Saturday 30 April 2016

BOOK REVIEW: Heckler's Storm by Karl Whiting


Heckler's Storm
By Karl Whiting

A baseball field doesn't seem the natural home for a horror story - the bright sunshine, the innocent simplicity of the game itself... and yet, here we have Heckler's Storm, and if the hairs on the back of your neck don't prickle through this, I'll be surprised.

Karl Whiting takes a simple piece of American life, and twists it around into something creepy. Craig is a shortstop who is failing, struggling to keep his career going in the minor leagues. He knows he's not been good enough, and that air of desperate failure gnaws at the inside of his mind. One hot afternoon, with his cap missing and sweat curdling on the back of his neck, he frets and fears about everything. Then, as he steps up to bat, he hears it. A heckler's voice. A disturbing voice that cuts through the regular noise and hubbub of the crowd and tells him that he is blighted. That his team is blighted.

Before long, bad things start to happen. His J Jonah Jameson of a team boss seems ill, then worse - injuries... deaths even, maybe. Are they real or is Craig losing his mind? Will the blight affect more than his team - will it reach his home, and his beloved wife? And all the while, he keeps hearing the heckler's voice, taunting him, warning him...

Told entirely from Craig's perspective, it's hard to tell what is real and what is imagined in this feverish little tale of a sportsman whose career is on the slide. But from start to finish, Whiting keeps the pressure on, keeps you wondering where it's all going to end. Even when that end comes, it leaves you asking questions, asking how would the rest of the world have seen the same incidents.

It's a short tale - under 20,000 words, but ignore the word count, and enjoy - as Whiting hits a home run.

AI rating: 5/5

Heckler's Storm is available on Amazon here

Friday 29 April 2016

BOOK REVIEW: The Cartel - The Apprentice Volume 1 by EG Manetti


The Cartel: The Apprentice Volume 1
By EG Manetti

I'm so very far out of my comfort zone with this book by EG Manetti - but in many ways, that may be the point, for her creation is a world where the uncomfortable has become the commonplace.

Lilian lives in a future where cartels control the worlds but life has become rigid and formal. Even competition between the cartels is stagnant, with little change in their rankings over the years. By family circumstances, she is forced to become an apprentice to a master in one of the cartels. That apprenticeship is more slavery than anything else, though, as she is forced to obey all of his instructions - and give herself mentally and physically to his every whim.

Fortunately for her, she looks forward to the sexual contact that comes with this scenario - though it very much is in the realm of dominance and submissiveness, with her compelled to satisfy his demands. This sat very uneasily with me - as while she might look forward to these encounters and enjoy them, if she didn't then she would still be compelled to go through with them against her will. Worse, her position is that she would be unable to speak out in this world that expects it of her.

Indeed, the world she inhabits offers little in the way of opportunity for her to express herself as she might wish - constrained as she is by the rules of being an apprentice in this very mannered society that values obedience over expression. Her inner dialogue wrestles constantly with what she is allowed to say, and the consequences she might face if she says or does the wrong thing.

That said, Lilian's sharp mind soon proves to be a boon to her master, as a plot begins to unravel that could affect the heart of the cartel itself. Meanwhile, her master sees the chance to use her intellect as he seeks to change the rigid structure that has endured for generations and advance the cartel itself to overtake its rivals.

The writing in the book is solid - though some might find it repetitive at times, Lilian constantly falls back on certain mantras that keep her focused on getting through the situations she faces. In this way, she expresses her core inner values, her true identity in a world that would have her be something else, and that would regard her as close to nothing while doing so. It's an uncomfortable read, in the manner that The Handmaid's Tale or The Remains of the Day could be uncomfortable - while the sex scenes are frequent and detailed, yet often rather passionless.

In the end, while I have to admit this is not the book for me, I have to say it is well done. If the above material sets off your trigger warnings, though, stay clear. It's not shy about the areas which it explores.

AI rating: 4/5


Thursday 28 April 2016

FREE STORY: Foxwife, by Matthew Harvey

Matthew Harvey is one of the authors to feature in the first anthology ever published by Inklings Press, Tales From The Tavern. He returned to feature again in the third anthology, Tales From The Universe. This is the first time a story of his has appeared here on the blog, though - and it's a true pleasure to be able to host him. Here he presents the gentle, quicksilver beauty of Foxwife. 


Foxwife
By Matthew Harvey

Each morning, the music was the same.  The delicate tone of a wooden flute flowed through the gardens, stilling the birds in their chorus and calming the breeze to silence.  As he had for many mornings, Shiro Tokuda went in search of the musician.  The formal gardens of his families’ estate were large, and it had taken him almost a week to find the artfully secluded grove.  Screened from the gardens by low sweeping trees, a small pavilion nestled close under its sheltering branches with a view away to the east.  The flute drew him on into the stillness of the early day, a greeting to the rising sun as its rays shone down on the little clearing.
He picked his way through the trees with great care, fearing that any stray noise might disturb the mysterious flautist and send them into hiding.  It had happened before, when a misstep had broken a twig and ended the song early.  He made no mistakes, emerging at the back of the open pavilion to finally behold the musician.  His breath caught in his throat.  The dawn light played across the figure of a young woman, dancing on the folds of her kimono like fire.  Midnight hair flowed unbound as far as her waist, and shone blue in the light.  He couldn’t see her face, but Tokuda knew she would be beautiful.  He stood there, entranced, as the music flowed from the simple flute at her lips and curled about him.  All sense of time fled, until the sun climbed above the horizon and the song ended.
His contented sigh broke the silence which followed, and the young woman, as beautiful as he had thought, turned to stare wide eyed over her shoulder.  There the startled gaze of a wild creature in her look, a deer sighting a hunter, which made the young man’s heart flutter.  She rose impossibly quickly, taking three steps before he could even voice his surprise.  He hurriedly stepped after her, one hand reaching.  “Wait, please!”  She had stepped from the pavilion when she stumbled, sprawling with a pained cry.  She half rose, turning to look at the traitorous ground, then glancing up, fearful, as Tokuda drew close.  She didn’t cower, but there was a shivering tension about her, frozen in mid-flight.

Feeling suddenly awkward as he towered over the slight woman, Tokuda knelt.  Silence stretched as she stared, eyes wide in a porcelain pale face.  He forced himself to bow, and break from that uncomfortable gaze.  “I’m sorry.  I hadn’t meant to startle you.  If you’re hurt because of me, please let me make up for it.”  She was silent.  He looked up, and was glad to find she seemed less afraid of him now.  Her eyes still bored into him, something about them raising the hairs along his neck.  She spoke, in a voice as musical as her flute.  It was a few moments before the sense of them penetrated.

“You stood on my shadow. And now you are kneeling on it.”  He blinked, glancing down to find he was indeed kneeling in her shadow.  He looked again.  What she had said was entirely accurate - her shadow, thrown long by the early sun, passed beneath him and showed as a darker shape where his own shadow crossed it.  She arranged herself more comfortably as he studied the shadow eerily trapped beneath his knees.  Even stretched as it was, there was no mistaking it.  With pointed ears and a waving tail, the sun threw the shape of a fox behind her.  He blinked again, noting not one, but four lazily waving tails in the shadow-shape.  He looked up, astounded, to find her gaze downcast, and a flush showing bright against her pale cheeks.

“Miss?”  She started, eyes flicking back up to his, and now he knew what had seemed so strange about them.  Golden-amber met hazel, and before the woman’s intensity could steal his voice again he turned to look away, over her shoulder.  “I am Shiro Tokuda.  This is my families’ garden.”  She looked away as well, avoiding staring at his face.  “I am called Mi.”  He couldn’t help a smile, and she flushed again.  He asked, amused, “You are truly named ‘beautiful’?”  She looked away, face aflame “My mother named me so.  It is not a joke.”  He bowed his head in apology.  Unthinking, he added “It’s true, as well.”  He looked up to find that wide eyed stare on him again, and now it was his turn to flush and duck his head in embarrassment.  He looked back, to find she was smiling.  “That’s very kind.  Thank you.”  He smiled, feeling foolish as his heart raced.

He realised, suddenly, that her shadow was still trapped beneath him.  “Oh, excuse me, Miss Mi!”  She looked on confused as he rose, stepped to the side and sank back to his knees.  He explained “I was still kneeling on your shadow.”  She straightened, realising her freedom, then stood fluidly and in no hurry this time.  Feeling ungainly he hurried to his own feet as she offered a bow.  He returned it, aware that this was a parting.  She turned, stepping towards the open eastern lands and he lurched a step after her.  “Will- will you still come here to play?”  She stopped, looking back at him, light and shadow playing across the fine lines of her face.  “I would like to.  If I am welcome in your families’ garden?”  Heart thumping he bowed again, deeply.  Feeling daring he added “If I am welcome to listen, then of course!”
He straightened, unsurprised to find her gone without trace.  He smiled when he heard her voice from somewhere among the trees. “Take care not to kneel on my shadow next time.”

To find out more about Matthew Harvey, you can follow him on Twitter - which he has recently joined - here.


Monday 25 April 2016

PODCAST REVIEW: Beyond The Music


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Sunday 24 April 2016

BOOK REVIEW: The Huntsman, by Rafael



The Huntsman, by Rafael

I was taken by surprise by this book, the first I've read by Rafael. With an understated cover, I didn't really know what to expect - I certainly didn't expect it to be a rip-roaring page-turner that wouldn't be out of place alongside many an airport blockbuster.
This reads like the kind of story Michael Crichton might have produced - scientists dabbling in wormhole technology unwittingly unleash an alien killer on the world, a creature beyond the understanding of the federal investigators, who turn to eminent zoologist Miranda Logan for help.
In turn, after witnessing the brutal way the killer's victims have been dismembered, she seeks out the help of the spear-wielding huntsman of the title, Janesh McKenzie, who hunts man-eating tigers in the company of his two powerful dogs, Ronan and Duncan.
From there, the story bounds its way around the globe, taking in shady criminals, a Singapore mastermind desperate to acquire the wormhole technology to be able to control this world-changing discovery, CIA hit teams and, brutally awaiting them all, the bird-like alien sent to destroy the machinery that could take mankind to the stars.
We travel to more nations than Bond, all the while a simmering passion building between Logan and McKenzie. There's explicit violence and sex, and a high body count as different factions manoeuvre to gain advantage over one another. And the worst violence of all shows that the most vicious of all isn't the alien killer, but the humans themselves.
Rafael doesn't hold back on any count with this story - and it's all the better for that.

AI rating: 5/5

The Huntsman is available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Huntsman-Rafael-ebook/dp/B00PNUZQAQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461505091&sr=8-1&keywords=the+huntsman+rafael

Saturday 23 April 2016

BOOK FEVER: Seven great books from my reading history - by alternative history writer Brent A Harris

Alternative history writer Brent A Harris joins fellow writers Rob Edwards, Leo McBride and Ricardo Victoria in naming some books that have been influential to him over the years. In his alternative world, however, the lists had seven entries each, so he's matched that number. 

These are the books that have left a huge impact on me, that have not only secured their spot on my shelf, but have also lead me on a journey of self-discovery:


Dinosaur Heresies by Robert Bakker. As the title implies, paleontologist Robert Bakker didn’t make many friends when he suggested that disease killed off the dinosaurs instead of a giant space rock. It’s also the book Timmy, from the film, Jurassic Park references during the ill-fated tour. And in Lost World, a Bakker look alike is eaten by a T-Rex. Clearly, someone on the production set obviously didn’t like him much. But, I’ve always been a fan of the underdog and to me, Bakker was my inspiration. Of course, now scientists are reassessing his theories.


Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Allow me to be a millennial here for a moment. I dug dinosaurs before they were cool (pun intended). I had saved and bought Dinosaur Heresies with my own money. I couldn’t have been older than eight. My parents thought I was crazy. When Jurassic Park came out, you bet I bought the book. And I devoured it. There was something so incredibly satisfying about bringing dinosaurs back to our time via cloning. Most dino books that came before, (Doye’s Lost Word, Verne’s Center of the Earth, or Dinotopia) were about going to the dinosaurs. Crichton was the first to bring those magnificent beasts to us… only to slap us with the realization that just because we could, doesn’t mean we should. Brilliant book.



Choose Your Own Adventure Books (Various titles and authors). This spot belongs to a series of books, because Choose Your Own Adventure allowed me to be in control of the story. Like many of you, I’d bookmark the spot, make a choice, read that result—and then go back and read the other one (I always tried to get the ‘Dead Ends’ out of the way first). I loved taking charge of my reading… or as I learned later… having alternate paths to choose… (*Epic foreshadowing)



Q-Squared by Peter David. I love Peter David. I love Star Trek (particularly Q). At the time, I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed alternate ‘history’ or in this case, alternate timelines. (See epic foreshadow from number 3). This book had it all: David’s thought-provoking sense of humor, the deft use of the pantheon of Star Trek characters, (featuring everyone’s favorite Squire of Gothos from the Original Trek, Trelane) and alternated timelines--with a name like Trelane, why not have three ‘lanes’ intersect? Ah, Q. You are simply incorrigible.



Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy. Somewhere along the way, I lost my way and for these missteps, I totally blame Tom Clancy. I absolutely devoured his books. I don’t know why, I’m not a technical person, nor was I particularly in love with the military. But, starting with Hunt for Red October, and continuing with all his books (even his non-fiction) I started down a completely different path than paleontology. I joined the cadet corps, I was involved in the NROTC in college, and I was convinced I was going to be a bubblehead and drive a submarine. In some alternate universe, I’m sure I’m there—deep under the sea. But here, I’m where I belong, feet firmly on terra firma. (Also, am I the only one who thought the film, Hunt for Red October was an alternate history where James Bond had grown up in Soviet Russia?)




Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove. I’m back where I belong. I’d read Turtledove books before. Notable entries include How Few Remain and the World War series, but Household Gods—about a hardworking single mom who inadvertently wishes for a simpler time (and discovers modern conveniences are… well, convenient)—is a story that really got the idea in my head about writing Alternate History. Before then, I’d written and outlined a few chapters of my own, Clancy-like techno-thriller (about a woman submarine commander and her life/duties aboard the U.S.S. Seawolf). This really put the idea in my head, though I am not sure why. Perhaps it was the real emotion in this character-driven story about the hardships she endured in a world I’d only read in history books. Whatever the case, I’ve always sought to emulate this same type of storytelling.



The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman. I’m going to stop my list here, because while there are numerous other books I’ve fell in love with, none of them seem to tell a story that these 7 books have told. These books have lead me on a journey of discovery of myself, which I suppose is what any good book/film/music is meant to do. But, The First Five Pages is where I took a chance to change my life, where I decided I didn’t want to just write, I wanted to work to be better so that someday, I could be a part of someone else’s journey.

You can follow Brent A Harris by journeying to an alternative dimension and throwing tributes at his feet as he rests on the throne of his empire. He particularly favours Twinkies. To keep up with him in this dimension, follow him on Twitter, @brentaharris1

Thursday 21 April 2016

Ten books I carry in my heart - by author Rob Edwards



This week's post about ten books that have stayed with me over the years seems to have struck a chord. Yesterday, Ricardo Victoria shared his list, which was much cooler than my own. Now author Rob Edwards weighs in with his typical class and verve. Here's his pick, enjoy...



Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
The first of ten books in the Amber Chronicles, and I guess it’s the entire series I’m really nominating.  I found Amber at about the time the second half of the chronicles were being released, and the books are short enough that I would re-read the entire series before each release.  Zelazny was a master, and his characters and concepts leap off the page.  There’s a deep mythology in these books, and it is written with so much flair.



The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Read with modern eyes, I think there are some problems with Heinlein’s books, in particular the way that female characters are handled, and those issues are present here, though not as uncomfortably as some of his later works.  But.  For all that, Moon is clever, inventive, makes interesting points about politics, revolution and technology.  It is a great adventure story too as the plucky colony has to stand up to its overbearing and remote overlords.
Also, sidebar, the AI in my story for Tales from the Universe owes a lot to Mike in this book!



Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
Speaking of novels of their time… I love Wasp.  It’s a future envisioned in the 50s with rocketships and computers that access data by sorting punch cards.  It’s a book where our hero is a terrorist funded by the technologically superior humans who are locked in a cold war with the vast and populous Sirian Empire.  It is darkly humorous but totally believable.  It’s magnificent.  And probably short enough to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon in one sitting.



A Matter for Men by David Gerrold
This is the first book of the War against the Chtorr series, a very dark future where mankind has suffered huge losses through plague, and find themselves battling a strange invasion by giant purple man-eating worms.  Over the course of the series, it becomes clear that the earth is being terraformed (chtorraformed) and that there is some doubt we have even actually met the invaders yet, as the Chtorran ecology is seeded and voraciously consumes ours.  It’s a world where it’s hard to see how the human race can survive, and if they do they will be totally changed.  A blend of big ideas, fascinating science, military action, and slightly odd psychological indoctrination.  Shame it’s a series that has zero chance of ever reaching a conclusion.   I’ve been waiting for book five for decades.



Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
Read Bujold’s amazing Vorkosigan series.  Go do it, now.  It’s intelligent, grown-up science fiction adventure, that spans the life of Miles Vorkosigan, and his relatives and friends.  Each book is, generally separate stories in the world, though each grows on the last, and Miles’s problems and adventures mature with him.
Work your way through the series in order, come to know and love Miles, and then reach this book, in which he makes a mistake that costs him… pretty much everything.  It’s one of the finest bit of character work I’ve ever read.  You know he shouldn’t do it.  You’re practically shouting at the book that he shouldn’t do it, but if you know Miles, you know he will do it.  In Memory he is the complete architect of his own downfall… but then, because he’s Miles… watch him build a new, different future with new adventures to come.



Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffery
All of the Dragonriders of Pern series are pretty fantastic (well, up until about the White Dragon), and it would have been easy to pick Dragonflight, the first in the series.  But in terms of books that stayed with me, I think Dragonsinger has the edge.  A coming of age story, a boarding school story, but with music, fire lizards and the occasional dragon.



Justice League of America Vol 1 #200 by Gerry Conway and a host of artists
Forgive the diversion into comic books briefly, but this book came out when I was 12 and cemented me as a DC fan for life.  Classic satellite era JLA, pitched against each other, then teaming up to fight a big bad that was a call back to the League’s origin story (well that version of the League anyway). Simple, straightforward, a story told in one over-sized issue with no need for crossovers or trade paperbacks … there are a lot of good comics books on the stands right now, but this one captured the heart of 12-year-old me.



Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
There are so many good Discworld novels from Pratchett, I could pick a half a dozen of them, but the darker edge, which I suspect comes from Gaiman, makes Good Omens my Pratchett pick.  There is one line in the book which I have taken as inspiration of one of my several novels-in-progress, such a clever, simple idea, thrown away by two masters, in a book bursting with ideas, jokes, and concepts.



The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
It may be too early, and the book too recent, to put this on a list of books that stayed with me.  But forgive its inclusion… it’s very good fantasy.  Go read it!



Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
So… partly this is here because I feel I should have something literary on my list.  Partly it’s here because of rainy school holidays watching a VHS of a black and white Lawrence Olivier film of the book, and in later years watching and rewatching the lavish BBC series.  But do you know what, mostly it’s on the list because it’s a damn fine read.  Lots of snappy dialogue, some excellent and memorable characters, and a tale of romance, betrayal, and yes, pride, and prejudice.  But definitely no zombies.

So... what about your favourites? Do share your thoughts in the comments!

Wednesday 20 April 2016

BOOK REVIEW: The Stratosphere - The Birth of Nostradamus, by Brian Cox



SOME reviews are easier to write than others. This is not one of the easy ones to write - but why is it so hard? Because there is so much promise ready to burst out of this book. Let me start with, what I readily admit, is an imperfect analogy.

Years ago, I used to play the Magic: The Gathering card game. And I was rubbish. I used to build great big towering decks of cards stuffed full with cards that I just found interesting. Every time, I got beaten all ends up by sleek, trimmed-down decks that were designed to do exactly what they needed to do. I was just too attached to the host of different things in my deck to make it what it needed to be to be successful. There's something of that in the way that Brian Cox has created this book.

The future he envisions is a horrible, but brilliantly realised, one. The consumption of resources by 3D printers has left the future world ragged and scraping to get by. The day-to-day life of people is so spartan and unhappy that the majority of them escape to the virtual world of the Stratosphere whenever they can - a place where the body suits they wear in the real world allows them to experience the full range of sensation, almost as if the whole thing is real. But it is a place without imagination, it is a place where talent is fake and success is but a comfort blanket to make up for the paucity of genuine substance inside the Strat.

This contrast between the real world and the virtual one is striking - with Strat users taking to the system as an escape, and acting like addicts needing a fix when they can't get online. Real world problems are neglected, few people are looking for a solution, and communities survive by scavenging or trading for the print they need, while the military complex uses the remaining print machines to spit out helicopters to send into battle.

As a world, it's a fascinating one, and the characters that Cox creates, from Nancy, a square peg in the round hole of this world who discovers she is the key to unlocking its future to the crippled Gus, who puts the right thing and his love for others above his own health, are compelling, and struggling with the flaws that make them who they are. Tragedy hangs heavy in the air over these characters, as bad decisions spiral into the worst of consequences.

In all of that, the novel is a success - so where does it stack its own deck against itself? Well, we learn a bit too much about too many characters. There are characters that come and go within the novel that we dive into the heads of to discover their motivations, their ambitions and aspirations - and yet we barely see some of these characters again. It takes quite a while to figure out who the lead characters of the book are as a result, and even then, the focus remains a little confused. It needs slimming down, streamlining to become more effective.

The hardest part though is the opening, which is a very lengthy piece of exposition, couched as a lecture by the professor trying to find a resolution to the world's problems. He tells the audience - and by extension the reader - the history of the world, and it feels very much a chore to get through. If you get through that, the rest of the book is a page-turner, but I imagine more than a few readers won't reach that part.

And so a hard review to give - because the world is fascinating, but the structure just doesn't quite let it shine. For the world alone, I would give the book five stars, but overall I have to settle for giving it three. I look forward to more from Brian Cox, though, brilliant ideas are always worth following.

AI rating: 3/5

BOOK FEVER: Ten books that have stayed with me over the years - the awesome, funny Ricardo Victoria edition

Yesterday, blog host Stephen Hunt shared his list of ten books that have stayed with him over the years - it seems to have touched a nerve with fellow authors! Here, Ricardo Victoria jumps in with his list... and later in the week, Rob Edwards will be joining us with his selection. What are your favourites? Share in the comments section!
Well, Stephen published a list of the top ten books that touched his heart (or whatever passes as such because I doubt he is mortal or even human, but I digress). So here is my list. Some would say it is a very eclectic list and certainly is not complete (there are a few novels that should be here but is a top ten list not a top fifteen and of course at least three to four non-fiction, historical books). This might explain why my mind is such a mess and why I write what I write. So in no particular order, here is my list.


The Dunwich Horror, by H. P. Lovecraft.


It’s a well-known fact amongst friends and some strangers that I’m a big fan of Lovecraft (the writer if not the person) and that I have in my personal collection almost all the stories he wrote, including some really obscure ones. I have to admit I don’t have many of the Dream cycle though, as I didn’t find them that engaging. I even have his book on how to write horror stories (Bone Peyote is a child of that book). So choosing from that selection one book is a rough task. There is a compilation published in Spanish about his precursors, his more important works and his successors, but I got that book because I was familiar with Lovecraft. Thus the honor goes to this little story that not incidentally was the first book (very thin book) I bought as a kid with money from a scholarship, basically money I earned when I was eight. Yeah, an eight-year-old kid reading Lovecraft, think about that and despair (my parents were just happy I was reading books and not watching cartoons). It was as well the first non-fiction book I read, as until then the only thing I read was books about Greco-Roman history. I still have that book. I never tire of reading that story as it was the one that made me want to be a writer and to this day captivates my mind.

I am of Irelaunde: A novel of Patrick and Osian (A Celtic Legend in Spanish) by Julienne Osborne McKnight





This book I think, is not well known, which is a shame, it deserves more love as is a beautiful retelling of the live of Saint Patrick at the start of his mission, having as companions other famous Irish patron saints and more important to the story, Osian, the son of legendary Irish hero Fionn McCumhaill (or for Americans, Finn McCool). While Patrick goes around learning how to reach the heart of the Irish, Osian narrates the story of his father and draws parallels that help Paidraigh to understand the people he has to preach. It’s epic. I found it in a discount pile at a local supermarket and finished it in two days. Why I bought it? Because I suspect that in one of my past lives I was Irish and by that point in my life, during my undergrad studies I was trying to get into celtic lore. I found it also at the time when I was undergoing a crisis of faith and started playing D&D, which it turns, inspired the creation of my first Player Character, a ranger/monk/fighter by the name of Fionn who was the seed to grow into the main character of my novel in progress Tempest Blades: The Withered King. Fun fact, when I moved out to UK for my PhD, this was the only book from home I took with me. So this particular copy has some serious air miles.

Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett


It wasn’t the first Discworld book I bought (that one was Mort), nor the second (that one was The Colour of Magic), but certainly was the one that has stroke a chord since my high school days. In that time in Mexico, it was pretty hard to get any science fiction or fantasy books, hell even obtaining a copy of Lord of the Rings was difficult. It was just luck that I found the Discworld series being translated (in a messy order by the way) into Spanish. Guards is the book where I think Pratchett found his groove and style, where the footnotes (which Brent hates but I adore) are as interesting as the main story and that gives you a better picture of the setting. It was also the first book I read until then that took established tropes like the rightful heir to the crown and turned it upside down and that mixed genres, as it is at its heart a noir detective story which just happens in a fantasy setting. Personally I think it is also the best book of the Nightswatch cycle on the strength of the cast ensemble (specially Vetinari), whereas the main character of the setting is and will always be Death. This book also taught me about writing for fun and writing fun stuff even if the odds are stacked against the character. In other words, this book was to me what Hitchhikers was to many others.

Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover



Ok I know that most people deride the Prequels as they are not that good movies (Attack of the Clones is the worst), but I always maintained that it was not due to the ideas portrayed in them but because Lucas, for all its creativity, is a lousy director. This book is proof of it. 

Usually, no one pays attention to movie novelizations, but you should seriously read this one. In the masterful hands of Stover, the story of Anakin’s fall takes new dimensions as it is better fleshed out and you can see the logic behind his acts. Here, he is not a bratty kid, but a weary warrior afraid of losing his dear ones and desperate to find a way to protect them. You can also as well get a better, deeper insight into Obi-Wan’s journey and how that allowed him to be more than a match to Anakin. Skywalker might have been the chosen one but Obi was the true Jedi and hero here. 

The fights are expertly narrated and the insight you get into the minds of several characters gives you a new dimension the film doesn’t. I know some people find upsetting or old fashioned the omnipresent third person narrator, that switches from one character’s point of view to another as the plot demands (it is after all an adaptation of a movie), but actually I love it and I admit it was influenced my writing style more than it should. You seriously need to give it a try now that Star Wars is back. This book as well holds a dear place in my heart: see, when I just move out to UK ofr my PhD, I had just 50 pounds in my pocket for the whole month until my scholarship started to arrive, it was my birthday and the nice folks at the GameSoc of Loughborough University had invited me to London to take a walk (and search for a new AC/DC adaptor for my laptop that almost burned a few days before). This book was on offer at Forbidden Planet and I decided to use part of that money to buy it to myself as birthday present. To this day, I have never regretted not eating anything for the rest of the trip and that book has been read at least three times (right now it is on the fourth round). My copy is tattered, but I treasure it as a memento of those times as well as the book that helps me to get writing when I’m stuck with writer’s block.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton



This was my first science fiction book, even if I know that Crichton was at best a luddite for lack of a better word. I loved it so much that I read it in one afternoon and then reread it several times that week (to detriment of my grades). It’s the only book I have that has exploded and had to be repaired. The idea of science reviving dinosaurs mixed with the amusement park and chaos theory was an eye opener on how to write consequences to the character’s acts. 

I still have vivid dreams about parks like that to this day. It helped I guess that even if I was in high school I had a good grasp on genetics (thanks to my mom). The only thing I have never liked was the abruptness of the end and only until I learned about Crichton views on science that it dawned on me why he decided to the end the book that way (he doesn’t care about what happens to the characters, he just wanted to make a point on science ethics). 

The sequel is bad, to be honest, albeit better than the second movie and Ian Malcom is a great character both in book and in film. If I could, I would have written a series of novels about Ian Malcom snarking his way out of science-related nightmares; always with the voice of Jeff Goldblum in my head (Jurassic World needed more Goldblum). Man, this book made maths and mathematicians cool to a teenager that despised maths. That’s how badass this book it is.




The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien



Full disclosure: when I was a teenager I loved Lord of the Rings and read it the first time during Christmas in three days (one per book), as it gave me something to chat with someone who would become one of my best friends and started me into serious fantasy literature (it also made me willing to spend my allowance in Realms of Fantasy, a great magazine back in the 90’s that helped me to learn English in six months and that now is sadly gone). Nowadays I can barely pass the first chapter as LOTR really bores me. Yeah I know, blasphemy, but hey, it’s my list. 

Now the Silmarillion; that I can read and read again. For years, as a Tolkien novice in a country that barely reads at all, this book was an urban legend, known only through whispers: the legendary bible to the LOTR ‘modern’ world history. What secrets hold in its pages? What mysteries would clarify? Well, once I got my hands on it at a book fair all became clear: a modern equivalent to the epics of ancient cultures such as Gilgamesh. It is beautifully written and one of the uppermost examples of worldbuilding done right. I know in my heart there is no way someone will make a movie about this because there is so much lore here that can compete with our history books. The level of complexity and detail that reaches can only speak of a man that knows his setting as well or even more as his characters and loves to talk about it like a gardener tends his garden with pure a unadultered love. 

This book has it all, foundation myths, intrigue, revenge, love, hope, redemption. It is like Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones (Feanor is a seriously damaged dude, whose rash decisions have an impact on the world even aeons later). It might be old school in terms of Manicheism views on good and evil, but still a superb book. While LOTR and to a lesser extent the Hobbit are the flagships of Tolkien, I think the Silmarillion is the true proof of his genius as writer and founding father of the modern fantasy literature. If someday I write an epic origin myth story, it will be thanks to the inspiration the Silmarillion has provided me.


The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice



Unlike my wife, I’m not a big fan of Mrs. Rice (albeit my wife doesn’t like her most recent output, not since Rice went all religious on us). That said, I find her earlier books fascinating, particularly Lestat, Menoch the Demon and The Queen of the Damned. I choose the latter as the entry for the list despite the fact that in my head canon, these three are almost a single book that starts from a simple premise, a new vampire becoming a force to be reckoned on his society to an epic tale sprawling the biblical times. 

It provided at the time with a novel origin for the vampires (which I think latter informed the original Vampire the Masquerade games) intermixed with an end of the world scenario. It was like peering at the rabbit hole and trying to find how deep it would go. I admit that the tale of the twins and the Canaanite mythology related on the books informed the first approaches to what is now the cosmogony of my novel’s setting; as they are full of that essence I call the life of a myth, the creation of gods by men. I don’t care much for Lestat, but I care for the curious creatures that dwell in what he calls the savage garden. Sad fact: this is the only book of this list that has been lost from my collection. Luckily my wife has pretty much all the books of the old Vampire Chronicles so I can read them again.

Alexander by Valerio Massimo Manfredi


In my original list this series of books (it’s a trilogy or a single book split on three, kinda like LOTR) this wasn’t an entry, that place was going to Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, but then I re-examined as this list is not only of books that stroke a chord on me, but as well has influenced me as writer. And this is why Alexandros is here. 

As a child, I was an avid reader of Greco-Roman history, as mentioned before, so this book as was a perfect fit for those budding interests. It weaves a thrilling narrative on the life of the only young adult that puts on shame any achievement by any modern young adult. Yeah you can invent Facebook, but can you conquer half of the world with an army loyal to the death? No, it can’t be done if you are not Alexander the Great. When I read the books I didn’t care about the whole plot about Alexander musing if he was son of a deity. I cared about Alexander and his tight pack of friends taking on the world, knowing that they were destined to betray each other as ambitions reached their peaks once the great man was gone. I cared about the legend made man and to a certain point his master trying to uncover the mystery of his father’s assassination. Do you want to write a larger than life hero that is too human for its own good? Then you go and read about this book, which incidentally also does a superb job explaining the politics and the military tactics of the time and Alexander’s in particular.

I, Robot by Issac Assimov



This was my second science fiction book and my first about hard science fiction. I have heard of Asimov from three sources: his book on Greek history that I devoured, his book on dinosaurs that explained clearly the evolution into birds and mammals (which would help me to create one of the races of my novel) and one of my best friends, Pedro, who also participated on the Tales from the Universe anthology. 

I have heard a lot about the Foundation Trilogy and at the time, during high school I was into sci-fi anime, namely Ghost in the Shell and was considering an engineering degree. This book was a perfect fit at the time. I liked how small short stories were interlinked to provide the reader, through the eyes of three characters that got butchered by Will Smith years later, a view on how technology was changing humankind, from new mining operations to FTL space ships. I know somehow it got later linked to the other novels by Assimov to create a single universe, but I liked the simplicity of the narrative device and the questions posed. I think to that it is because of this book that at times I tend to write a lot about technobabble through my characters to explain some feature of my setting, be it magic or science. 

Fun fact: I argued with my literature teacher at the time to let me write my final essay for his class on this book instead of the awful book of the Perfume suggested by one my female classmates the guy fancied and that had decried Dracula as trash. After a grueling process of negotiation, I was granted my request and promptly forgot about the essay until an hour before deadline. It was the time I have wrote more words per minute (I actually damaged some of the keys of the keyboard) but I finished the essay with one minute to spare, print, run and deliver.

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck



This is the last book of my list and a weird one. I know that now there are more retellings of the Arthurian cycle than any other; from the classics of Mallory and Troyes to modern fiction. But if someday I have kids that want to read about King Arthur, this would be the version I would read them (sans the sex scenes of course). For starters is by one of modern literature giants, so it is a master class on style and prose. Second, it is neither pandering nor crude; it has the perfect balance between myth and plausible reality. Third, it is not flowery but neitherbarren. 

The characters are flawed, but relatable, while keeping their mythic aura. It is a tragedy that nonetheless leaves you with hope for the future as even the lesser knights are fleshed out and you get to know more of the less known members of the Round Table. This is not a book about Arthur, it is a book about Camelot and what Arthur meant (you can see it in the section about Ywain, his nephew and the knight of the white lion). If I have to describe it with one word that would be: perfection. If you are a fan of Prince Valiant, then you have to read this book. It is also a perfect gateway book to introduce someone into fantasy literature. Some of the knightly ideas I used for my characters on my novel stem from this book.

Honourable mentions: there a few books I left out of this list as I mentioned before, so I will do so here in some brief coda:

-World War Z by Max Brooks. I hate zombies. I hate zombie stories and yet I love this book that I can’t stop recommending. It has it all you want from a serious zombie story, not just the thrills and the scares. I have read it three times and still scare me. And if you are into audiobooks you have to get the one where Mark Hamill voices some of the characters.

-Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Because not all in life is fiction, I like to read biographies and non-fiction from time to time. This is an enthralling, fun book (except for one chapter) that explains much of our modern fascination with the chef star that pops on tv and movies. I think that Bourdain is a much better writer than chef and he is a pretty great chef.

-Soul Music by Terry Pratchett. Choosing a book by Pratchett is hard, choosing one of the Death centered ones is even tougher (Hogfather is a riot, Reaper Man is epic), but I think Soul Music is a better entry not because is a better book, Reaper Man is better; but because this one is touching. I mean it makes an admittedly funny yet abstract entity like Death a touching, fleshed (pun non intended) character through the eyes of his granddaughter and a wannabe rock band. This book made Death my favorite character of Discworld. He plays a mean guitar riff.

So there we go, ten books that have not only lingered on my head, but have become major influences on my writing, from style to concepts and structure.  I would like to hear about your opinions, comments and lists. Comment below and let me know, we might share common tastes.