Never count an old man out, even when he's hanging up his hat!

Deputy Sheriff John Cronin is looking forward to a quiet retirement, working on the ranch, and handing it off to his granddaughter Jesse. And he's got to pass on a generation worth of investigations, but it's not as easy as handing over the case files and the keys. First, he's got to train Aaron Miller to fill his role, from the way to dress for rural juries to the finer points of stakeouts and murder investigations, Texas style.

Between the oil patch workers and the cartel's drug runners, there are plenty of loose ends for him to tie off... or terminate...

Miss D. and I had the pleasure of being part of this book's genesis, reading chapter drafts, offering suggestions (sometimes even helpful ones!), and watching it take shape.  Jim has done his usual excellent job as a raconteur.  That's what makes his style unique, IMHO:  he's not writing to a conventional editor's specifications, but rather telling a tale in verbal style, as one hears so many do here in Texas.  It's colloquial, spoken rather than written as far as style goes, and a rattling good read.  Recommended.

Peter

Miss D. and I found that our supply of chocolate wine sauce from 501 Winery in Childress, TX had become sadly depleted.  This would never do, so we headed up Highway 287 in that direction today.

We started with coffee at Ballyhoo.  It's a weird sort of establishment - part coffee shop (good coffee, too!), part eclectic gift store, part small-Texas-town-with-lots-of-cowboy-history collection of memorabilia.  It's an interesting place to visit and browse.  Miss D. bought a rather nice top, and is already scheming about what to wear with it for LibertyCon later this year.

From there we headed for the 501 Winery.  It offers a number of local wines, but our preference is undoubtedly for their chocolate wine sauces.  They have dark and milk chocolate varieties using Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Cabernet and other grapes.  They don't have all varieties in stock at all times, so one has to take what one can get - but we've never been disappointed by the flavor.  The image below is courtesy of the winery's Facebook photo wall.




We came away with three bottles of milk chocolate Sangiovese and one of dark chocolate Tempranillo wine sauce.  With heroic self-restraint, we haven't opened them yet . . . but that won't last!  We'll use a couple here, for ourselves and guests, and we have recipients in mind for the others.

After we'd made our purchases, we asked the winery folks for recommendations on where to eat a late lunch.  They recommended the local branch of the Plaza, a Mexican restaurant about a mile away.  It was a very pleasant surprise to us - clean, efficiently staffed, with really good food, certainly among the best Mexican restaurants I've ever patronized.  Apparently the chain is based in Amarillo, and is spreading throughout north Texas.  I hope they open a branch nearer to us soon!  The menu is extensive, and based on our experience, very well prepared and tasty.  I went with the build-your-own-ensenadas option, selecting enchiladas filled to order, and found them delicious.  Miss D. went for a combo dish, La Casa Especial, which she pronounced very satisfying and filling (she brought a lot of it home with her, to consume at her leisure).

All in all, we're very glad to have discovered the Plaza chain.  If the other branches are as good as its Childress restaurant, we'll be repeat visitors whenever we pass near one.

As always, no, I'm not being compensated in any way for mentioning the coffee shop, the winery or the restaurant.  We just like to share places and things we like with our friends - among whom I include my readers.  If you find yourself in Childress, TX, or near a Plaza restaurant in north Texas, you could do a lot worse than try them for yourself.

Peter

I'm thoroughly enjoying "The Fall of Dragons", fifth and last volume in Miles Cameron's Traitor Son cycle, which has just been published.




It's an impressive and profound conclusion to the series.  The only thing wrong with it is that it's the last book in the cycle!  The blurb reads:

In the climax of the Traitor Son Cycle, the allied armies of the Wild and the Kingdoms of men and women must face Ash for control of the gates to the hermetical universe, and for control of their own destinies. But exhaustion, treachery and time may all prove deadlier enemies.

In Alba, Queen Desiderata struggles to rebuild her kingdom wrecked by a year of civil war, even as the Autumn battles are fought in the west. In the Terra Antica, The Red Knight attempts to force his unwilling allies to finish the Necromancer instead of each other.

But as the last battle nears, The Red Knight makes a horrifying discovery...all of this fighting may have happened before.

I suggest reading the books in sequence, because the overall story arc will make more sense that way.  The five books, in order, are:

1. The Red Knight
2. The Fell Sword
3. The Dread Wyrm
4. The Plague of Swords
5. The Fall of Dragons

Mr. Cameron (a pseudonym - does anyone know his real name, or the name[s] under which he's published other books?) brings to his writing a thorough, practical background in medieval and early Renaissance arms and armor, and their use in battle.  He also displays an impressive knowledge of the magical school of hermeticism, and employs it extensively as a counterpoint to more traditional religious faiths, with emphasis on Christianity in a heavily Catholic context, but also involving Orthodoxy and Islam in their primitive forms, as well as animist beliefs and traditions.  It makes for a very interesting synthesis of myth and legend, faith and fantasy.

If you like military-oriented fantasy with a strongly-developed magical system, this series is for you.  Highly recommended.

Peter

I'm sure readers are aware of the efforts of 'Yes California' and other parties to have California secede from the United States.  In the light of that state's increasingly frenzied, illogical, irrational liberalism, many in the US wish they'd do it . . . but don't predict a successful separation.

That's what gave rise to a new anthology put together by J. L. Curtis, better known to many as blogger Old NFO.




The blurb reads:

When California declares independence, their dreams of socialist diversity become nightmares for many from the high Sierras to the Central Valley. Follow the lives of those who must decide whether to stand their ground, or flee!

• In San Diego, the commander of Naval Special Warfare Group One finds his hands tied by red tape, even as protesters storm the base and attack dependents.

• In Los Angeles, an airline mechanic must beg, borrow, or bribe to get his family on the plane out before the last flight out.

• Elsewhere, a couple seeks out the new underground railroad after being forced to confess to crimes they didn't commit.

• In the new state of Jefferson, farmers must defend themselves against carpetbaggers and border raiders.

• And in the high Sierras, a woman must make the decision to walk out alone...

Featuring all-new stories set after Calexit from JL Curtis, Bob Poole, Cedar Sanderson, Tom Rogneby, Alma Boykin, B Opperman, L B Johnson, Eaton Rapids Joe, Lawdog, and Kimball O'Hara.

Many of the contributors are my friends and fellow writers.  I'm very glad they were able to collaborate on this project.  (Yes, I was invited, but I'm so swamped by other work at present that I simply couldn't come up with a project worth submitting.  It wasn't so much writer's block as writer's overload!)  I've read the pre-publication drafts of many of the stories, and they're good.  Highly recommended reading.

Amazon.com hasn't linked the editions at the time of writing, so you'll find them at these links:




Within a day or two, the first link should get you to both editions.

Enjoy!

Peter

Earlier this year, Mojo Mori's suspense thriller 'Six Expressions of Death' was released.




I don't particularly enjoy most thrillers or suspense novels.  I find most of them wanting in one or more aspects, failing to hold my attention.  This one is different.  It's set in samurai-era Japan, and offers a fascinating insight into that culture in the guise of a murder mystery.  Added to that is an element of the mystical and spiritual, a supernatural twist to the classic whodunnit genre.

The blurb reads:

When an unknown man is shot, then stabbed to death on the road between Morijuku and the village of Iwagi, it is natural to assume that he fell victim to bandits preying on travelers passing through the Kiso Mountains. But when Daikawa Tadashi, a samurai from a poor, but ancient noble house, encounters the body, he realizes that there is likely more to the tale than a simple robbery.

And when Tadashi's attempt to dutifully report the murder to one of his daimyo's lieutenants unexpectedly results in a second murder, he finds himself, and worse, his lover, ensnared in a dangerous web of deceit and death. For clan war looms over the mountains, the Tiger of Kai, the lord of the Takeda, is on the prowl, and shinobi stalk the shadows of the night.

I don't normally post reviews of books whose authors I don't know, or with whom I don't have contact;  but "Six Expressions of Death" has impressed me enough that I'm going to recommend it very highly to my readers.  I think it's an excellent first novel, and I'm looking forward to more from this author.

Peter

I know some readers find it frustrating when independent authors, such as myself, ask readers of their books to leave reviews on Amazon.com.  They don't like to be bombarded with such pleas.  I try very hard not to issue such appeals too often:  but reviews are important, as the New York Post explains.

No reviews, no revenue.

That’s the key takeaway from a new study published in Psychological Science, which finds that if two similar products have the same rating, online shoppers will buy the one with more reviews.

. . .

The study concluded that consumers see products with more reviews as being more popular, and they’re more comfortable having what everyone else is having, regardless of quality.

“[When] faced with a choice between two low-scoring products, one with many reviews and one with few, the statistics say we should actually go for the product with few reviews, since there’s more of a chance it’s not really so bad,” wrote researcher Derek Powell of Stanford University, lead author of the report. In other words, when there’s only a handful of reviews, a few bad ones break the curve and bring down the overall rating.

“But participants in our studies did just the opposite: They went for the more popular product, despite the fact that they should’ve been even more certain it was of low quality,” he wrote.

Matt Moog, CEO of PowerReviews, previously conducted a study with Northwestern University that drew from an even larger data pool of 400 million consumers, which also found that the more reviews there are of a product, the more likely it is that a customer will purchase that product. “Around 20 [and running up to 50] is the optimal number of reviews for a product to have to give consumers the confidence that this product has been tried enough by enough people,” he told Moneyish.

. . .

Most online shoppers (97 percent to be exact) say reviews influence their buying decisions, according to Fan & Fuel Digital Marketing Group, which also found that 92 percent of consumers will hesitate to buy something if it has no customer reviews at all.

And 73 percent of shoppers say written reviews make more of an impression on them than the star or number ratings, according to Deloitte.

There's more at the link.

I guess that shows why writers beg, plead and grovel for reviews!  I always tell people to leave an honest review, too.  If you didn't like my book(s), feel free to say so, and why;  but if you did like them, please say that, too (and why).  It not only helps me write better in future (and I do take such feedback seriously), but it also helps potential readers assess my books and decide for themselves whether or not they'd like to 'take a chance' on a new-to-them author.

Interestingly, even negative reviews can help sell products to people who know what they're looking for.  For example, one of my wife's favorite cookbooks was bought because of a one-star review.  The reviewer complained that it was nothing but a selection of the best recipes from four previous cookbooks by the same author.  She felt cheated, because she owned the other books, and would not have bought this one if she'd known that.  My wife, on the other hand, read the review, and realized that by buying one book, she'd get the best parts of four others.  Sold!  Another example;  several readers, of varying political persuasions, have told me that they've sometimes bought a book in that field because of negative comments from reviewers of an opposing point of view.  If a left-wing reviewer attacks a right-wing book, a right-wing reader might buy it because of that, and vice versa.  I've never done that myself, but it makes sense to me.

So, dear readers;  if you've read my book(s), and haven't yet left a review of it/them on Amazon.com, please do so.  Thanks!

Peter

Friends in meatspace and cyberspace, Tom Rogneby and Alma Boykin (the links are to their respective blogs), have each put out a new piece of short fiction in the past few days.

Alma's newest is a collection of five short stories titled 'Familiar Tales'.




The title doesn't mean that the stories are familiar;  rather that they're stories about familiars, the spirits (usually in animal form) who are 'assigned' to magicians and other arcane practitioners to help them in their work.  Alma's 'familiars' are sometimes a hindrance, too, due to their somewhat . . . ah . . . eclectic natures.  The collection of stories is a lot of fun, with several sections that had Miss D. and I laughing aloud.

Tom's latest offering is a short story titled 'The Boogeyman'.




It's about a private investigator with paranormal leanings, and a lot of experiences he'd rather not have had - hence his title.  He looks scary, but he's good at his job.  This story tells the tale of one such job, in a way that has you riding right along with the hero.  Good stuff.

Both books carry Miss D.'s and my seal of approval, and they're very reasonably priced.  Recommended reading.

Peter

My friend and fellow author, Cedar Sanderson (who also designs covers - I had her create the cover for my forthcoming fantasy novel) has just published another novella (i.e. a short novel - usually considered to be between 17,500 and 40,000 words).  This one's titled 'Snow in her Eyes'.




I bought it and read it at once.  Being a short read (and priced accordingly), it didn't take me too long.  It's great!  In this book, Cedar combines her love of modern fantasy with her education as a forensic chemistry assistant (I'm sure that job title is wrong, and she'll probably scold me for using it, but it's the best I can come up with at short notice).  The result is startling - a police investigation involving a paranormal detective, with some very unusual twists to the plot.  Highly recommended reading.

If you like modern fantasy (not necessarily just urban fantasy, which so many are writing these days  - a lot of her work involves rural scenery, such as her Pixie For Hire trilogy, which begins in Alaska), then take a look at all Cedar's books.  Miss D. and I are definitely her fans, as well as her friends.

Peter

Miss D. and I went up to Oklahoma City this morning. It's a drive of a couple of hours, not too far for an occasional day out.  We wanted to buy new dinner plates and accessories, and there's a Corelle factory outlet store there.  We spent an hour walking through it, buying dinner and side plates in the design we'd selected, and then browsing for bowls and other bits and pieces.  Their prices were rather better than other shops or online vendors we'd tried, so it was worth the trip.

By then it was lunchtime, and I suggested seafood.  Miss D. did her usual wizardry with what Lawdog calls the Portable Magic Elf Box (a.k.a. smartphone), and after perusing a list of local establishments, we decided that Pearl's Crabtown, housed in a converted warehouse, sounded interesting.  We headed that way.  My, oh my, oh my . . . it turned out to be an inspired choice!  (Click the pictures for a larger view.)




The decor and atmosphere are very warehouse-like, very pub-like, and comfortable.  We had to smile at the giant green crab over the fireplace.  I think the picture below must have been taken from right next to the table where we sat.




The service was extremely good, so much so that our waitress got a better than 20% tip for her hard work.  As for the food, we decided we'd try a combination of several starters and nibble on them together, rather than order a single main course each.  We picked (from their menu - link is to an Adobe Acrobat file in .PDF format):

• Chowder Fries - "Crabtown fries smothered with creamy clam chowder, cheddar cheese, crispy bacon and scallions";
• Fried Calamari - the regular rather than the spicy version;
• Louisiana Crab Cakes with remoulade sauce;  and -
• A cup of Boston Clam Chowder.

I can only describe the food as superb.  It's easily the best seafood we've tasted since we visited the Gulf Coast a few years ago (where, as you may recall, my wife was mean to me - and yes, I still tease her about that!).  Everything was very tasty, but the crab cakes and clam chowder were particularly delicious.  We were too full for dessert (even though these were nominally starter-sized portions, they were very generous), but we ordered a slice of key lime pie to take home with us.  Miss D. always says that the further a restaurant is from the sea, the more she mistrusts its seafood;  but after today's lunch, she says she'll gladly make an exception to that rule for Crabtown.

I washed down my meal with a very interesting beer:  Marshall Old Pavilion Pilsener.  It was a delicious and original variation on traditional German pilsener, rather 'heavier' than usual.  I enjoyed every drop.  It doesn't appear to be available outside Oklahoma, so that's a good excuse to make more trips there to stock up on it now and again!

If you happen to find yourself in Oklahoma City for any reason, and you like seafood, Miss D. and I highly recommend Pearl's Crabtown.  We'll be going back there, even if it takes an almost five-hour round trip to get there and home again.  It's worth it.  (No, they aren't sponsoring this review or giving me any kickbacks.  I just like to tell my readers when I discover something worthwhile.)

Peter

Sometimes foul-mouthed actor Samuel L. Jackson brings us this summary of the first six seasons of Game of Thrones.  LANGUAGE ALERT:  He's not very polite.




Err . . . OK . . . I guess!




Peter

I've just had the pleasure of reading Gen. John L. Piotrowski's autobiography, 'Basic Airman to General: The Secret War & Other Conflicts: Lessons in Leadership & Life'.




As the title suggests, General Piotrowski rose from the lowest enlisted rank to that of four-star general - E-1 to O-10.  You literally can't do better than that, career-wise, in the US military, and haven't been able to do so since World War II, when the last five-star General and Flag officers were created.  His description of the different units in which he served, and their missions, is very well written.  In particular, he was a founding member of the 'Air Commandos', seeing combat in Vietnam long before the major US buildup there.  Here's an amusing snippet from 1962:

There was a stipulation from the US government that we had to fly with a Vietnamese person in our aircraft so that if we were shot down, the higher ups in Washington could claim that we were just training Vietnamese aircrews and not involved in combat operations.

The solution to this political directive was for the VNAF to select some very young enlisted personnel and assign them to fly on AT-28, B-26, and C-47 missions. There was no training involved, except the signal for bailout and how to safely jump from the aircraft and pull the D ring to deploy the parachute. AT-28 pilots asked the interpreter to tell these reluctant passengers, “If the cockpit canopy opens in flight, bail out!” Pilots or aircrews scheduled for alert duty were introduced to their “trainees” immediately after breakfast. After saying hello and remembering what they looked like, we went to our respective alert tents, one for American aircrews, the second for the Vietnamese. When the alert horn sounded, we were both supposed to run to our aircraft. However, after a few flights in the backseat of an AT-28 and being hurled at the ground, the trainees ran the other way and had to be run down, tackled, and led reluctantly to the airplane.

I can't say I blame the Vietnamese trainees at all!

Gen. Piotrowski concludes each chapter with a series of 'lessons learned';  what each experience and rank and posting taught him about life, a military career, and being a better leader.  He tells his story well, keeping the reader interested, and revealing an insider's perspective that one doesn't often find in such memoirs.  I found his exposition of the responsibilities of general officer rank to be of particular value:  personnel selection, management approaches, political and diplomatic considerations, the problems of ego and empire-building, and so on.

I'm certainly going to use what I've learned from Gen. Piotrowski in my military science fiction writing.  It'll add a new and valuable perspective.  I highly recommend his book to all aviation and military history buffs.

Peter

The symphonic metal group Nightwish from Finland have produced some interesting music over the years.  I've enjoyed some of their songs, intensely disliked others, and had some real moral and ethical problems with what appeared to be a dark, almost Satanic influence that seemed to color some of their most popular numbers.  For example, one of their most popular songs, 'Wish I Had An Angel', refers to the Virgin Mary and angels in ways that I find very disturbing.  I know that in today's post-Christian society many entertainers choose to (mis)use religious symbols in that fashion, but as a man of faith I find it impossible to accept or condone.

However, Nightwish's latest album, released in March this year, is something bright and new from them.  They appear to have moved away from their darker roots and focused on being a band, instead of a collection of eclectic individuals.  'Endless Forms Most Beautiful' focuses on the theories of Charles Darwin, with an intellectual nod to Richard Dawkins.  I suppose it could be described as a musical consideration of the secular world, from a non-Christian perspective but nevertheless containing definite spiritual elements.  It concludes with an almost orchestral half-hour-long piece that's the longest track Nightwish has ever recorded.  Two new members, vocalist Floor Jansen and Uillean piper Troy Donockley, provide an international influence to mellow the sometimes harshly Finnish flavor of the band's remaining original musicians.  Orchestral and choral elements balance the metal/hard rock band and add considerable depth.

To give you a taste of the new album, here's the third track, 'Elan'.




The whole album is interesting enough that after sampling it on YouTube, I bought it outright (the deluxe edition, including instrumental versions of all the tracks as well as the original vocal versions).  I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  If you like hard rock, metal and symphonic music, in any particular combination, you might want to give this a try.  I think you'll like it.  Also, the (mis)use of elements of faith in the group's earlier albums appears to be absent from this one - a huge improvement, IMHO.  I hope it continues.

Peter

Science fiction and fantasy author John C. Wright has just published his latest book, Somewhither.  It's the first volume in a new series he calls 'The Unwithering Realm'.




I've already bought it, and have started reading it.  (It'll take a while, being a very satisfyingly long book.)  It's fascinating!  It's very hard to define its genre precisely.  On his blog, Mr. Wright describes it like this (and I bet he had all sorts of fun doing so!):

So how would I classify SOMEWHITHER? Is is high fantasy, sword and sorcery, scientific fantasy, space opera, or elf opera, or what?

. . .

The long answer is that SOMEWHITHER will be in the same category as THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE but if, instead of being a good fairy tale and well written children’s book, the author was an anime-overdosed ex-lawyer who decided it would be way cool if Aslan wore power armor and swelled up to giant size like Ultraman to fight Godzilla, who, in this version, is the Beast from the Sea called up by the Whore of Babylon; and if the Dark Lord were a determinist materialist astrologer who is half-senile; and if Nimrod still owned the shining robe given to Adam and Eve by Jesus after they discovered they were naked, and this robe made him invulnerable; and if Serafina Pekkala from GOLDEN COMPASS were a babelicious busty blond dimension-sailing storm-witch teenager from Slytherin House, which, in this version is at the school on the Island of Roke, which is also in the dimension of Charn ruled by Jadis the White sister of Saruman the White, but her pet bird was not her familiar but instead was her horcrux; and if Ramses from Anne Rice’s THE MUMMY showed up as Black Lensman of Boskone; and if there were a plumber named Pally working in Barad Dur to fix the backed-up toilets in the Dark Tower;  And if John the Baptist showed up as a character who could fly like the Nazi-punching ROCKETEER from the Dave Stevens comic of the same name; and if King Edmund were Connor McLeod the Immortal from HIGHLANDER; and if instead of a thoughtful, and funny and moving parable about the nature of sacrifice and the beauty of forgiveness, CS Lewis were a fan of pulp novels and samurai movies, and threw in a bunch of stupid extraneous junk, including The Shadow, who has the power to cloud men’s minds, and, if there were some way to swing it, end up with John Carter,  Warlord of Mars and Robur the Conqueror fighting a air-to-sea duel with Captain Nemo.

I have already written the Cup of Jamshyd into the plot, and Kai Khasrow from the Shahnamah of Fardusi. Since this story takes place in a Christian background, Captain Nemo survived the Great Deluge of Noah aboard the Nautilus, with the Nephilim called Og, King of Bashan, swimming along side in the deep, his warehouse-sized lungs holding hours of air.  Nemo has explored up the great river Euphrates, and has found where the Four Angels rest far beneath the waters, were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, awaiting the Sixth Trumpet of the Apocalypse, that they might arise for to slay the third part of men.

In other words, I consider the book to be, as Lewis considered Narnia, a ‘metaphysical speculation.’

There's more at the link.

Mr. Wright is a wordsmith:  someone who takes the English language and carefully crafts it into new shapes and forms, unlike so many of us (I daresay including me [sigh]) who would classify ourselves more as hack writers trying to make a living.  Here's an early sample from the book to illustrate my point.

“Dad, how many universes are there?”

“Only one, by definition, son,” he answered. “Hence the term universe.”

Spread out on the couch, still in his gear, my father spoke in a weary monotone, not raising his head, not opening his eyes. I was surprised to get even a grunt out of him, much less an answer, even if it was an answer that was not really an answer.

I prodded the fake log with a poker, but no sparks flew up. I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice. Depending on his answer, I would either be back upstairs asleep in ten minutes, or running wildly out of the house into the wide darkness before the dawn, at top speed.

It might be too late already. I wanted to take out my phone and look at the time but feared I might glimpse the message that was still glowing on the little screen.

“Let me ask it another way. What is reality?”

He heaved a weary sigh.

. . .

Father spoke again, his eyes still closed, “Reality is what’s not the voting booth and not the salad bar. When you don’t get to vote and don’t get to pick,” he spoke louder. “That’s reality.”

“And…” I slid my tongue over my lips, surprised to find my mouth dry. “How many? How many are there? How many … realities?”

Usually when he comes home from one of his business trips, Dad goes straight to the couch in the den to collapse in blissful fatigue before the fireplace, too tired to climb the stairs to the bedroom, and too tired to talk. So he lay now, head back, elbow over his eyes, one boot on the arm of the couch, and one on the floor.

The unmarked black helicopter that flies without lights and brings him home lands in the grove my brothers and I have to keep clear of shrub and sapling as one of our chores, way up the mountain above the ruins of the old monastery. Dad takes over an hour to trudge down the twisting paths and switchbacks. So he is not the most energetic of conversationalists right after a trip.

This time something was different, because Dad lowered his arm and turned his head, so he could catch me with his eye. I could not tell if the squint in his eyes was just fatigue, or if there was something else, a look of accusation there. Or fear.

“I have always known this day would come. Who talked to you? What did they tell you?”

I heard more in his voice than I had seen in his eyes. His look was one of accusation, but his tone was one of self-accusation. It was the fear of a father wolf who had failed to protect his cubs.

He was afraid for me.

The moment felt like the whole earth and sky together had just missed an expected bottom step, and was jarred to an ankle-spraining halt and bit its tongue.

There are almost 600 pages in the book, according to Amazon's count, so you'll have to buy a copy for yourself if you want to read more.  On the other hand, at $4.99, it's a very cost-effective purchase.  (Yes, I'm shilling for Mr. Wright.  Having met him and his charming wife, L. Jagi Lamplighter [also an author] at LibertyCon a couple of weeks ago, I'm now honored to number them both among my friends - and I support my friends.  However, with a book this good, that's no hardship at all!)

I recommend this book to all who want to be challenged to rethink their perspective on life, the universe and everything.  It's certainly having that effect on me!

Peter