This is classic Action Fantasy involving a large cross section of people in a society struggling against civic corruption. Set in a world equivalent to our late 19th century, it still echoes problems we have today. Authors take note; this story has used the marvelous technique of having an important backstory which is revealed slowly…
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REVIEW
“The Callista Alignment” by Steve Gay
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This is a serious Science Fiction story about social change, dealt with at all levels of society. The cast of characters includes members from the lowest feral human to the highest ruling alien, and we see fragments of the story from the points of view of all of them. This presents a problem in the…
REVIEW
“The Engineer’s Mechanic” by L. K. Winter
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This novel is an example of a modern sub-genre blending hi-tech Science Fiction with gladiatorial combat digital games. The creative advantage which this author uses to great effect is the imaginative choreography available to fighters with a creative variety of skills and powers. The technique, as the scenes in this book show, is not to…
REVIEW
The Drunken Dragon, by George Morrison
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This is a fascinating novel. Billed as humour, with all the trappings of an Action Fantasy, it also manages to draw us in emotionally on a deeper level. Let’s put this story into perspective. It has towns called Spittlesburg, Whatadump, and Bristol. (What does the author have against Bristol?) It has a Province of Malevolentia,…
REVIEW
“Red Camaro” by Dwaine Rieves
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On Titles, Forewords, and Introductions: I believe that the largest source of bad reviews is not poor quality work, but misunderstanding on the part of readers of what they are purchasing. I try not to fall prey to this, which is fortunate for this poet, because, despite the title and the focus of the front…
REVIEW
“Miss Universe” by David M. Jones
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Okay, don’t be fooled by the title; this is true Science Fiction. Don’t think, “Miss Congeniality.” Think “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” filled with thousands of alien races and myriads of inconceivable scientific and technical wonders. But, rich in technological and social setting though the story may be, it is the characters that drive the…
REVIEW
“Dark Treats” by Ray Gregory
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This book of short stories is a dive into the twisted depths of the disturbed human psyche. Each tale peels back the layers of the mind of one individual who is twisted further, either by self, circumstances or the manipulation of other warped characters, towards an act that would be considered insane except that we…
REVIEW
“Billy 9F” by David Finley
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Children’s Action Comedy is a difficult genre to work with, because of the varied interests and reading vocabularies of the target audience and the objectives of the adults that make the purchases. The novel makes a good stab at it, involving a great deal of creativity to attract the young adults and a tried-and-true political…
REVIEW
“Wind in Trees” by Arthur M. Doweyko
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This is Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi, but the tale starts further than usual down the road to the post-humanity era of self-awareness. It deals with the problem we have trying to predict this progress. There’s no point in present-day humans worrying too much about it, because by the time AI starts taking over, the people of that…
REVIEW
“Strike the Lilac Scent” by H. C. Turk
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This strange novel has a fascinating story line, but it seems the author tried a little too hard to be creative, and thus did not succeed in communicating clearly with readers. Granted, the heroine is a teenager, but the other characters are adults, and yet the conversation is peppered with “golly,” and “ohso” and juvenile…