Capsule Reviews: Reasoner, Prosch, Whalen

Capsule Reviews:

1: Faraday: The Iron Horse, by James Reasoner.

James Reasoner creates some iconic characters and sets up a western series with a dynamite opening book. I understand there was a series of these books published in the past in which the sequels were written by other authors, but I haven't read any of those. I did much enjoy this one though.

Matthew Faraday runs a detective agency, a competitor to the Pinkertons. He brings young Daniel Britten onto his team and sends him to investigate an apparent attempt to sabotage the western expansion of the railroad. Someone is informing the Sioux of the movements and vulnerabilities of the "Iron Horse" and Britten soon begins to accumulate suspects.

We have a pretty good mystery built up here, and then a wild free-for-all ending in which the mystery is revealed and the action rolls. A really strong ending. Two particularly well developed secondary characters were Sam Callaghan, a rough frontiersmen drawn along the lines of Wild Bill Hickock, and Mordecai Vint, a peddler with a love of strong drink who also has a beautiful daughter--Laura. I have a feeling that Callaghan plays a role in the later books in the series. I liked him quite a lot.

All in all, an excellent and entertaining read.

2. Stage Fright, by Richard Prosch.

Stage Fright is the fourth book in the Dan Spalding series. Spalding is a music buff and record store owner in Ozark City who frequently gets involved in solving local crimes and helping local citizens. He's a bit of a Knight Errant, as in John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, and the Spalding books evoke a similar feeling in me.

I've enjoyed all the previous entries in this series and this was no exception. A quick, taut thriller with lots of action and suspense.

3. Tragon of Ramura, by John M. Whalen.

This is the first book I’ve read by John M. Whalen, but it won’t be the last. It’s a standalone novel. The writing is very good, with a lot of action and well-drawn characters and settings. I’d classify it as Sword & Sorcery. Tragon is our main hero. He’s strong and courageous, but no Conan. He struggles with fears and doubts; he isn’t always top dog in a fight. One of the things I liked about the story is that it’s not just Tragon’s tale. It’s really an ensemble cast and several times we see other characters pull Tragon’s butt out of the fire. I particularly enjoyed Yusef and Darius.

The story begins when Tragon and his crew, who have been labeled pirates but hold that title in name only, arrive at a coastal town of “Afkira,” a fictionalized Africa. They are hired by a man named Hestus Variano to help him rescue his daughter from a city of sorcery called Caiphar. Mayhem ensues, of course, and Tragon finds that he has a strange connection to the daughter of Caiphar’s king. I won’t give more of the plot away so you’ll need to read it to find out what that connection is.

Whalen is certainly familiar with the tropes of Sword and Sorcery and adventure fiction. There are  elements in the tale which will likely remind many readers of Burroughs’ stories of Opar. There’s also a few twists on the general Sword and Sorcery concept. All in all, I enjoyed it quite a lot.

More Mage

Today, I'll just point you toward a great review of Mage, Maze, Demon by James Reasoner. Since I greatly admire James's writing, it's always nice to get a "well done" from him. 

The story is still only 99 cents on Amazon. Check it out.

Notable New Releases

Several of my friends have new books out that I’m eagerly looking forward to getting and reading. Perhaps you might enjoy these works as well. Here’s a quick blurb about them.

1. First up, Ron Scheer, over at Buddies in the Saddle has released How the West was Written: Volume 1.  Beat to a Pulp is the publisher. Ron has been doing a long running exploration on his blog of the early history of printed western tales. And he’s branched out well beyond such names as Owen Wister and Zane Grey. I’ve been following his work on this project eagerly and have ordered the book, though I haven’t yet had a chance to read it. Both an ebook and print version are available. Here’s the link on Amazon  

2. Bernard Lee DeLeo at Bernard’s Blog has the second book in his Cold Blooded series available for preorder. I tell you I almost NEVER preorder a book but I did this one. Looking forward to reading it. I’ve liked everything I’ve read from DeLeo, but the first Cold Blooded was my favorite. You can preorder here

3. C. S. Harris. The latest in Harris’s Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series has been released, Why King’s Confess. This is an excellent historical mystery series that just ‘drips’ with atmosphere. It’s at Amazon here. I love this series.

4. Richard Prosch has released One Against a Gun Horde, a collection of western stories set mostly in Nebraska and Wyoming.  I’ve been remiss in getting this one up. I plead overwork. See Amazon link here.

5. Beat to a Pulp has a number of new releases out. They also have a re-release of  A RipThrough Time, which yours truly has a section in. An exciting space time adventure, if I do say so myself. And I do.

6. James Reasoner and his wife Livia have also leaped into the publishing ranks with Rough Edges Press. They have a good number of releases out already with a lot more to come. Check out their website. 

I’ve probably forgotten someone. If so, I’ll have to put up a second edition of this short list. But, for now, happy reading!

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Summer Reading: Capsule Reviews

Finally, with school behind me for the summer, I’ve been able to get to some reading. First up was catching up on some of the friend/colleague books that I had piled up on my Kindle. I realized I have some talented friends. Here are some capsule reviews, in reverse order to the time frame in which I read them.

The Drifter Detective, by Garnett Elliott:  This is from Beat to a Pulp, a small press publishing juggernaut.

Jack Laramie is a descendant of Cash Laramie, known as the Outlaw Marshall. Cash was a lawman and Jack is in a similar business, working as a private eye. He limps into a small Texas town with a truck that's falling apart under him and gets a job working for the local sheriff. Everything is not as it seems, though, and those who try to use a Laramie soon find they've got a tiger by the tail. Note, in length, this is between a long short story and a novella.

Link is Here: http://www.amazon.com/Drifter-Detective-Jack-Laramie-ebook/dp/B00BVRQWMQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369599023&sr=1-1&keywords=The+drifter+detective

Hard Case, by Bernard Lee DeLeo:

This is the kind of book they mean when someone says a book is "action packed." Seldom does the main character, John Harding, sit still. Whether fighting brutal bouts in ultimate fighting style arenas, or fighting terrorists or modern day pirates, Harding moves quick and hits harder. He'd be a good friend to have, and a terrible enemy. Of course, he wouldn't be your enemy for long. You'd pretty quickly be dead.  Note: This is a full length novel. Link is Here: http://www.amazon.com/HARD-CASE-Book-Harding-ebook/dp/B0083NUPY2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369599755&sr=1-1&keywords=hard+case

Deadlock, by James Reasoner: A Judge Earl Stark tale. (Nuff Said, but I’ll say a little more.):

I'm a huge fan of the Judge Earl Stark series by James Reasoner. This current entry is top notch. In length, it's a long short story, and a quick and entertaining read. Reasoner knows how to get the action going instantly as Stark arrives in a town where a lynching is threatened. As usual, he's instantly in the middle of the drama. Highly recommended.

Link is Here: http://www.amazon.com/Deadlock-Judge-Stark-Western-ebook/dp/B00B0JLIW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369599858&sr=1-1&keywords=deadlock%2C+reasoner

Mistik, by O’Neil de Noux:

I'm not quite sure how to categorize this one. A young man in New Orleans begins to discover that he has superpowers and becomes a masked crime fighter. Then he meets a girl with similar powers. They fall in love. Or do they? There's a pretty big mystery behind it all, which is revealed in the end. Good stuff.  Note: This is novella in length. Link is Here: http://www.amazon.com/Mistik-Superhero-ebook/dp/B00AAIKVW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369599996&sr=1-1&keywords=mistik%2C+de+noux

Blood and Skin, by Steve Malley:

An exciting thriller with some nice twists and turns at the end. I particularly didn't see coming the identity of the primary villain, although after the reveal it made perfect sense. The hero of the story is a tattoo artist with an interesting back story. I also know the author is a tattoo artist as well, so there is some really interesting insider information in the work. How much of the rest of the protagonist's back story is based on the writer's own life is open to question, I suppose. Note: This is a full length novel. Link is Here: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-and-Skin-ebook/dp/B009FUA434/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369600108&sr=1-1&keywords=blood+and+skin%2C+malley

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The Next Big Thing Blog Chain...

I was chained to this by David J. West (Author of HEROES OF THE FALLEN) so I’m sharing some things about my primary “work in progress.”


What is the working title of your book?

I’ve actually worked recently on two books but the one I’ve gotten the farthest along in is called The Razored Land.


Where did the idea come from for the book?

It’s a post-apocalyptic book, which I’ve always wanted to write. The concept of folks surviving after an apocalypse that destroys human civilization is an oldie but a goodie. Some great stories have been told in that kind of a setting. For my book, I added in the idea of a DNA plague that alters all kinds of life forms, including most humans. There are people who are immune to the plague, and that’s where the main character comes from.


What genre does your book fall under?

Post-apocalyptic literature is almost a genre of its own. However, this kind of book is typically classified as Science Fiction and I’d say that genre makes up the greatest element of the story I’ve conceived. However, there are going to be some very strong horror elements in the piece.


Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I don’t ever see actors playing the roles in my fiction. Not sure why. I’m not a big movie buff. If forced to choose, I might pick Colin Farrell to play the main character. Samuel Jackson might fit the primary villain, with lots of makeup. There’s also a female character that might be played well by the young woman who played the female terminator on the Sarah Conner Chronicles. She’d also need quite a bit of makeup.


What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

At the end of the world, love and hate meet as enemies on the final battlefield.


Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither, most likely. I have a small press publisher interested in it and that’s probably the route I’ll go.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The book is about half done at 33,000 words. It took about 8 months to write that much, although it wasn’t the only project I was working on. I have other commitments now before I can get back to it but I figure about another 8 months to finish. It would take considerably less if I wasn’t working a real job.


What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There are many post-apocalyptic (PA) books out there, although some of the other elements that I’ve added in will make this book different. A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of my favorite PA books. The Stones of Power series by David Gemmell has certain things in common with my book. I could certainly name a dozen others. Andre Norton wrote some of this that was certainly an early influence on me. Jerry Ahern wrote a series called "The Survivalist" that had many elements I admired.


Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I’d have to say, “reading” inspired me to it. I love post-apocalyptic books. I love the setting and the possibilities. It gives the imagination some room to run and I always enjoy that. I want to try my hand at it.


What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

In my novel, Cold in the Light, I had a non-human character named Kargen who many readers really liked, even though he was basically the villain of the story. He was kind of a non-human anti-hero. I’ve wanted to write such a character again and “The Razored Land” has given me that chance. I’ve got a couple of Kargenesque characters in it. I’m having fun with them.


That's it.

Now I have to chain people to this thing so I’ll name a few people but will say only for them to do it if it intrigues them and they have the time. I don’t want them to feel any kind of pressure from it. I know we writers are busy folks and the last thing I want to do is add more pressure and stress to the mix.

James Reasoner
Oscar Case
Richard Prosch


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Red Dead and Harvest

I've done too much mindless stuff on my break, or maybe just enough. I've played a lot of my video game, Red Dead Redemption, and actually completed it. The ending was rather bittersweet but I suspect it had to end the way it did. It was memorable at least. I almost immediately started over again from the beginning and this time I'll do all the challenges and side missions I skipped last time. Lana is helping me. I've already found three treasures I wouldn't have found without her.

I finished some school work but didn't do any writing. I tried one day and quit after about a half hour of spinning my wheels. The emotional energy required for writing is considerable, and I'm not to the point of being able to, or perhaps needing to commit it.

Harvest of War is still free, and will be for two more days. The icon below will take you there if you haven't gotten your copy. It's been downloaded 365 times as of now. I hope that's a good sign. It's garnered very good reviews so far, including a great one over at James Reasoner's blog. Thanks James. I'm glad people are enjoying it.


Well, that's about it. I think I'm gonna try and get out and enjoy some sun today. Happy Easter Weekend to those who celebrate.
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Announcement Deferred

I thought I was going to have a bit of a personal announcement to make today but my thinking was premature. And it turns out I won't even know if I'll be able to make the announcement until Monday. Oh well, never count your beer until you've opened the can and had the first sip. Nothing major anyway.

In writing news, I’m over 15,000 words into “Under the Ember Star,” and since I don’t expect it to go much over 25,000 I’d say I’m well into the middle of the work. That almost always means a bit of a slow down for me, and it has here. But I’m still making progress and I expect to finish it by the end of June. I’d like to have it done sooner.

I finished reading two books by friends in the past week. I’ve included my reviews below.

Midnight Eyes by Sidney Williams:

Midnight Eyes is a thriller set in Louisiana, an area of the country Williams knows well, having grown up there. A serial killer is working one of the small Louisiana towns and an embattled sheriff and his FBI profiler son have to solve the case before more die. Along the way they have to deal with their own shattered relationship. The writing here is very fine and the "killer" is definitely a bit different from what the reader starts out expecting. There are some nice twists and turns along the way, and a really exciting action sequence at the end. The characters are well drawn and seem very real, including the killer. Good stuff.

Midnight Eyes for the Nook

Longarm and the Arizona Flame by Tabor Evans (Really James Reasoner):

This is what they call an “Adult Western,” which means it has sex in it. The sex is relatively graphic but not pornographic. I’ve only read a few adult westerns, and almost always because I’ve known the author, as I know James Reasoner. The key thing for me is that when James writes one of these books the book works as a “western” first and foremost. This is a very good western, in fact, and I much enjoyed it. If you haven't read any of this type of book this would be a good introduction.

Arizona Flame at Barnes & Noble

I also read my first SF book by John Ringo, called Into the Looking Glass. I liked it a lot and have already picked up a few of his other books.
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Final exams, but I Leave You Reviews

Today officially starts final exams, so I'll be largely off the grid for a few days. I'll leave you with a few reviews. The first is a review of James Reasoner's Redemption, Kansas, which I just finished.

"Another excellent western by James Reasoner. Take a Kansas town called Redemption, a Texas cowboy injured in a stampede, a group of townsfolk who fear Texans but are learning that the lawmen who swore to protect them from the trail herds might be worse, and a beautiful, strong-willed woman, and you have the ingredients for an explosive western. As Bill Crider says in his blurb on the book, "If anybody asks you who's carrying on the heritage of fine traditional Westerns in the vein of Louis L'Amour and Elmer Kelton, tell 'em James Reasoner's the man."


On Saturday I went to a book signing by Shauna Roberts for her book, Like Mayflies in a Stream. She was back in town for a brief time and it was good to see her again. I've run a review of her book before, but here it is again. It's well worth repeating.

"I found this a really compelling read. Just great characters and a very realistic feel to the historical world. The basic story is a retelling of the Gilgamesh legend, but the mythology is fleshed out with supporting characters who seem extremely real. By the time I got to the second half of the book I was loath to take a break from it and was turning the pages rapidly to find out what happened next."


In the meantime, Shauna left a review on Amazon and Goodreads for my collection, Bitter Steel. Sure made me feel good.

"I loved this collection of epic fantasy short stories and poems. The prose is breathtakingly beautiful, particularly given how easy it would have been to write these tales of honorable but flawed heroes living harsh lives and fighting battles that are not always winnable in prose as bleak as the landscapes and battlefields the stories take place in. Gramlich is among the best stylists writing speculative fiction today."


I'm gonna visit blogs tonight, and then see you all again in a few.
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Discount Noir, and Bill Crider

Our blog colleague, Patti Abbott, is trying to get the news out about the fabulous collection called Discount Noir, which contains stories by Ed Gorman, Bill Crider, and James Reasoner, along with many other fine writers. In the interest of helping Patti spread the word, I’m hosting Bill Crider on my blog today with a short piece about his story in the collection, entitled “Their Fancies Lightly Turned.” Here’s……Bill.

When Patti Abbott asked me to write a story for Discount Noir, the first thing I thought of was a story I’d done a few years ago for Damn Near Dead. People often ask me if I ever intend to do anything more with the characters in that story, so I thought this would be a good chance to revisit a couple of them named Royce and Burl. They’re fun to write about, and I decided to give a little backstory about their meth dealing or something along those lines. Since the new story was to involve a big discount store, the next thing that occurred to me was that those places really have a problem with characters like Royce and Burl because those kinds of stores are where guys like them try to pick up some of their makings. After that, it was smooth sailing. I just put my characters in motion and let them carry the story through to the end. When I finished and looked it over, I liked the way it worked. It seemed to me to be a story about the kind of thing that could happen, or maybe does happen every now and then. I’d say more, but then this comment would wind up being longer than the story. Better for people to buy the book, read the story, and find out more for themselves.


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Winners and Losers

True to my intentions, I've taken a few days largely off writing and tried to just relax and do some reading. I've even engaged in a little TV/Movie action. I caught a few more episodes of The Office, watched some Frasier and Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns, and watched Hell's Kitchen. Last night I rented the movie The Losers, and I have to say I enjoyed it quite a lot. I've never read the comic book series it is based on, and it looked at first glance very much like an A-Team kind of set-up, but I liked the characters and the action was satisfyingly over-the-top. I don't know the names of the actors but among the characters we had the woman who played Uhuru on the new Trek, the guy who played the "Comedian" on Watchmen, and the guy who played Johnny Torch on The Fantastic Four, all of whom I like as characters. The villain was Jason Patric, who gave a pretty good performance as a totally conscienceless but sometimes blackly humorous evil CIA operative.

In reading, I started Hunt at the Well of Eternity, by our own James Reasoner, and am enjoying it muchly. I'm reading a collection of Loren Eiseley's poetry called The Innocent Assassins, which is, in general, not as good as his prose essays. I also started Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer and am liking it. I was hooked on the TV show before it was cancelled and the book so far is pretty close in many ways to the show.



I finished Ed Gorman's Harlot's Moon, which was very good, and Ira Levin's A Kiss Before Dying, which I liked a lot although I don't know if I'd consider it among the world's fifty best mysteries ever. I also read an enjoyable western by a fellow named Gary Addis, who I've mentioned in this blog before. I've copied my review from Goodreads below:

"Lance Jolley is a gunman. He's been shaped by childhood and by the harsh environment of the American Civil War into a hard man who can react with volcanic violence when he's pushed. And he's not adverse to trading on his gun rep.

But Jolley has a moral center and never forgets a friend. When the son of a friend is harassed into a gunfight that the young lad can't win, Jolley sets the range on fire as he rides for vengeance. Once more his enemies will learn not to push Lance Jolley, or those he cares about.

I just finished reading this for Kindle, which is the only way it's available at the moment. This is Gary Addis's first novel, I believe, although he's been published in nonfiction and fiction multiple times. It's a very good story, well written and strongly visual. There are flashbacks to the Civil War that are gut wrenching in their realism.

Good stuff, and I hope we see more of Lance Jolley."


Until next time, keep the word side up!
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Rough Edges and Killing Trail

Killing Trail got a nice review over on Rough Edges, which is the blog of James Reasoner. That means a lot to me because James makes his living as a professional writer, and much of what he writes is western themed. James is the author of over 200 books, many under his own name and others under various pen-names. He writes or has written for a number of series, some very long-running.

I've got several dozen of James's books around here, not all of them read yet. But it's always nice to have some good stuff in reserve. Probably my favorites by James aren't westerns at all but a couple of noir thrillers called Texas Wind and Dust Devils, both from Point Blank Press. I’ve reviewed both of these on Amazon. In westerns, my favorites by James are his Judge Earl Stark books, but there are many others to enjoy.

Every couple of years I get to talk to James Reasoner in Cross Plains, Texas when I go there for Howard Days. I always enjoy those visits. The man is stuffed with information about writing and writers, and it’s always fun to pick his brain. His taste is impeccable, as witness his enjoyment of Killing Trail. :)

James's wife, Livia J. Washburn is also a professional writer, so they are an interesting couple.

And the cover photo at top, well, guess who sat for it. No, not me, but someone mentioned in this blog. And not Livia either. :)


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I Appear to be Fabulous!

James Reasoner nominated me for this award last Sunday, and a little later Shauna Roberts also nominated me. I much appreciate it James and Shauna. It’s nice to be recognized.

To accept this award I’m supposed to post five things I’m obsessed with, and also nominate five other fabulous blogs for the award. Now I don’t believe there are five things I’m “obsessed” with in the clinical use of that term, but I certainly can find five things that I spend a lot of my spare time doing. Those will have to do. So, my “obsessions” first.

1. Reading: This is closest I come to an obsession in a clinical sense. I’m virtually a compulsive reader. Last night I was reading a book I’m not enjoying very much. Lana and I were also having a conversation, and I found after a few minutes that I’d read ten pages of the book without actually paying attention to anything more than the bare words. I read everywhere, and anything. Have book? Will read!

2. Books: I suppose this goes hand in hand with number 1, but in addition to reading compulsively, I also really just enjoy being around and handling books. I like rearranging my shelves, and going through piles of unread books to select one that I want to read. I like to see my collection add up as I finish a new book and put it on the shelves. This is one thing that my Kindle 2 will never replace, and it’s a biggie.

3. Food: I rather love to eat. And I eat a lot. I’m no gourmet, though, and I’m no kind of chef who carefully prepares his meals according to some inner creative fire. I want food on my plate. Hearty food. Large amount s of it. And I want to say mmhymmn when I fork those bites to my mouth.

4. Nature: I love living in the country, to awake in the morning to the sun streaming through the trees. I love to get out and hike. I love having living things all around me other than human beings. The natural world is so incredibly beautiful. I couldn’t truly live without it.

5. Imagining: This one is a riff off of Shauna’s selection of “creating.” I simply love the act of imagining things. For the Talera series, for example, I’ve got a large number of plants and animals and cities and landmasses etc. that have not yet appeared in the books. I just loved making them up. And I’ve mentioned my habit of making up stories for myself as I lay down to go off to sleep. Much of my day is spent interacting with my own imagination.

It's hard to choose only five people from among the many wonderful blogs I read. My choices are five blogs that in the past year have expanded my horizons or helped me be a better writer. Thanks to all of them:

Greg Schwartz: Greg is a very fine poet; I have several of his collections. Reading his work has taught me a bit about how to use dark humor in poetry, something I’m not very adept at but which I admire. He also often has great info on markets and I’ve sold a couple of things to magazines he’s linked to.

Hello Ello 2: Ello has funny children, very, very funny children. Or else Ello is funny enough herself to make her children seem tremendously funny. For some good humor, sometimes from what America’s Funny Home Videos call the “naughty file,” check her blog out.

Wayne Allen Sallee: Wayne is an immensely talented writer, and also a friend of mine. Even though we’ve only met once in person. Whether in his blogging or his fiction, Wayne always writes close to the bone.

Sidney Williams: Sid is another friend of mine, and also a very fine writer. I’ve got at least 7 or 8 of his books on my shelves. Sid doesn’t post very often but he always has something interesting to say when he does. He also runs the very interesting Fear on Demand

Heff: Heff doesn’t read much, as he’s happy to tell you. But he talks a lot about food and drink, one of my obsessions, and about heavy metal and hard rock music, which is the only kind I listen too. Whenever you’re tired of reading blogs about writing and writers, hop over to Heff’s for something completely different. Besides, he owns a bar, and where else are you going to go if there’s a zombie outbreak?

Good Recent Reads

Despite my last post about learning from bad books, I’ve been reading good books lately. I just finished two worth mentioning. The first is Texas Wind by James Reasoner. This book was originally published by Manor Books in 1980 but that tiny publisher faded rapidly into obscurity. It was reissued in 2004 by PointBlank, an imprint of Wildside. I picked this up because I know the author personally, but when I started it I could hardly put it down. It’s short, 142 pages, and a wonderful read with a very modern series of twists and turns. It’s definitely from the hard-boiled genre, but the hero detective, Cody, is no stereotype. He doesn’t booze it up and he collects books and western art of the likes of Frederic Remington. He’s a bit softer edged than the average hard-boiled detective but he’s one tough fellow and I’d love to see him in more adventures. Only the fact that it was published by such a small press originally must have kept this from becoming a series.

A while back I read Dust Devils, also by James Reasoner. It’s a similar noir thriller with even more twists that was written in 2007 and also published by PointBlank. It’s also very good and I highly recommend it, but I think I liked Texas Wind a bit better. And in an odd bit of synchronicity, Travis Erwin posted about the real Texas “wind” on the same day as I finished the book.


The second good book I read recently, finishing it on Wednesday, was The Last Guardian by David Gemmell. This is fourth in a series called “The Stones of Power,” and so you might want to start with the first one, which is called Ghost King. This is actually a pretty far ranging series, though, so you could easily start with book 3, Wolf in Shadow, which is the first to feature the character of Jon Shannow, a kind of futuristic gunfighter who reminds me a fair amount of Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane. Shannow is a tormented character, a man of God and of violence who fights to rid evil from the land after the “Fall,” an event that destroyed Earth’s current civilization. I like the Shannow character quite a bit and am currently reading the fifth book in the series, Bloodstone, which also features Shannow.

One point of interest, in these books the “Stones of Power” are stones called Sipstrassi and they are in some ways similar to the Milkstones from my Taleran series. They are also capable of opening gates between worlds, for example, and of working magic. They are generally much more powerful than my milkstones, however. Although the Taleran series was published in book form well after the first “Stones of Power” book came out, Swords of Talera was written quite a bit earlier and the milkstones are a completely independent construction, not related at all to or influenced by the Sipstrassi stones. I didn’t discover or read the first “Stones of Power” book until the late 1990s while “Swords” was written in 1986. It’s weird, though, that two independent constructions could show such interesting similarities.

In wild, student-request news, I received an email from a student who missed the first week and a half of class, then missed two of three in-class chances to get extra credit, and missed close to half the total classes in a course where class participation is counted, telling me how surprised she was that she got a “B” when she was expecting an “A.” Since she blew off the first week and a half she missed a test and I had to literally force her to write me an explanation as to why she missed before I’d give her a make-up. She finally admitted in writing that she had no reason. She just hadn’t come. But she’s surprised she didn’t get an “A.” Sadly enough, I’m not surprised by her surprise.

Sending out Good Thoughts

Friends of mine, James Reasoner and his family, lost all their belongings yesterday in a wildfire that raced through their little piece of Texas. He had a chance to update his blog at the local library and talks about it there. The family and pets are safe; everything else is gone. We've been in touch with Jim and they are staying with family and OK for now on food and shelter. But if you would send your prayers and good thoughts their way it would be appreciated.

Both Jim and his wife, Livia, are authors, widely published and in demand. Jim had a contracted book about a third done when the fire took it. The publisher has already said they'll wait for him, which is good news, and Jim is not a "sensitive" writer. I know he won't let this keep him from wordslinging, as soon as he gets another computer. The family also lost thousands of pulps, books, and irreplaceable memories, of course.

Once they are settled again his friends will be sending him books and materials to rebuild his collection, although much of it will not be replaceable.

Jim, we're thinking of you.