Looking for Your Next Book

The literary equivalent to the Hollywood 'B' movie would probably be the pulps, or 'pulp fiction.' We don't see a lot of pulp fiction today, but I'd say that author Dan Hanks is still writing in the pulp fiction style. In Swashbucklers , our hero is Cisco Collins.  And 'hero' is the correct term.  As a child, Cisco was one of a few people who saved the world by defeating a pirate known as Deadman's Grin. Grin had been able to animate inanimate objects and turn them into killing machines.  Now a down-on-his-luck adult (his wife has left him for her fitness instructor), Cisco returns to his hometown (with his son George). He's first stunned that no one seems to remember the world-saving battle - not even his old friends with whom he fought! Cisco  works to help his friends remember what they once went through. The other thing that Cisco notes is that there are some inanimate objects are coming to life and attacking the town.  Is it possible that De...

Oof, this was good. Have you ever wondered why, during the Salem witchcraft trials era, if the women accused of being witches really were witches, they didn't perform some sort of magic to survive? I'm thinking author Brom may have wondered this. Abigail is an innocent and energetic young English girl, sold by her father to a Puritan in the Colonies. She arrives, nervous, but staying positive and looks to make the best of the situation. Fortunately, her husband, Edward, is a good man who is willing to work hard to make a good life for he and his bride. But Edward dies under suspicious circumstances, and his brother, Wallace, claims Edward's property (including his wife, Abigail) which, due to Edward's work, is in much better condition than his own. But Abigail knows enough about the local law to stake her claim on the land as long as she meets the agreed upon terms and can pay for the land when the payment (to Wallace) comes due. Abigail has a deep connection with the l...

Talus, a bard, and his companion Bran, make a journey to the island realm of Creyak. A king has been murdered and there are no shortages of suspects, including the king's six sons, the local shaman, the servant girl, or even a neighboring warlord. Talus, who is clever and insightful, will study the clues and investigate, which could prove quite dangerous, to find justice for the dead king. It is only a mildly clever premise to write what is essentially a detective mystery using a fantasy setting. Think 'Ice Age Sherlock Holmes (Talus) and Watson (Bran).' But where, then, should the author put his priorities? The mystery? The fantasy setting?  The characters?  Well, the answer of course, is all of it but the end result here is that none of it is particularly strong. Our mystery is a bit pedantic. As a modern reader, we're a little bit stuck, having a great source of history to put clues together.  If Talus becomes too insightful or too intelligent for the era he lives...

 I've used the term 'epic fantasy' to refer to a style or genre of fantasy before, but Robert Jackson Bennett's Lockland , the conclusions to his The Founders Trilogy, is truly epic in style and heart - not just as a genre description. Note that you won't want to read this as a stand-alone novel.  It requires prior knowledge of the characters and the world. Being already familiar with this world, I'm not 100% certain how it reads to a newcomer, but just based on how much I needed to recall in order to not feel completely lost, I pity anyone coming fresh to this final volume. Our heroes are Sancia, Clef, and Berenice. They've worked and fought together before, but this time they take on not just petty criminals and the occasional ruler, but someone with the power of a god.  Trevanne is our antagonist.  He is powerful and growing more so. He has been using scrivings to control not just the inanimate objects, but the people around him as well.  His goal now is...

 Arthur Herman's The Viking Heart is a history book ... well, no, it's a sociology study ... er, it's a personal memoir ... or, rather, it's ... it's a little bit of everything. Including flawed. The subtitle, How Scandinavians Conquered the World , is meant to be quite broad. We don't realize this at first, reading through the early chapters discussing the early Scandinavian explorers - the Vikings. There is some really good, really informative history here about the make-up of the early Vikings (not all one group of people [Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, etc]) and their likely intent on their raids. I should note that I assume this good history. I don't know my Scandinavian history as well as I should.  But I think I can recognize fact based on study and data as opposed to supposition.  And Herman does a fair amount of supposition based on available facts. I enjoyed the early chapters, detailing the early Viking heart and spirit and travels.  Herman makes a ...

 When you are one of the most influential sound engineers/music producers ever, it would be difficult to write a biography or memoir without a whole heck of a lot of name-dropping ... as evidenced by Glyn Johns' memoir, Sound Man . Seriously ... Johns worked with groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Steve Miller Band, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, and individuals such as Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, Leon Russel, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and hundreds of others. There is even a recording method (for recording drums) named for him.  This man has been on the inside of some of the most influential music of one of the most influential times for music. The influence he had... the insight he must have! Learning of Johns' early years provided some of the most interesting information. It would make sense that Johns began as a musician, recording several singles between 1962-1965. He began sound engineering in 1964 and continued through 2017 (work...

I've read a lot of Seanan McGuire's books (under her name and under the name Mira Grant) and I've really liked most of them, but the InCryptid series is possibly my favorite, and this particular book really turns up the heat. This is Alice's story. Alice Price-Healy once fell in love with a man named Thomas Price. Thomas was a member of the Covenant (and organization that wants to get rid of Cryptids). But love is strange and Thomas and Alice fell in love and Thomas made a bargain with this ... what...?  'being?' 'thing?' 'entity?' ... known as the Crossroads (oh ... those Crossroads books are good, too!). But part of that bargain was that Thomas couldn't ever leave his house and that they (the powers that be) could come and take him at any time. Alice and Thomas have a child together and they are expecting their second child when Thomas is taken away without any warning.  Once she has the baby, Alice then goes looking for Thomas. For fifty y...