I don’t know what the phrase “extreme fantasy” means. To me the word “extreme” was best defined in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle : white water rafting in a convenience store, hang gliding off a cliff, drinking Mountain Dew and lastly listening to Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. The editor of The Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy defines extreme as “stories that took a basic idea, whether simple or complicated, and developed it to some extreme, beyond what the reader might normally expect.” That doesn’t sound too bad, but I like Harold and Kumar’s definition of extreme better.

For this review, I will give a brief synopsis of each story, followed by what I thought about the story and then finally the rating I give it out of 5. There are 24 stories in total making this one meaty, or mammoth if you will collection. Onto the first story:

1) Senator Bilbo by Andy Duncan. First published in 2001.
Story : A descendent of Bilbo Baggins fights for political power and immigration control in the fantasy land of the Shire.
Thoughts : Boring and overlong. Duncan is usually a good writer, but the characters in this are simply unsympathetic caricatures of Tolkien’s. I mean Gandolf-like magicians interacting with turn-of-the-century senators? Come on! Not a great way to start of a short fiction anthology.
Rating : 1/5

2) Sandmagic by Orson Scott Card. First published in 1979.
Story : A young boy watches his parents die of murder and disease and vows to seek vengeance upon the ones that caused his pain.
Thoughts : I liked the way Card expresses the concept of magic and the consequences caused by using something far greater than any one being. This story is very nicely done— heartbreaking and dark all at the same time. Now if only Card could keep his mouth shut and stop spouting his religious views on the evils of American Democracy and the Satanic undercurrents of homo-sexual marriages.
Rating : 3.5/5

3) Dream A Little Dream For Me… by Peter Crowther. First Published in 2000.
Story : A young man dealing with writers block travels to Germany to unwind and finds out he may be the key to saving God’s one true dream.
Thoughts : Crowther may be better known as the publisher of the great small press publishing house, PS Publishing. However, it also turns out that he is one heck of a good short story writer. This is a tale of how dreams can tempt us, rule us, and ultimately destroy us; how hope can turn to sorrow and regret in an instance. This one has a dreamlike melancholy feel to it— like dreaming of bunnies frolicking while your girlfriend breaks up with you.
Rating : 3/5

4) Lost Wax by Leah Bobet. First published in 2006.
Story : A young boy dreams of magic forbidden and learns that not all things wished for are beneficent and wanted.
Thoughts : A simple story with an abrupt ending. This one could’ve been more descriptive and a tad longer, but still was fun. Nothing much more to really say here, although I could never imagine myself collecting discarded wax shavings.
Rating : 2.5/5

5) Save A Place In The Lifeboat For Me by Howard Waldrop. First published in 1976.
Story : A bunch of old-time film comedians search for their destinies/purpose?
Thoughts : This is absurdist to the extreme. I don’t mind absurdist when it’s done well, like with Beckett, but this was not done well at all. Can comedy really save the world? I don’t know, but if it can, this ain’t it. If anything, this type of comedy will set things back by centuries.
Rating : 1.5/5

6) I Am Bonaro by John Niendorff. First published in 1964.
Story : A man who can turn into anything he wishes loses his mind in more ways than one.
Thoughts : An odd and short little story. This one is quite striking and will stay with you for days— or maybe like Bonaro, you’ll forget it. What wonder!
Rating : 2.5/5

7) The Old House Under The Snow by Rhys Hughes. First published in 2004.
Story : Two friends become trapped in a mansion surrounded by ice which slowly sinks, sending them deeper and deeper into a bottomless world.
Thoughts : The editor of this book, Mike Ashley, promotes this story as a nightmarish version of Alice in Wonderland, and I couldn’t agree more. This was quite the surreal one. Rhys has a definite way with words that will leave readers itching for more. I am officially a fan of his.
Rating : 3.5/5

8) Banquet of the Lords of Night by Liz Williams. First published in 2002.
Story : In a world of darkness where any concept of light means death, one man struggles to bring light to his life and save the world.
Thoughts : This is a short yet suspenseful story. Each word read is filled with more and more dread, reaching a crescendo that explodes of the page. Liz Williams always creates interesting worlds and this is no exception. Reminded me a lot of the tall creepy things from Dark Crystal and Mirrormask .
Rating : 3/5

9) Charlie the Purple Giraffe was Acting Strangely by David D. Levine. First published in 2004.
Story : A purple giraffe becomes aware that he is in a comic book and wonders if there is existence if there are no readers.
Thoughts : A story that can be read many ways: of our cultures obsessions with being famous, of peoples need to feel, well, needed— or perhaps it really is just about a purple giraffe. I’d like to live in a world where comic characters have found out the truth and Batman’s pretty pissed off at us. We can all dream.
Rating : 2.5/5

10) Master Lao and the Flying Horror by Lawrence Person. First published in 2005.
Story : In fantastic ancient China, a demonic evil starts taking the heads of villagers to build its floating head army, and it’s up to a lustful temple acolyte and his aging mentor to save the day.
Thoughts : Clearly Mr. Person has seen many Chinese horror/comedy movies, because this story is like reading the movies I grew up watching in the 80’s. He is rather funny with his turn of phrases and uses them for many laughs. It also seems like there’s more stories set in this world— gives me something to look for. This one is very reminiscent of The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart, which I entirely love.
Rating : 3/5

11) Using It and Losing It by Jonathan Lethem. First published in 1990.
Story : A man who wishes to be apart from society makes himself forget the language of words, but soon finds out that like all animals, words aren’t the only ways to express.
Thoughts : Admittedly, I am not the biggest Lethem fan, but this was quite interesting. The concept of repetition to forget actually blows my mind and makes me wonder if it can work— another odd-ball tall from Lethem. Maybe I’ll have to re-read Glass Soup . Wait, that’s a different Jonathan. Hmm. Still, both Jonathan’s were enormously boring on NPR the other day, so I stand by not liking either Jonathan.
Rating : 2.5/5

12) The All-At-Once-Man by R. A. Lafferty. First published in 1970.
Story : A man seeks immortality by living all ages at once.
Thoughts : This one reminded me of the Great Gatsby . I can’t really pin-point the why but the main character of this story had a “Gatsby-ness” to him, and that’s brilliant. What bogs the story down is that it try’s to explain the “how” of immortality but doesn’t do it well. I wish the author just left it ambiguous. Still, a nicely thought out and quirky piece— the ability to live all ages at once is an remarkable concept.
Rating : 2.5/5

13) Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani by William Hope Hodgson. First published in 1919.
Story : Translated to mean, “my god, my god, why have you forsaken me.” This is the story of a scientist who while trying to initiate an experiment attempting to recreate the biblical Crucifixion finds more than he bargains for, with Lovecraftian results.
Thoughts : This is by far the oldest of the stories, and it really shows— the dialogue is painfully prolonged, while the explanations are devastatingly lengthy and esoteric. Another problem I had with the story is the many shifting narrative view points. This can get a bit confusing at times and every time one of the characters reads “I said”, I was left wondering who in fact was talking. This is not old-time good like Lovecraft, but rather old-time bad like Edward E. Smith.
Rating : 1.5/5

14) Boatman’s Holiday by Jeffrey Ford. First published in 2005.
Story : Everyone knows that when you die, you put a coin under your tongue to pay the ferryman to take you across the river Styx. But what do we know about the ferryman? Tired of ferrying people across for centuries on end, the ferryman decides to use the holiday granted him once a century to escape hell, if only for a week. But can there truly be escape when hell is just a concept?
Thoughts : I liked this one a lot. It’s like Dante’s Inferno mixed with the “cosmic.” The question has always raged: did man create hell or did it always exist? This story tries to answer that question through one man’s journey into himself. This one reminded me of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis as well.
Rating : 3.5/5

15) The Detweiler Boy by Tom Reamy. First published in 1977.
Story : A detective searches for the murderer of an old friend but instead finds a string of murders leading back to something disturbingly cruel.
Thoughts : This one genuinely hit the spot. I question if this belongs in a collection of “fantasy” stories, but I really don’t care. It was a nice break and a damn fine story. More crime-horror than fantasy, but not totally without since all horror contains some sort of fantastical events. Like a side-show coming to town, this one’s a can’t miss. Total Recall anyone?
Rating : 3.5/5

16) The Fence at the End of the World by Melissa Mia Hill. First published in 2002.
Story : Two young girls are told never to leave their yard for fear of falling off the edge of the world.
Thoughts : This is the shortest story in the collection and being so short tells more of a tale than a story. This is about the children we forget that are locked up from the world by parents who are more dictators than family. I feel that there could be more to this tale, but it was in the middle of blossoming before it was cut off.
Rating : 2/5

17) Elric at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock. First published in 1981.
Story : Elric finds himself stranded at the End of the World with his soul sucking sword out of energy and trapped at the mercy of bored immortals.
Thoughts : Besides the previous story by Howard Waldrop, this is the probably the most controversial choice for this collection. Elric has always been a polarizing figure in the fantasy community, and as I get older I tend to come across more people that hate him rather than love him—I for one am a huge fan. The Elric series were the reason I started reading fantasy back when I was 13. Of course I was far too young to understand the underlying themes at play in each Elric tale, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. So the Elric stories always hold a special place in my heart. Kafka may have gotten me to start taking literature seriously, but it was Elric that made reading “fun”— so much so that I own this story in probably a dozen different collections. This is one of Elric’s later, more playful tales, and is in its own way probably the most assessable of his stories— perhaps that’s reason enough to include it. As the editor of this collection, Mike Ashley states, “it was impossible to compile this anthology without something by Michael Moorcock.” I couldn’t agree more.
Rating : 4/5

18) Cup and Table by Tim Pratt. First published in 2006.
Story : A secret society searches for a holy cup that, predating man, will allow them to talk to God and ask him any question, any plea. And only a junkie who can see through time knows the true plea that all of mankind truthfully desires.
Thoughts : I’ve been a fan of Pratt’s since his short story masterpiece, Impossible Dreams — it’s the nearest any story has gotten to a dream after my own heart. This one is another home run. I love the way Pratt shifts through time, layering more and more questions with more and more answers. He does in 18 pages what lesser writers take whole books to do. Love this guy and love his work. Buy everything he does people!!
Rating : 4/5

19) I, Haruspex by Christopher Priest. First published in 1998.
Story : In the early days of the 20th C. a man consumes the flesh and maladies of the dead in order to maintain a balance, keeping demons from overrunning the world.
Thoughts : Most people know Christopher Priest for his novel The Prestige , but he has had a prolific short story career for over 30 years now. This story starts off really slow and builds to a slow finish. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt that this story really slowed the flow of reading the overall collection— like the editor was reloading for something exciting to come so he needed a lull to fill the space. Not one of Priest’s better stories, but it had an interesting, if at times confusing and entirely disturbing, premise.
Rating : 2.5/5

20) Radio Waves by Michael Swanwick. First published in 1995.
Story : The ghost of a man seeking understanding and remembrance is chased by an “entity” in a dead world surrounded by radio waves.
Thoughts : This is an existentialistic story about choices. How even after death, the pain we caused and choices made still ripple against the tide. Can we forgive ourselves even long after the ones we hurt no longer care? This one is a nice, albeit surreal, look at death that reminded me a bit of the Japanese movie After Life .
Rating : 3/5

21) Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang. First published in 1990.
Story : After centuries of building, The Tower of Babylon is finally finished, and a group of miners makes the 4-month trek to the top, attempting to dig upwards into the vault of heaven. But what they find isn’t exactly what they were expecting.
Thoughts : Besides the Elric story, this was the only other story I had read previously. This is the story of the nature of faith— the accepting of truth when there has never been any proof. Much praise has been heaped on Chiang and this story and deservedly so. What’s even more astounding is that this is Chiang’s first published story? What?!! It’s like finally making the majors and your first career at bat is pinch hitting in the bottom of the ninth in a game seven of the World Series and hitting a grand slam. Again, what?!! This has been discussed and dissected for years in the literary circle and I’m always amazed that by each re-reading of it I find out something new— some new layer previously undiscovered. It’s that good!! What I like most about this story is the way Chiang describes the agriculture surrounding the tower as one goes higher. Since whole communities live along the tower, mini-towns have sprout up and the need for food is ever prevalent. The mid-parts of the tower where water is scarce can only grow onions, while higher up where there is rain, they grow beans and fruits. It’s the little details that show how much care Chiang took into creating this world. Utterly brilliant.
Rating : 5/5

22) Jack Neck and the Worry Bird by Paul Di Filippo. First published in 1998.
Story : A day in the life of Jack Neck (at least I think that’s what it’s about).
Thoughts : This story is just odd. The reader is constantly getting smacked around by words and phrases that are made up and make no sense. I’m sure to Di Filippo, the words made sense in his mind, but since I don’t have the fortune to rent real estate there I didn’t get what’s going on. It’s truly like reading a story in a foreign language. You can maybe pick out every 100th word. Di Filippo is usually such a strong and defined writer. I think for this story he was given too much free reign and probably created a story he has been carrying around since childhood. It’s like reading a Dr. Seuss story if Dr. Seuss didn’t rhyme and made less sense. I have to give it to the magazine that first bought and published this story. That took a lot of guts, and good or bad, the future of short stories needs more of that.
Rating :1/5

23) The Dark One by A A Attanasio. First published in 1994.
Story : A young barbarian is gifted with power and immortality from an ancient sorcerer. Through centuries the barbarian walks, searching for his peace known as darkness, which eventually he hopes will lead him to destroying the world.
Thoughts : The one thing that stands out about this story is that it tries way too hard. Its message of spiritual bliss is laid on pretty thick, like syrup on a stack of pancakes or lotion on a fat guy’s belly. The message of this story is that no matter how much time changes, all things remain the same: empires will always rise and fall, man will always be greedy and selfish— and only darkness is the salvation. This story is all about how religion is faith and that is good, while science is truth and truth is death— how the worst invention ever founded by man is science. I was waiting for Keyser Soze to suddenly appear and say, “and another thing: the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world that he didn’t exist.” I mean it’s like reading some “emo” kids poetry. However, what really bothered me about this piece is that towards the end there’s a huge shift in POV which is extremely jarring, I thought I suddenly was reading another story— like I had skipped the ending or something. This is sadly not the worst story in this collection, but it’s brutal to get through nonetheless.
Rating : 1.5/5

24) A Ring of Green Fire by Sean McMullen. First published in 1994.
Story : A peasant with a penchant for the ladies is cursed with his “member” being surrounded by a green ring of fire. After spreading his wanton onto hundreds of unsuspecting women, a group of men newly infected hunt him down to make him pay.
Thoughts : This one is quite interesting. One of the notable aspects of this story is how beautifully it progressed: from the inanely comedic to the tragically possible— like a message surrounded by a lollipop. I’ve always been a fan of stories that say something profound while still being entertaining. This story is about how even to a healer, some wounds can never be healed; how only through pain can many of us find compassion and hope. This is a fantastic way to end a short-story collection. Heartbreaking and completely spot on.
Rating : 3.5/5

So that’s the end of the collection. I hope that at least someone was interested with what I had to say and will pick up this one up. While this was not by any means the best collection I have ever read (that honor goes to Haruki Murakami’s Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman ), it was still quite good. There were more interesting and excellent stories than there were of dreadful ones. Generally what I find from collections that contain numerous authors is that the overall quality dips pretty low—since every reader has different tastes, some editors try to meet all expectations within a single book, which is frankly impossible. Still, surprisingly enough, this collection worked. There were around 6 stories that I found were poor, 10 that were average to good, and 8 that ranged from great to incredible. Those might not seem to be great odds, but generally in short story collections, the poor stories far outweigh the good ones and the average stories in this were still better than most. The one complaint I had with this book is the “extreme” tag the editor chose. I know I have a different definition of extreme, but none of these stories felt particularly excessive. What would have been better would have been to call this collection, The Mammoth Book of Fantastic Stories to Read While Cliff-Diving or Parasailing — or maybe not.

Susan Michael has gone from mainstream news reporter to a sleaze magazine that prints outlandish pictures and even weirder stories. Her life is simple and bit a lonely. Her best friends, Angie and Jimmy, bring her to the local animal shelter to share a deep dark secret. Susan is able to speak to Jimmy for a few moments and then she ends up leaving the shelter with a cat. Of all the animals she could have brought home- she's allergic to cats. Events occur in the next few hours that Susan never thought possible. Her stray cat is really a adonis with six-pack abs and a devilish grin. Things that go bump in the night really do exist. And her life will never be the same. She's left with no friends, family, or hope for the future. The future where she thought she was headed. Now she must live with Ravyn and his world as a squire.

Ravyn Kontis is a Were-hunter who becomes attached to no one. The fact that a mere human saves him from death is both ironic and a lifesaver. He soon finds out that this human is different than most. She brings up feelings he thought were long dead and gone. Because of her he must face many things he thought were over and done with. Because of her he will regain the power to live.

Sherrilyn Kenyon knows how to create other worlds and her character development is amazing. Readers will want to travel through destinations unknown with Susan and Ravyn. They will want a happy ending and they won't be disappointed. How they get there is quite the adventure and it is highly recommended that you stay along for the ride. Readers will find themselves searching eagerly for the other titles in this series. The latest in the series has just been released.

This isn't usually my genre of books but I was totally enthralled with this book. I've already researched and found that this should not have been the first book read but I wouldn't change a thing. I was lucky enough to win an autographed copy at a recent GRWA meeting and now I'm hooked. Kudos to you Ms. Kenyon for showing me the way...to the dark hunter series.

Storms of Vengeance is the debut novel of John Beachem. It is the first book in his fantasy series, “The Lorradda Stone.”

The story is set in the Kingdom of Faranin, a state comprising many formerly independent nations brought together by centuries of war, now enjoying an uneasy peace for the first time in generations. Magic is forbidden, and those tainted with magical power, the Marked, are hunted and destroyed without mercy.

Faranin’s short-lived tranquility is shattered by a daring late-night raid on the capital city. A band of mysterious attackers, aided by magic, penetrate the vast complex of the royal palace and manage to get out alive. In the aftermath, a prominent legislator is found murdered in his chambers. He had many enemies who would have liked to see him out of the way, but what seems at first like a political killing is soon realized to be more. Witnesses reveal that while the assassination was taking place, some of the raiders were busy searching a completely different part of the palace. The speed and efficiency with which the mysterious raiders struck makes it clear that they knew exactly where to find their victim. So what else were they up to?

Into this mystery are thrust two young palace guards. Calton Relanas is a young man of peasant origins, eager to prove himself. His friend, Ratel Eresgot, is the scion of a wealthy aristocratic family who desperately wants to show that he can succeed without his powerful father. Assigned to assist with the investigation, they find themselves faced with a deadly conspiracy with tendrils reaching into the palace itself, and an evil with designs on far more than the life of a single politician.

I found Storms of Vengeance to be a frustrating book, because it keeps showing flashes of potential to be better than it was. After a successful attention-grabbing opening, things slow down badly, meandering dully for a number of chapters, punctuated by attempts at greater excitement that came across as forced. Then, about a third of the way through, things start to pick up, and I was fairly interested by the end. There’s some good stuff here, but it’s a bit of a slog to get to.

The characters are a mixed bag. The main protagonists, Calton and Ratel, were not effective for me, and seemed neither emotionally engaging nor otherwise interesting. Unfortunately, the reader spends a great deal of time with them. On the other hand, some of the antagonists are a good deal more interesting, though again there is a pacing problem: the reader must wade through some rather unsatisfying parts before these characters start to become more intriguing. I also liked the character of Faren, the commander of the palace guard who leads the investigation of the attack. Beachem does a nice job of taking a very boring, stick-in-the-mud sort of person and making him an interesting and sympathetic character. The brief appearances by the King of Faranin were also effective, defying the common clichés for fictional monarchs- heroic guardian of the people, ruthless tyrant and oppressor, or ineffectual buffoon. Instead, he comes across as a well-intentioned man who is just unbearably tired, ground down by a lifetime of crushing responsibility.

The setting is more or less a typical medieval fantasy kingdom; for the most part it is serviceable but not remarkable. It does have one prominent virtue, however. I greatly enjoyed the book’s portrayal of elves- or “forest demons,” as most people in Faranin call them. In an enjoyable break with the common fantasy clichés that have turned elves into little more than pretty long-lived humans with a fondness for trees and shrubbery, Beachem’s elves truly seem uncanny and inhuman, frightening and inscrutable creatures of folklore.

Overall, I would describe Storms of Vengeance as a disappointment. Beachem shows a number of flashes of potential, but the reader must put up with a good deal of much less interesting material to get to them. I think his work shows future promise, and I’m curious to see how Beachem develops, but overall I can’t recommend Storms of Vengeance.

Many book authors make their way over to comics. It may seem like a sensible idea since it's just another medium and another way to tell a story. However, with comics you generally only have 22 pages to tell a story, while in a book you can have as many as you want. Authors such as Tad Williams, Jodi Picoult, Brad Meltzer, and Charlie Huston try to bring along the wonderful charm they have as book authors to the comic book medium. Many fail miserably, producing such terrible and tripe fluff that catastrophically nearly kill entire character story arcs. Ultimately things become so bad that fans just want to forget these authors ever wrote comics in the first place (Picoult's Wonder Woman run is the stuff of legends it’s so bad and Tad Williams Aquaman has prompted the published to stop publishing the comic, and for better or worse, I don’t even want to get into what the DC universe looks like post Meltzer).

However, comic authors rarely make the jump to book authors. It's a totally different beast and what works for the X-Men may not work for a whole new world with dwindling readers in altogether competitive book market. Some succeed (such as Warren Ellis, Mike Mignolia, and Greg Rucka), while others tragically fail or churn out the lowest of mediocre fare. Mike Carey falls in the group that shouldn’t quit their day job. His comics have always been heavily dialogue driven (his Lucifer comics have Lucifer running a Night Club and talking about feelings most of the time. Doesn't sound exciting? Well somehow, it truly is). However, what has charm in the comic form may also seem derivative and drawn out in the book form. What usually took Carey a page in comics and roughly 1-minute to read, now takes dozens to hundreds of pages and hours to read. Since books don't contain paneled art, the author must use his words to describe the setting. This is where Mike Carey really shows his weakness. While his world in The Devil You Know is enjoyable, he tends to explain things slowly and only partly presenting a fractured world view that at times doesn't seem all that interesting. This is a 500+ page book that could have really been 300 pages.

Here's the line: Carey's Felix Castor is an Exorcist living in a world where ghosts can be seen by most people and are generally non-plused about things. However there are times when they get out of hand and people like Felix are called in. For reasons all his own, Felix has got out of the Exorcist game and is trying to lead a normal life. But in the immortal words of Pacino in Godfather 2, "everytime I try to get out, they pull me back in." Succubi, haunted ghosts, strip joints, zombie's who are tech savy, and demons who just don't like music run abound. What's a regular shlub who's broke and making ends meat supposed to do? Have sex with a succubus? That's right!

Mike Carey is quite the eponymous writer. Mainstream wise he is best known for his work on the X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four published by Marvel. However, comic fans know him best for his Eisner nominated Lucifer, Hellblazer and Crossing Midnight, all published by DC. Lucifer is also important because it proved that DC’s Vertigo imprint still had life post Sandman. I chance to go as far as to say that without Lucifer and Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets, Vertigo comics may not even exist anymore. What does this all mean? I just wanted to put his work into context since The Devil You Know may turn you off of following any of his other work. His novel work = poor. His comic work = timeless. An overstatement? Perhaps. But true? Oh yeah.

I should state that I have an unabashed love for Carey's comic work. He is also a charming and gracious person who took the time to have a smoke with me as we talked books one rainy day in NY. With that said, The Devil You Know is only a decent book at best and a poor book by Mike Carey standards. So I can only recommend this with heavy reservations. The reservations being that if you aren't a Mike Carey fan, you may enjoy this a lot more than I did. But as for me, I really didn't care much for this overlong work and am hesitant to enter Felix Castor’s world again with Carey's upcoming releases. Hmm, but the ending does have me somewhat enticed.

The Shadow Pavilion, the fourth in the Detective Inspector Chan adventures certainly carries through with the promise of an entertaining read. DI Chen, Shanghai Three’s Police Liaison with Heaven and Hell, is after whatever group is illegally bringing in residents of Hell as cheap labor. He has two of the best working on it when they disappear. Seneschal Zhu Irzh is not only a demon but a terrific operative in his own right and was sent in with Badger, who can take care of himself. Now Chen has to find out where they’ve gone and still get to the bottom of the issue. It doesn’t help when he finds out that the newly crowned Celestial Emperor is under an attempted assassination and that a shortcutting scriptwriter has imported a Tiger demon to impersonate a movie star and that she is now on the loose and in a starlet-sized snit.

Liz Williams has created an interestingly enjoyable fantasy/scifi/adventure. This one sort of defies classification as Singapore Three is futuresque but with her addition of the realms of Hell and Heaven and all their dream- and nightmarescape denizens, the tale takes on a mythological bent that makes for fascinating reading. She has begun to flesh out some of the secondary characters more – we get to see from the perspective of Badger, a Hellish family familiar with fierce loyalties to Chen and his wife; we also get a little more perspective from the Celestial Emperor; as well as Chen’s wife Inari. As usual we have some new secondary characters, new demons, foolish humans, and the most successful assassin of all time to keep us amused.

With all due speed Williams draws us into the intrigue, imbuing our imaginations with vivid images full of color and scent that make her stories come alive. With this descriptive skill she lures us in. Then, like the sticky strands of a spider’s web, we get trapped and held by a story that is so full of life we cannot even decide what to call it. Is it futuristic police procedural? Is it an allegorical fairy tale? Near future occult? Perhaps an alternative historical fantasy? Whatever you would like to call it, I’ll just call it something I want more of. Fans of the previous three will not be disappointed.

Almost two years ago when I reviewed Ford’s collection The Empire of Ice Cream for FantasyBookSpot, I noted that Botch Town was my favorite of the bunch. It was something of a mystery story meshed with a coming of age story that had a feel of the “fantastic” about it.


So when I began reading The Shadow Year which is based on that novella, it was evident I was reading a very familiar story, but I didn’t mind because I had enjoyed the original so much. But The Shadow Year isn’t just a re-telling of Botch Town. Ford expands on his original story, makes some major changes to it, adds a significant character, and then continues on to a much more resolute ending.


At the same time that little Charlie has disappeared, a Peeping Tom has been making the rounds in this neighborhood and a stranger trawls the streets in an old white car. All of these occurrences seem likely to be related, and Jim recruits his brother and sister as well as George, the family dog, to gather clues and investigate.


The focus of The Shadow Year is as much on these mysteries as it is on family, and that is where Ford expands on the original story the most. Dad works three jobs and is seldom seen by the kids, Mom is an artist and an alcoholic, Nan and Pop are the grandparents who live in the converted garage, and George, the aforementioned family dog, is protector and scent marker. The youngest child, Mary, is either “really smart or really simple”, Jim is the oldest and in the seventh grade and does a good job of bossing and generally harassing the other kids. The book’s narrator is the middle child, a self-described weakling, but who is never actually named in the entire book (or the original story.)


Ford’s portrayal of this family and its dynamics evokes feelings of compassion and even understanding as he describes here a scene in which you get the feeling this has happened all too often before and will be repeated all too soon:

There is a lot going on in The Shadow Year, and Ford moves the story effortlessly through such accounts of family life to the disquieting effects of the prowler’s appearances in folks’ backyards and a stranger in a white car (also the prowler?) whose presence is somehow sinister and alarming.


But things are kept in balance with humor as we see the grandmother through the eyes of the young unnamed narrator:




And as when Jim gives Mary some Halloween advice:




By the end of The Shadow Year, the mysteries are solved, and if there is any flaw to be found in this book, that may be the one: the neatness of its conclusion. Nonetheless, Jeffrey Ford has written a captivating novel of a year in the life of a young boy. The characters have that feeling of authenticity that makes them instantly recognizable, and the story has that feeling of nostalgia without any of the sugary sentimentality.

“A Druid Born” is an uplifting tale of adventure and self-discovery, told from the point of view of a young chieftan’s daughter, Regan. Narrated from a first-person perspective, we follow Regan as she faces personal challenges and learns about herself and her blossoming abilities. Magic is present mildly throughout the story, in the form of shamanistic rites, visions, or herbal remedies.

For its target audience, this novel will be quite a treat. The writing is competent and solid, and the pages fly by. Unlike many books for younger readers, it does not come off as juvenile, but maintains a dignified maturity that is refreshing. The subject matter and events are mostly personal in nature, and include the kinds of things that young readers might themselves be facing: conflict with the wishes of parents, and changes brought about by approaching adulthood. In contrast to the book’s title, there is very little that is dark, and nothing I’d call disturbing. The drama is dealt with gently, with a responsible eye toward impressionable readers.

Druidic culture is lightly showcased, and there is a flavor of Celtic life throughout. At times I wanted to see more of this, however, as it felt like the author was only scratching the surface of a deeper ability she has in this regard.

The bond between mother and daughter is central, and is presented in a way that may be particularly appealing to young female readers. Regan’s family situation in the story is a little unusual, and her desire to be close to the spirit of her mother becomes an important part of her quest.

There are a few drawbacks worth mentioning. Foremost is the shortness of the book. The text comprises what would only be two or three chapters in similar novels. A dedicated reader would require only a couple of afternoons to finish the short novel. Though meant for less experienced readers, it seemed that more could have been written. The language, as well, seemed a touch too simple. Perhaps this is simply due to my bias as an adult reader.

Also, I found the characters to be slightly shallow and underdeveloped. Given the few pages to work with, it’s to be expected, perhaps. Additionally, there are some minor anachronisms which pop out here and there – unlikely references to real-world places and history that pulled me out of the story as I read. These were only slight distractions, however.

Additionally, the first-person perspective has a way of narrowing the story. It decreases the potential for characters other than Regan to be interesting, and detracts a little bit from tension that might exist otherwise – we know nothing bad will happen to Regan, because she’s retelling the story for us.

The book finishes on an optimistic note, as Regan completes her journey ready to take on the world and her approaching womanhood. “A Druid Born” very much has the feel of a motivational work. It was a pleasant, if brief, read, and one which I would not hesitate to recommend to readers aged 10-16.

My first experience with Tad Williams was when I picked up his novel, "City of Golden Shadow." I found the book's opening, in which one of the main characters experiences scenes from World War I, to be marvelously descriptive and quite riveting. Though I found the culmination of that book series to be rather disappointing, I moved on to more of Williams' books. I read his "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" saga, which I found more enjoyable, but was once again disappointed by the ending. I then tackled "Shadowmarch," which was so bogged down I could hardly finish it. After all of these lengthy works, I wanted to try something that would give me more of what I liked about Tad Williams without the sheer weight of pages. That led me to try, "The War of the Flowers."

In this standalone novel, I was soon rewarded with exactly what I had hoped for. Williams' gift for wonderful descriptive scenes was again present as I began reading. The scenes and events involving Theo and his mother stand out as some of the most poignant I've ever read.

The premise of the book is interesting, if not completely new to fantasy readers. Theo, the main character, finds himself transported to the land of Faerie and encounters danger and adventure as he is caught up in the affairs of the ruling houses, named for flowers. I found the title misleading, as actual war in the sense of pitched battles and combat heroics is not a major element of the plot.

The book is not so much about fantastic elements, though these are certainly present, as it is about interaction between its well-developed characters. Many are dark, with sinister aspects hinted at and revealed slowly by the author. Theo begins as a sympathetic loser, but grows as the story progresses. Love interests abound throughout and feature prominently in his fate. There are some aspects of "Romeo and Juliet" here, in fact, though with a less tragic outcome.

There is some social commentary as well, though I perceived it to be understated, perhaps even underdeveloped. The inhabitants of Faerie, in an interesting twist for a fantasy novel, are discovering all the problems of industrialized society, class inequality, exploitation, and greed.

Unfortunately, the excellence of the early parts of the book begins to wane by the middle to late chapters. This is a common problem with many of Williams' books, in my opinion. The mysterious elements in the plot begin to be explained -- but the details seem overly contrived. I was disappointed with some of the plot twists, and others I found predictable. In a few cases, I felt as though I was left hanging with no explanation at all.

These complaints would have been forgivable but for the end of the story. It almost seemed as though the author had lost interest in the book chapters ago, and just needed to get it wrapped up so it would be finished.

In fairness, I enjoyed reading this book, flaws and all. Tad Williams once again succeeds in creating another world for the reader to explore, though at times the writing is frustrating. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a short -- if 700 pages may be called short – introduction to the style of Tad Williams. His best and worst are both present in this novel.

Since the folks at EOS were kind enough to send me a copy of The Undead Kama Sutra, I felt that I should extend them the same courtesy and read this book. This is the third book in Mario Acevedo's Felix Gomez detective series, but I don't believe that it is necessary to have had read the first two books (something I haven't done yet).

Perhaps a plot summary is in order, because god knows after you finish reading my review, the summary may be all you want to know of the book. Vampire PI, Felix Gomez, is charged with finding out more information about the near mythical underground sex-tome, The Undead Kama Sutra. It’s held in such regard within the vampire community because it can “realign the chakra” causing vampires to “reverse psychic damage and heal mental and emotional wounds.” Hmm, how philosophical?

But wait, let’s not just stop there: positions in the erotic tome come with such hysterically knee slapping names as “Monkey Laughs at Moon” and “Feeding the Melon.” Can’t stop laughing at how ingenious the names are? Yeah, me neither—so funny! I kept waiting for the “Hidden Trap Door from Behind” position.

Sadly, the position names are the high point of this book. Honestly, I’d rather watch people perform Tai Chi in the park for the rest of my life than want to hear anymore about chakras and The Undead Kama Sutra. I’d rather Tae Bo around the US with Billy Blanks than watch anyone acting out the things found in this sex-tome.

Okay you may be saying, “We get it, but that can’t be all this book is about right?” Fair enough. I guess I forgot to mention that Felix Gomez has also been tasked with the dying wish of his alien buddy to “save the Earth women.” From what you may ask? Well that would be giving things away. Let’s just say, I envy you for not knowing.

Enough negatives, on to the positives—it’s fairly short. It’s also self-contained which is nice I guess. The story ended when the pages ran out. The cover was pretty nice. It was free. Is that enough?

I'm not entirely sure who this series is marketed towards, but it sure isn't me. I feel that the target audience for these books is the 14-17 year-old adolescent boy demographic. The demographic that love The Hardy Boys but always wished there were more soft-core titillation and blood in the stories. The same demographic that watches scrambled porn on cable, enjoys the spice channel, and laughs when they stumble upon their father’s hidden stash of Playboy magazines. I mean many of the characters walk around naked most of the time for no other reason than to be naked. If I have to hear another descriptive of, "she had a bikini that was too small for her breasts and she knew it", I'm going to weep—I’m talking about openly weeping without any regard to shame.

Also Mr. Acevedo's writing is extremely clichéd and weak. Characters go from point A-B with expository that seem almost ridiculously simple.

i.e.: I need to go there- So I get in a car and drive- Here I am driving- Still driving- I pull up to where I was driving towards- I get out of the car and here I am.

Basically, that’s how the descriptives go in this book. Take this "fine" writing and throw plot ideas in a hat and pull things out at random and you have what passes for a story here. I'm not giving this a lower score because like I said, I don't believe I'm the target readership and perhaps 14-17 year-old boys will love the cheesy "is that a pen in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me" dialogue. And besides, it knows it has its fair share of faults and doesn't take itself too seriously, unlike a lot of so called “literary” books out there. Now excuse me while I cry over the wasted hours spent reading this book that I'll never get back.

Not recommended for anyone who is old enough to buy a lotto ticket.

If you liked this also check out: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Supercharged Kama Sutra Illustrated, the always heart numbingly fun “danger stranger” (if you don’t know what that means Google it!), any American Pie movie, and the absurd yet enticing Hardy Boys and the Rainbow Party.

Small Favor, the 10th book in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files is another tale full of Harry Dresden’s wisecracking and wizardry. In this episode, Harry has been recruited by Mab, Queen of Winter to find and rescue the mob boss, Johnny Marcone. This is a job Harry would never take, except for the fact that he is in debt to Winter and must do it despite his reservations. Regardless of the fact that Harry is being harassed by minions of the Summer Court and that whoever kidnapped Marcone was not only a professional but very powerful, Harry is now on the case.

Asking questions of the right people, Harry discovers who has kidnapped the crime lord and is forced by Marcone’s people to set up a neutral meeting between his abductors and Marcone’s seconds. Macrons’ abductors are none other than the Knights of the Blackened Denarius, mages who have been possessed by fallen angels. Talks of this sort need neutral ground and a neutral negotiator. Harry decides that a meeting this dangerous requires a powerful negotiator and calls in the Archive, the living repository of all knowledge. Getting this sort of meeting set up while being stalked by Queen Titania’s enforcers taxes Harry’s resources. Living through the talks could be even harder.

I find that I enjoy this series for several reasons. The largest of those reasons is Butcher’s voice. Undoubtedly, his characters are of a sort who have lives that readers love to follow. I even find his secondary characters to be fascinating. Bob, Mouse and Mister are some of my favorites, and I love to hear about them. His fantasy Chicago, full of hidden magic and faerie creatures is also very compelling to us mortals stuck in our mundane lives. However, it is his voice that brings it all to life. The character dialog, Harry’s internal dialog, and his pop culture reference riddled descriptions make this reader feel as if the story was written specifically for me. If Mike Hammer was a wizard living in modern-day Chicago and had a fondness for sarcasm and snappy comebacks, his name would be Harry Dresden.

Butcher’s fans will definitely devour this one just like the last nine. It has all the elements, danger, magic, romantic undertones, wisecracks, a multitude of pop culture references, evil beasties and arrogant bad guys, mayhem, threats, faeries, vampires and even the billy goats gruff. Seriously, they are there, I kid you not (pun intended).

“Storm Dragon”, book one of the Draconic Prophecies, by James Wyatt is set in the Dungeons & Dragons world of Eberron. James Wyatt is one of the creators of the Eberron world. . Eberron is a change of pace from other D& D fantasy worlds, in that it has slightly higher technology with magical airships, artificially created warriors called “warforged”, and other elements. In some regards I suppose it is like a steampunk D&D world. Not being familiar with the details of the Eberron world I thought that a story by Wyatt, one of its creators, would be ideal for getting an overview of the world as we built into the story. That didn’t happen though. A familiarity with the world is needed to avoid getting lost in the dizzying assortment of names, places, and historical details. Is having some world background woven into the story an unreasonable expectation? Perhaps, but I admit to having that expectation coming into the book.

The other item that dominated my perception of “Storm Dragon” was how slowly events built up and the story finally gained steam. When the plot elements all come together though, much like one of the storms that main character Gavin Lyrandar can magically conjure, things really get going. That takes very nearly the entire book though, as things unfold slowly. Patience is required as we see Gavin Lyrandar and Haldren ir’Brassek get broken out of an inescapable prison in Eberron. Gavin is a man driven mad by obsession with a Draconic prophecy. As a result, he may know more about it than anybody. There are those who seek to fulfil the prophecy for their own gain, and they see Gavin’s knowledge as a key to it. Alliances are forged, broken, and reforged throughout the course of the novel. In many cases character motivation was passed to the reader in the form of riddle-like prophecy text. The constantly shifting alliances made it very difficult to determine who was key to the agendas throughout the story, who was a pawn, or even who the heroes of the story
would be.

Then there was the prophecy itself. It was the driving force that was shaping the world events in the story. But I still wasn’t clear what the prophecy was. It seemed a tale of Armageddon or of a war among gods on Eberron. These seemed to be, at least as I interpreted them, world altering events, yet something that some power hungry people thought that could bring to pass for their own personal gain. The role of “the bad guys” in the story seemed to be clear if they wanted to destroy the world in order to rule it. Their objectives and the exact outcome they thought they could achieve were extremely hazy, still very far into the book. While I like not being spoon-fed by a plot and being able to make my own interpretations and guesses until the author let’s me know whether I’ve been right or wrong, I was having to do too much of this to be able to settle comfortably into the book for the majority of it. While the bad guys were clear whether or not the expected hero of the story would actually play that role was in doubt for an unsettlingly long portion of the book.

That may have been by design as the clouds broke and questions were clearly answered in the climax of the story. However, it made for a frustrating read at times because I felt just as in the dark about which characters I should grow attached to in the story as I was at the beginning. I’m a sucker for a hero, especially when I’m reading fantasy. I want to find that character and travel along with him or her, even if that’s a misdirection to be revealed later in the story. But in this case I had a hard time finding anything redeeming in any of the characters for the longest time so I had nobody to invest in. For the majority of the story the character I liked most was Cart, the warforged. As a constructed warforged, he had a loyalty and innocence to him. Perhaps it is all my years of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the obvious comparisons to the android Commander Data, but it was most interesting, especially in the early parts of the book, to watch Cart strive to interact with his companions as humanly as he knew how to, but still fall short of that.

Still though, it was apparent that Cart was a secondary character in this story. Perhaps he has previously had, or will get, his own book. But this one was not his. It was obvious that this book was Gavin’s. I was expecting to see the classic journey of the hero, ala “The Hero of A Thousand Faces”. So I waited for the character to develop, and his story and growth to occur along the way.

I waited a long time and was very near conceding that it wasn’t going to happen and this book wasn’t going to hit the mark for me. But then things all came together. Gavin found himself, both in character and as a character in the book that I found interesting and drawn to. Gavin had one huge moment of catharsis where all the bitterness and resentment of his life and particularly 26 years of imprisonment was washed away. But I thought he found a bit too much forgiveness, just a bit too quickly, especially toward the person who was responsible for having him sent to prison. That’s an awful lot of instant forgiveness. It seemed forced to me so that the plot could proceed along. Gavin also had a tearful reunion with a family that he had been “excommunicated” from for 26 years that was also too conveniently resolved. Again I thought it farfetched that 26 years of history could be undone that easily and painlessly. “Storm Dragon” comes in at a comfortable 344 pages, so these couple elements that were forced and rushed could have been expanded out in a less abrupt fashion in just a few extra pages. It didn’t seem like these pivotal moments of character growth and revelation had to be glossed over for the sake of the length of the book. I don’t claim to be the editor or publisher, so perhaps I’m entirely wrong there.

For all the slow build-up, “Storm Dragon ended very strongly over the last thirteen chapters. Better late than never in the “bringing it all together” department. The climax was a large battle sequence that was riveting and was the biggest page-turner of the book. I’ll even look past the fact that there was a beholder at the end that seemed to go down pretty easily. The end left us with questions and a setup for the additional books in this series, but it provided a happy ending for our main characters who had managed to step forward and take the title of “heroes” by the time the book ended.

I give “Storm Dragon” a “rising 6” on my scale. It walked a tightrope and teetered on the brink for me at the beginning. But James Wyatt pulled through and brought it home for me at the end. Looking over the whole book I have to give it a 6, but my opinion was definitely on the rise after the last 13 chapters. They saved the book in my opinion and were a solid springboard from which to launch the rest of the series.

However, to have more than just a average reading experience while reading “Storm Dragon” a reader will need to have two things, an appreciation and some familiarity with the world of Eberron and the patience to let the story come together.

There are four young dragon riders and four dragons whose destiny is to seek out the Dragon Oracle.

This first book in a new young adult series starts with a meeting. Elian, a young boy, whose life changes when he encounters a Dawn Dragon – Aurora.
In a far away land a young girl, Nolita, also encounters her dragon, Firestorm.
However, they both have quite different reactions to their destinies. Elian embraces his, were Nolita flees from hers.

However, four dragons and their riders are required to carry out the Dragon Oracles quest. To find Four Orbs.
Without Nolita and Firestorm the future is uncertain for Dragon kind.

Personal Thoughts – I like dragon stories. There is something about dragons that feels fantastical to me, so it was a delight to get to read a new series based on dragons.

The story begins with Elian when he meets his dragon, Aurora – a lovely name I felt for a dragon. He soon sets aside his fears and embraces his destiny.
However a dragon hunting party tracks the pair. Another young rider, Kira, and her dragon Longfang come to Elian's rescue. And we learn that Aurora can move between worlds.

When the two dragons and their riders join up for the same journey, we get to learn a bit more about dragons and what motivates them. I enjoyed the bonding process between riders and dragons as each dealt with their situations uniquely.

Their journey to the Oracle brings them to Nolita, who is shunning Firestorm, due to a terrible fear of dragons. Nolita’s issues give this story an interest twist as she must face her fears before she can carry out part of the Oracle’s Quest.

The dragons for me are the most enjoyable characters. Their world is interesting, I liked the idea of duty and destiny which influence their actions. And there were plenty of unanswered questions about their society for the next book.

The strangest character is Kasau, the dragon hunter. He is shrouded in mystery throughout the story. We’re never told how he can sense the dragons or why he is driven to kill them. Plenty of questions left unanswered with his character too.
I couldn’t help but dislike him a little though, as I grew quite attached to the dragons.

Plenty of interesting ideas in this first book and a good start to lead us into a more volatile situation as the series continues.

I was introduced to Jonathan Carroll through the insistence of two strangers. I’m not known to listen to people, indeed I’m a scoffer, but they wanted to be called Wiz and Grub – and since those are of my two favorite things to do I thought they may have been on to something. You add that one knew the Condor Man uniform on sight and the other had reading list that peaked curiosity itself (not just my own) and you had the beginnings of a recommendation that would be followed through. Some years – and what seems like a couple lifetimes later – Jonathan Carroll is one of those authors whose books I buy. That may seem anticlimactic, but Carroll is one of, and perhaps the first writer who went on that list of “all I need to know is that the book is out” authors. I don’t need to know what it’s about, I don’t need to know where or when it takes place, I don’t need to know if it’s called fantasy, mystery, horror or science fiction – because such questions, such words, cannot contain Carroll. Instead Carroll carries Liza’s bucket of pandora paint adding a stroke with a brush here, there and where.

Frannie McCabe is the chief of police in Crane’s View, New York a town he grew up in and the town he’d happily die in if given the chance, not that death was something that was on his mind until the death of an odd dog that he took in at his office. A dog that like McCabe has the marks of a creature that lived – not just existed – and upon its death he took it upon himself to bury ‘Old Vertue”. A small town, a veteran sheriff, a dead dog – it has the makings of a western or a bad country song. At an rate, the death of the dog, the disappearance of a couple in his town, a girl found dead in the school bathroom, his step-daughter’s new tattoo disappearing - the aroma of change in the air would set McCabe on a whimsical story where he will attempt to connect dots while retracing his steps. Like time travel stories? How about a story that captures the scent of American Pie? About love, family, a coming of age story and a going of age story. When you don’t have to meet yourself to disrupt the space-time continuum, but you may have to hang out with him and perhaps more than anything it presents the idea that there would be value in asking your prior self – a unique individual – questions to see the actions of that person and learn something is not just a cog in the present cumulative. If one could point at a fault there is a point where you think McCabe is going nowhere, where Carroll couldn’t seem to bring a conclusion big enough to pay-off everything he introduced. It may even seem – in reflection – a great opportunity for a more than quaint fictional work without Science Fiction and Fantasy elements missed. What I think actually occurs is that we see a reasonable and competent man by most standards completely functioning as a man we would rationally think would in an irrational – a magical - situation. So many times in fiction we are shown protagonists who become so by acclimating themselves, to rise to the occasion. To become something they aren’t and never were – something nobody could possibly be. In many cases there may be fall to overcome as well, but routinely we are described this relying on our preconditioned acceptance of this due to exposure in rather flat fiction. Carroll does not stumble in tying up The Wooden Sea, Frannie does, and related to that the end of such experiences are not end of eras in any way a calendar would understand. The Science Fiction element – a universal awakening – is so over the top for the a Sheriff of an escapist-alcove American town that you can feel the gravity of just how beyond being simply odd or disconcerting such situation would be. You would attack this how you know how – with McCabe, the experiences of a hell raiser as a child, a Vietnam Vet, a veteran of couple of marriages, who lives a more than stable life and now respected in the town he once was once ‘that kid’ of. Frannie is a man who had gone through his ‘cycle’ only to be thrown into something bigger. It is not because he does not have the qualities to identify him as heroic; it is that rarely do we describe the day-to-day, handle shit as it happens manner as such. He is not offered a mantle, he is, when looking back on his life a man with an understanding of service and what we have is a man who doesn’t have all the answers, indeed he doesn’t even know all the questions. For the fantastic to have an effect, you have to establish a base that we recognize and Carroll nails the towns so many of us live(ed) in. Where reputations matter, where people never seem to get away from – and if they do, everybody can recite you the specifics of it. Where downtown is distinguishable only because it has been always been called that, where you’re Smith’s daughter or boy. Where I certainly have no interest in going to such a place now, perhaps the person I will be one day will. It is in such places that America really resides:

From the beginning Carroll confounds us and it’s not just a mysterious 3-legged dog – man’s best friend – that enters his life. We are introduced to McCabe spouting one-liners, a wife and step-child showing up at the job with jibes and apparent issues and instead of getting a fractured soul, another broken cop getting by on booze – he did keep his smokes – that lives only to confound the world set against him we get a happy man, a loving husband, a pillar of the community, and man who is where he wants to be. We find a man not looking for anything, but not to the extreme of a man who fears what he may find – he has found what he wants. We are shown choices we can believe. What would you make god do to prove his power? What would you learn if you observed your father when he wasn’t at the moment being your father? What would you want to tell him? In the midst of events of global, and even universal gravity, McCabe is in his hood and confronting these opportunities as if they were what really mattered. So many times, we are told the world is worth saving in fiction, even if grudgingly, and in The Wooden Sea we see why McCabe’s world is. More than that, I’m not a reader who views it as a requirement of the author to make me root for the protagonist of a story to enjoy it, indeed even in my most get-along-gang of moods it’s still a quality that I can’t completely reconcile as not being a least a little slow, but obviously that isn’t to say such stories don’t often represent the best fiction has to offer and one would find it hard not to find some part of McCabe’s journey that is not relatable, that doesn’t at least brush up against something you carry.

The Wooden Sea shares characteristics with others Carroll books in that he rarely puts a new spin on genre conventions it just always seems like his is the right one we had yet to see, as if others were suddenly a heart beat off, a turn of phrase too early, a sentiment missed. There is also a clarity to Carroll’s work that I think is rather distinct. The Wooden Sea’s brand of wonder is one that questions what you see, feel and believe but never what you are actually reading. In fiction we are sometimes – I think – too enamored with stylistic conceit, and I while I agree with Hal Duncan in that style is substance in literature – but Carroll’s style somehow morphs into what should be fashion at the moment of reading instead of vying for next. I always marvel most at writers who are able to present several stories – many completely different thematically and even in tone –that don’t take away from one another in the absence of recognition. When I interviewed the wonderful Kelly Link she spoke of stories that could be read and reveal something new – a story that grows – and The Wooden Sea leaves more trees to climb, more secrets submerged.

The Wooden Sea is perhaps not Carroll’s most recommended work, but is still a notable chapter in the body of work of somebody who is in the argument of being the most noteworthy American Fantasist today.

So take a ride on a bicycle, grab an oar and watch yourself fly.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

The government of 2057 is regretting the deregulation of time travel as private companies deluge the past with tourists. As the delicate web of history flexes under the weight of interference from the future, Jacynda struggles to locate the man who made time travel a reality - Harter Defoe. Cynda’s friends Dr. Allistair and Detective Keats also continue their struggles with Victorian Transitives and a mysterious bloody murder. The stakes are high as Jacynda and her companions attempt to fulfill their duties. With Keat’s life on the line and Jacynda facing eternity in prison if they fail, the odds have never looked worse.

Jana C. Oliver has crafted a sequel that packs a whallop! Virtual Evil is a sensory overload of spine tingling adventure and mind-tickling wit. I absolutely love how she has deepened the characters in this second book. Dr. Allistair and Keats come alive here, standing aside Jacynda as they struggle to put the pieces together in this inventive mystery. Oliver splits her focus between these three characters, yet is able to maintain the momentum and tension in the tale. The action is non-stop as readers follow all three in their struggles to identify an invisible killer that can take on the image of anyone.

If anything, Virtual Evil is even more complex than the first book in the Time Rovers series, Sojourn. Oliver builds the suspense and intrigue, causing readers to doubt the integrity of just about everyone. Not knowing who to trust is one of my favorite aspects of this story. I am also impressed with her concept of time travel as she fills in even more details for readers. In fact, the only weakness I see in the story is the role of government as the Big Bad Brother looking over Jacynda’s shoulder. I feel the writing on that aspect is a bit clichéd and is the only predictable part of this book. However, this did not interrupt my enjoyment of a thoroughly rolicking tale.

Readers, please prepare for this book by reading the first in the series and then jump into this second story. Hopefully, we will not have long to wait to find out just what befalls our heroine and her two companions after the cliffhanger ending of Virtual Evil. I promise you will be breathless waiting for the third book, Madman’s Dance, to arrive sometime in the fall of 2008.

Jacynda is a Time Rover from the year 2057, escorting academic tourists back and forth in the river of Time to engage in historical research. Called upon to recover a reluctant tourist who is enjoying the past a little too much, she finds herself in one of the most terrifying times and places during the Victorian Era - East End London, 1888, the playground of Jack the Ripper. As if a tourist refusing to return isn’t enough, Jacynda finds out a Rover has also gone missing. Woven throughout her escapade is the presence of the Transitives, a group of people with the mysterious talent to alter their appearance by shifting their shape completely. Jacynda must decide who to trust as she finds she is running out of the very commodity she has always controlled - Time.

Winner of the Daphne du Maurier award, Sojourn is an exquisitely crafted tale that takes readers back to the very bowels of the East End. Squalid, derelict, and desperate, the people there are simply trying to survive another day. Jacynda can’t help but compare her life in 2057 with the existence of those in 1888. The author lays the stark and sterile society of the future next to the teeming life of the Victorian Era. Jacynda begins to realize filth and struggle serve to heighten the pleasures of the simple things in life, such as fresh hot scones and a quiet bath.

Jana G. Oliver has performed a masterful feat, balancing the multiple threads in the storyline to culminate in an ending that both satisfies and leaves questions unanswered. The only threadbare aspect to the plot was the relationship between Jacynda and her employer in 2057, but this pales in comparison to the rest of the story. Readers will find non-stop action from the beginning as they tumble from 1888 to 2057 and back again. Ms. Oliver introduces characters and creates personalities, capturing the Victorian fussiness and the “ladies of the night” with finesse. Her addition of the Transitives, shape shifters, serves to add a different twist on the activities of Jack the Ripper. Ripperologists, fear not, this is not an attempt to lay to rest the identity of that cruel fiend. Jack does, however, have a place in the plot (as readers will find out for themselves).

Sojourn was a wonderful adventure, full of unexpected twists and turns. I encourage you, Reader, to experience this time tri