New Book Alert: A Kelly Society Christmas (The Kelly Society Book 2) by S.K. Andrews; Frightening Darkly Funny Horror Adventure for the Holidays

 

New Book Alert: A Kelly Society Christmas (The Kelly Society Book 2) by S.K. Andrews; Frightening Darkly Funny Horror Adventure for the Holidays

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: S.K. Andrews' A Kelly Society Christmas is the type of holidays book for that person who foregoes Hallmark Rom Coms and classics like It's A Wonderful Life and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and goes straight for the Serial Killer Santa films (and might watch Die Hard or Gremlins but that's as far as Christmas cheer goes). Come on, you know who you are. It's just not the holiday season unless some supernatural demon from the pits of Hell terrorizes bad kids on Christmas Eve or an escaped convict dressed in a moth eaten Santa suit and carrying an ax threatens a family in a far off cabin. Weird but some people like that, I guess.

Anyway, A Kelly Society Christmas puts in the spotlight that cuddly adorable creature of Christmas tradition: Krampus.

Psychic and Paranormal Investigator, Vivien Kelly and her boyfriend, Neal, are resting from the  events from the previous novel where Vivien defeated Dagda. They also discovered that they were Boudicca, the British Queen of the Iceni and the Roman general, Gaius Marcus Antonius, enemies turned lovers, in a shared former life. They are trying to celebrate Christmas and getting used to their reincarnated past when they are put into another supernatural mystery.

Their friends, young surfer dudes, Josh and Brian are pursued by Krampus from Central and Eastern Alpine folklore. Krampus is a horned dark spirit who accompanies Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas on December 5. While St. Nick delivers presents to good children, Krampus punishes bad children by putting them in a bag, beating them, and dragging them off to Hell.

In A Kelly Society Christmas, Krampus is present beyond his assigned day of December 5 and taking the concept of "bad children" a bit too far. So, Vivien and Neal are called to face another demon before they can actually have a good holiday.

A Kelly Society Christmas is a frightening book but at times there is a dark comic tone that keeps it from being too horrifying or graphic. Krampus' first arrival when he bursts through a cliff and scares the daylights out of Josh, Brian, and other beach goers is a bit of a shock. Also, the moments when the creepy Christmas demon possesses a usually good natured friend of Vivien and Neal's also carries a lot of subtle disturbing moments.

Unfortunately, Krampus wears out his welcome and becomes too much to take seriously. He is like a cartoon character and less of an actual threat especially when Vivien uses not magic, but a logical loophole to defeat him.

Much more intimidating is Krampus' mother Hel, the Teutonic goddess of the underworld. She is a much more intelligent presence who manipulates those around her. She claims that she is misunderstood and is actually a nice goddess. She even takes control over Krampus. Still she seems to have some dark undercurrents to her personality and her interactions with Vivien suggest more than she is saying.

There are some humorous moments that keep this from being too dark. Josh and Brian act like a comedy team even when they are chased by the Christmas heart of darkness. Many times, Vivien and her friends have to fight Krampus in public. Their claims that the fights are part of a show make for some humorous moments such as when gullible witnesses line up to watch "this dope" show and record it on their smartphones. While Krampus' defeat is kind of hokey, it is rather humorous to see this demonic figure getting dressed down by his irritated mother.

Vivien and Neal are the typical heroes that you find in these types of books, strong in magical powers, an ancient history, and plenty of chemistry. They have some cute moments especially when trying to maintain a sweet romantic Christmas together between end of the world threats.

A Kelly Society Christmas is a fun holiday novel if you want a good scary laugh.

December's Reading List

 

December's List

Well, to paraphrase that oft repeated song this time of year "I don't want a lot for Christmas/There's just one thing I need" (Thanks, Mariah. I'll be hearing that in my head until at least July). 

I just want to have plenty of good books to read. Luckily, Santa's Book Writing Elves have provided!

Last month, I got close to my record in August with 12 books. Well, here is the last month which hopefully should get me beyond 100 books this year!

Reading List 

Taming Fear in the Age of COVID by Winfried Sedhoff*

Shadows (Book 3 of the F.O.K. Series) by Sheila M. Sullivan*

A Kelly Society Christmas by S.K. Andrews

Hollow A Love Like A Life by Jazalyn

Rose: Future Heart by Jazalyn 

Eliana-Who-Sees Us by Amani Jesu

What Branches Grow by T.S. Beier

Cloud Cover by Jeffrey Sotto

The White Pavilion by Ruth Fox 

Wicked Bleu (Simone Doucet Series Book 2) by E. Denise Billups

Mandate Thirteen by Joseph J. Dowling

The Price of Partisanship by Ian Conner

Cursed Beauty: Stories of Strong Women by Valentina Tsoneva

Tracey's Calling by Rob Santana

Cast No Shadow by Nancy Leonard

Embers of Resistance (Women Spies of World War II Book 3) by Kit Sergeant

Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice by Amy Shannon

Servitude by Costi Gurgu

Entanglement: Quantum and Otherwise by John K. Danenbarger*

Fancy Fanciful Fantasticality: Certain in the Circumvention Causerie Circle by Francessca Bella

Augmented Lean:A Human Centric Framework for Managing Frontline Operations by Natan Linder, PhD and Trond Arne Undheim, PhD

Ghost of the Rio Grande: The U.S. Border War and Punitive Expedition into Mexico 1916-1917, Story by Gilberto Beto Garcia Jr., Written by Don A. Holbrook

Beyond the Broken Window by Joy Strouse

Righteous Assassin (A Mike Stoneman Thriller) by Kevin G. Chapman

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan

Battle and Burning (Dragon Destiny Book 2) by Carl Cotas-Robles

Best of the Best Books of 2022: New Book Alert

Best of the Best Books of 2022: Weekly Reader 

Best of the Best 2022: Lit List Short Reviews and Other Projects

Plus I will be editing and proofreading two projects for clients, Waseem Akbar and Nabraj Lama. I will be very busy.

If  you have a book that you would like me to review, beta read, edit, proofread, or write, please contact me at the following:

LinkedIn: 

Facebook: 

Twitter:

Mastodon:

Upwork:

Reedsy Discovery: 

Email: juliesaraporter@gmail.com 

Prices are as follows:

Beta Read: $15-20.0

Review: $25-50.00**

Copy/Content Edit: $75-300.00

Proofread: $75-300.00

Research & Citation: $100-400.00

Ghostwrite/Co-Write:$100-400.00

*Reviews may not appear on the blog but solely on Amazon and Goodreads, per agreement with the Online Book Club.

**Exceptions are books provided by Henry Roi PR, Coffee and Thorn Book Group, BookTasters, Reedsy, Online Book Club, and other noted book groups 

All prices are negotiable and are subject to change depending on project size.

Payments can be made to my PayPal account at juliesaraporter@gmail.com

Well that's it. Thanks and as always, Happy Reading!

Weekly Reader: VVIIRRUUSS by Jazzalyn; Poetic Science Fiction Meditations on Technology, Memories, Emotions, and What it Means to be Human

 

Weekly Reader: VVIIRRUUSS by Jazalyn; Poetic Science Fiction Meditations on Technology, Memories, Emotions, and What it Means to be Human

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Last year I read Mazarine Dreamer by Francessca Bella, a fantasy novel about time travel told in poetry. Jazalyn is another poet/author that does the same tactics. She writes speculative fiction in the form of a series of poems. However, their approaches couldn't be more different. Bella is more interested in telling a story, capturing a narrative with rhyming couplets. It is an imaginative and creative way of writing a narrative story and Bella captures it beautifully.

Jazalyn also tells a story but is more interested in the internal. The books of poetry have a plot that surrounds the books. But the poems capture the emotions, the thoughts of characters captured in these stories. They are more lyrical and thoughtful and not as driven by plot. Instead, they are driven by emotions of the people that experience the plot.

Three of Jazalyn's books of poetry will be reviewed. Of the three, VVIIRRUUSS is probably the most plot heavy. In the future, viruses will spread and have the power to change humanity. 

The helplessness and lack of knowledge to defeat the first virus is felt in the first poem, "Quantum Waves". 

Jazalyn writes, "A pattern/Of respiration/Occurs from the language processing/But they all think/It's the sound waves/That enter the ears/From the cellphones." The virus comes so fast that no one recognizes or knows how to stop it.

The real curse from the first virus, Virus 0.1 is the madness that it brings by exposing thoughts and memories to public consciousness inducing madness within the individuals. In the poem, "Virus 0.1" the cost is revealed, "The lies/Caused by hate and madness/In a prospect of death/And the departure/Was the only rescue/In this world." 

This experience is felt by one of the characters who lives in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety. However, the Speaker knows that there is something wrong with the system in which they live that is worse than any virus. 

In the poem "Virus Code" they think "The paradigm shift/Let me into this simulation/Because I hate my life/And I want to change it/But a behavior change/Demands to alter the DNA/After a search of self/Inside obstacles/I didn't believe it/But anyway it's no one's fault/We are machines/With free will/To live & love/And now there is only/A total eclipse of pain."

There are few possibilities to the identity of the Speaker in "Virus Code". It could be a personification of the Code itself filled with anxiety over what it is being used to do to combat the virus. It is aware that it is a machine and is therefore sentient and is in fear of what it will become when it encounters the virus.

The other possibility is that the Speaker is a human who has the virus. However, what many see as madness may be seeing the truth for the first time. That the Speaker may realize that they are a machine in a system in which they can be changed and reprogrammed.

The thought of being reprogrammed is what is recounted in the next virus and the poem, "VVIIRRUUSS." To combat the virus, the authorities created a counter virus. Unfortunately, the two combined to form an even worse virus. 

The second was supposed to help the public forget the memories that were out in the open. However, the VVIIRRUUSS appears to restore the private memories, but appears to destroy the soul. 

Jazalyn writes,"Everything happens for a reason/Everyone says/Trying to make sense/Of what occurs in their life/And in reality/But in fact/The truth is that/Everything happens for another reason/Nature is altering the DNA/To reduce passions/Now that the environment needs a new future." 

It shows that in trying to fix a problem, society often creates new problems. Also that the system tried to alter the DNA to install their form of perfection. The trouble is eventually nature evolves and will alter the DNA on its own.

Many of the poems are filled with the paranoia, fear, anxiety of a world surrounded by these viruses. Violence breaks out and close ties are broken by the stress of these viruses. 

In the poem, "Apocalypse Revolution," everyone sees the truth around them and realizes what a valuable commodity it is. "Truth is embarrassing/Truth's not reality/Truth's a strategy;/They silence it with money/They hide it with guns/And they pass what they want to pass." Unfortunately, the truth can be covered up and changed by laws and regulations. Just like the viruses in the book, it has been reprogrammed by humans into something else. Hiding or disguising the truth only makes it worse.

There are plenty of poems in this book that discuss deeper emotions like love, anger, and sadness. In a couple of poems, the Speaker compares themselves to the Joker as played by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2019 film. While the Joker displays psychopathic tendencies, the Speaker understands that the character lives in a society that doesn't understand him.

In the bluntly titled, "I Sympathize with This Joker," The Speaker recognizes their own need to make themselves be heard but also to not resort to Arthur Fleck/The Joker's violent tactics. "I hate criminal acts/I want peace/But I worry/That all humanity is to blame/For the rise of evil/So we must understand/That we're all responsible for it."

 In this world of viruses where human experiences are being muted, it is important for someone to recognize human flaws, frailties, and emotions knowing that what makes people outsiders make them the most human and honest. It also reveals that sometimes a person that society perceives as crazy might actually be able to see and understand the truth and call society to face it with all of its ugliness and honesty.

Of the most important human experiences is the ability to love and to be loved in return. The Speaker in "To Be Well," has this desire. After being put through the system and even being institutionalized The Speaker still longs to feel a human connection. "I don't ask/For anything irrational/And I'm not a criminal;/I know I deserve it/To be with someone/Who really loves me/Not necessarily romantically."

 It is a somewhat cynical plea as the Speaker has been through so much physical, emotional, and psychological torment that they can't imagine love being near them. They wonder if love has the power to help them out of this loneliness society has bestowed upon them. Still they hope and that is what keeps them alive.

Besides emotions, what makes us human are our memories, our real memories, our past even if we can't always remember the exact details (like those with Alzheimer's or amnesia They don't always remember the people or events around them but know that they are close to people and are loved). To know and feel those connections with others.

The poem, "The Memories Are The Only Justice," reveals that recognizing those human traits are the true victories and The best way to combat the viruses in this story and the society that tries to expose us in fiction and reality. 

Jazalyn writes, "When the truth/Becomes fear/It's altered/But reveal/The memories/Of light/And you'll be free/Now that the memories are out/Keep them there/Forever;/It's the only justice/In this corrupted earth."

When things that make us human like thought and emotions can be changed, reprogrammed, and put out to the public to be scrutinized and judged, it is important to recognize those traits.

The poems reflect the importance of memories and holding onto emotions like love and loss in a time when humanity is being quantified and measured. To do that is to truly be human.

New Book Alert: Life Between Seconds by Douglas Weissman; Beautiful Moving Novel About Living After Loss

 

New Book Alert: Life Between Seconds by Douglas Weissman; Beautiful Moving Novel About Living After Loss

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Douglas Weissman's novel, Life Between Seconds is a beautiful, meditative, and lyrical novel about people trying to live after suffering tremendous loss. It can be very emotional with the realistic portrayal of sadness, grief, and depression. Then there are parts that become very fanciful as it enters characters' imaginations and dreams. It's hard to place it as a realistic contemporary fiction or a fantasy or even a mixture of both. 

Whatever it is, it is a beautiful and unforgettable work.

The book focuses on two people, Peter and Sofia. We first encounter them during their early years. Peter is a young child having an outing with his mother, Sam. Sam tells Peter stories about his father and paints pictures of places like Machu Picchu and San Francisco, that she promises that he will see one day.

Meanwhile, Sofia is with her husband, Gadton and their newborn daughter, Valentina. She soothes the baby to sleep with all the promises that Valentina will one day live a wonderful life: go to university, have a beloved career, meet a wonderful man that will adore her, and so on.

In both chapters, we are given glimpses of the protagonists in the happiest times of their lives when they were in perpetual innocence. They make plans that they don't yet know won't come to fruition. These moments become important because they symbolize the last time that Peter and Sofia were happy.

After those chapters are finished, we return to Peter and Sofia years later. Peter was once a bright imaginative child. Now, he's a jaded and embittered adult. He has lost both of his parents and now feels rootless in the world.

He works as a janitor in a science children's museum and frequently travels. He has trouble making emotional connections, always assuring himself that no matter how bad things get, he has a ticket to somewhere else (right now Nepal) in his pocket. His once childlike desire for travel has now taken over his life.

Meanwhile, Sofia is alone. She has lost her husband and daughter. Unlike Peter's wanderlust, she is content to remain inside her apartment going out only according to a regular schedule. She avoids communications with those from her past but still her memories overpower her. She maintains friendship and cooks food, like Argentinian empanadas, but like Peter has trouble making deep communications.

The strongest characterization can be found within the relationship between Peter and Sofia. They are neighbors who at first maintain casual conversations but slowly become closer once they learn that they share mutual loss. They don't develop a romantic connection but one of friendship, perhaps filling the parent-child voids in their lives. That friendship allows them to break from their loneliness and move towards others.

Life Between Seconds is mostly a dark but ultimately uplifting novel but one that is mostly set in reality. However, some of the most intriguing parts are the strange detours into magical realism. Peter's opening chapters with Sam for example weave the reality of their situation with fairy tales that Sam tells Peter about his father and future adventures that they will take with Peter's teddy bear, Claus.

Sofia's adult memories of Gaston and Valentina consume her so much that she has trouble separating fantasy from reality: what she believes happened to Gaston and Valentina and what actually happened to them. While Peter travels to escape his memories, Sofia remains in place and keeps trying to relive and change hers.

By far the strangest chapters are the ones that take Sam on a fantasy sea voyage with a now talking Claus. The symbolic imagery such as the boat being described as tub-like or that the ocean seeming endless suggests some things without coming right out and revealing them in the text.

While it's more than likely a vision, dream, or hallucination it's hard to tell whose, Sam or Peter's. If it's Sam's, it could be what is flashing through her mind before she makes her final choice 

If it's Peter's, it possibly details a wish fulfillment of what he hopes happened to her. 

This suggests a deep creative connection between mother and son as art, literature, and storytelling were touchstones that they shared as communication.

Life Between Seconds is a book that makes the Reader think about life and death and how they cope with such loss. It is a meditation on what legacy is left behind for others to remember and take with them.

New Book Alert: Cleopatra's Vendetta (A Stryker Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Complex,Suspenseful, and Exciting Combination of Fanciful Adventure with Gritty Thriller

 

New Book Alert: Cleopatra's Vendetta (A Stryker Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Complex,Suspenseful, and Exciting Combination of Fanciful Adventure with Gritty Thriller 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Avanti Centrae's books could be considered the Indiana Jones of adventure novels. They are exciting suspenseful chases in which the characters find some lost treasure that contains knowledge about history that challenges our previous perceptions of the past. Of course there are villains following close behind with the drive to kill the good guys, steal the treasure, and bury the information.

Centrae's previous series, The Van Ops is a great example of these adventures, featuring twins who are part of a secret government organization that searches for these treasures. Her other series, The Stryker Thrillers combines the style of the more fanciful adventure novels with the more grounded political thrillers. It's a strange but effective crossover of genres.

The estranged wife and daughter of Timothy Stryker, leader of M2, a military SpecOps Unit, have been kidnapped. It's up to Stryker and his sister-in-law and fellow M2 member Sam to find her. Meanwhile, Stryker's partner Jeronimo Guerrero Reyes is investigating a series of assassinations of high profile leaders with the assistance of Jane Parish, a British agent. Eventually it is revealed that the kidnappings and assassinations are linked because of an ancient religious sect called Sons of Adam that is tied to the true circumstances surrounding Cleopatra VII's death and it had nothing to do with asps.

There are some exciting moments that are to be found such as when Stryker and Sam trail a suspect to a bar to learn about Angie and Harper, Stryker's wife and daughter's whereabouts. Then there is the moment when Rey is an eyewitness to an assassination and follows the hitman through India.

Angie herself has some gripping scenes during her captivity when she struggles to find out where she is and what her captors want her for. Every character has several moments where they have to use strength, skill, and intelligence to get out of a bad situation.

There are also some great chapters that piece together the story of Cleopatra and characters explore what might be her tomb. The clues are tantalizing and very revealing about who she was and what information the Sons of Adam want to suppress.

This is the kind of book where there is a cliffhanger in nearly every chapter and the Reader can't wait to see what happens next and what it all leads to.

Even though politics are often involved in Adventure stories (usually the characters are employed, hired, or stopped by some government), it is often in the background with fanciful almost cartoonish representatives. Since Cleopatra's Vendetta is combined with the political thriller genre, there is an air of gritty reality to the suspense that goes beyond the archaic clues and narrow escapes in most of these books. 

Stryker's team for example is a veritable buffet of PTSD, addictions, and horrible pasta that make them characters that wrestle not only with antagonists outside but their own inner demons.

 While she and Harper are kidnapped, Angie fears that they might be taken by a human trafficking ring (and she's not too far off). 

Many of the protagonists commit violent actions in the name of gathering information and work for shady government representatives who couldn't care less if they live or die. Even though the adventure is rooted in the old tradition of black and white, good vs. evil, Cleopatra's Vendetta features characters who live in a world of muted gray.

There is treasure to be found, information to be learned, and a history that is faced and seen with new eyes. Most of it surrounds the true character of Cleopatra. Even the opening prologue focuses on the Egyptian queen moments before her death. 

Like the adventure surrounding Cleopatra and the clues about her death, the aura of mystique is removed from her giving a more complex portrayal than most of her representations. Usually, Cleopatra is portrayed as a highly wealthy femme fatale who took both Mark Antony and Julius Caesar as lovers. 

But many historians do not focus on Cleopatra's rule and immense leadership skills. She was considered one of the last great rulers of the Egyptian royal dynasties. She successfully wrestled the kingdom from her brother Ptolemy and was a consummate strategist who spoke several languages and studied the philosophers in learning how to adapt her thinking. In fact, her unions with Caesar and Antony weren't solely for carnal pleasures as they were to form powerful alliances with the Romans. She was thought in her day to be the reincarnation of Isis, Egypt's Goddess of fertility, magic, healing, death, and rebirth. This book restores the Egyptian queen's character and makes her just as powerful in death as she was in life. 

To focus only on Cleopatra's beauty and her lovers tell only half the story. It's like talking only about Elizabeth I's relationship with Robert Dudley but not focusing on her long reign and leadership. In her own way, Centrae allows her characters to bring the real Cleopatra's legacy to light.

The thriller aspects of espionage match well with the adventurous look at history making Cleopatra's Vendetta a complex, suspenseful, and exciting combination.

New Book Alert: Dead Winner by Kevin G. Chapman; Suspenseful Murder Mystery Over a Winning Lottery Ticket Marred By Length and Too Many Plot Twists

 

New Book Alert: Dead Winner by Kevin G. Chapman; Suspenseful Murder Mystery Over a Winning Lottery Ticket Marred By Length and Too Many Plot Twists

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Winning the lottery brings with it a host of problems: taxes taken out, strangers pretending to be long lost relatives, gold diggers and fortune hunters, harassed by shady organizations, many threats, and sometimes death. That's enough to make one wish they never bought a ticket.

On its own that would be an interesting premise for a murder mystery in which a lottery winner is found dead shortly after their win but before it is made public. Unfortunately, Kevin G. Chapman's Dead Winner is not that book. It takes that premise and mar it with too many plot twists that are used to justify its length.

Tom Williams just won the lottery and he has only told his wife, Monica and his former schoolmate, Rory McEntyre, who is his financial advisor. Unfortunately, the day after he gives this news, Tom is found dead by Monica. Monica insists that Tom's death was suicide but there are some inconsistencies to that version. Not to mention, that Tom's former employers and assistant are involved in separate subplots involving him. Tom has his own secrets and Riley and Monica are harboring a not so secret infatuation for each other.

The lottery plot is interesting. There are moments when greed overtakes the characters along with the promise of new big money. There is a seriocomic sequence when Tom and Monica discover that the lottery ticket is missing and someone holds it for ransom.

There are some real truthful moments particularly as Riley reevaluates his friendship with Tom and interest in Monica. He realized that the more aggressive and choleric Tom always took the lead in their friendship, so Riley is realizing that he now has to take control. One of those means is being there for Monica and being more available for her more than Tom was.

However, the book has too many red herrings and subplots that the narrative runs away with itself. Some of the characters don't amount to very much and others become too involved with the action. This is one mystery that needs focus and to develop one potential plot at a time instead of over crowding the Reader.

The worst is saved for last. There is a final plot twist that I won't reveal but makes absolutely no sense based on the previous information that we have been given. The twist seems to have pulled out of thin air rather than the clues and mystery itself. It's not an ending to make you wonder or marvel so much as it's an ending to make you roll your eyes or throw the book down in disgust.

For me, Dead Winner is actually a Live Loser.

New Book Alert: Slipstream (Book 1 of The Slipstream Series) by Alice Godwin; Strange and Lovely Mixture of Science Fiction and Fantasy Found in Travel Through Cyberspace

 

New Book Alert: Slipstream (Book 1 of The Slipstream Series) by Alice Godwin; Strange and Lovely Mixture of Science Fiction and Fantasy Found in Travel Through Cyberspace

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Slipstream by Alice Godwin is a very odd, strange, but somehow lovely mixture of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Thanks to the ability for one character to travel through dimensions and cyberspace, these genres have the ability to exist side by side, sometimes at the exact same time.

Jo, a detective, is investigating the death of a woman that seems to be connected to the Rapturists, a religious cult that disappeared at the turn of the century but has returned. During Jo's investigation, she encounters Connor, a stranger with a close connection to the deceased.

Meanwhile, Raven, a young woman, is investigating her ability to physically travel through the web. Many can in this book, but what makes Raven different is that she can do it without a device. Because of this, she is sensitive to electromagnetic pulses around her and can see various realities shift around her side by side. She can see figures from what she calls the slipstream when others cannot.

Halo, a Japanese immigrant, just left his family and is settling down with a pushy and persistent girlfriend, Azura.

 While going out, he encounters Raven after one of her slipstream encounters.  Halo learns Raven's backstory that she is considered a "Carnie," an orphan with no familial connections who steals codes and information to earn a living. He is attracted to her and wants to help her.

Eventually, these plots converge and are revealed to be connected. They offer more details to Raven's history and abilities.

By far the most interesting character in this book is Raven. Her powers are explored to their fullest and while Science Fiction in origin seems almost to border on Fantasy and Magic in their presentation. 

One of her travels is to an in-between world that she calls Ghostlands (where she floats around like a spirit). There she encounters a leonine creature that she calls Ceriful. Ceriful acts as a guide through these alternate realities, but his behavior is ambiguous whether he is helping or hurting Raven.

After receiving a tapestry from and growing closer to Halo, Raven has slipstreams in which she encounters fairies and unicorns. It's fascinating that Raven's version of Slipstreaming often involves fantasy and magical characters.

If you think about it, Raven's interest in the fantastic makes sense. She is a young woman with no known family. She was forced to mature at a young age and lives in a futuristic society where magic and fantasy is no longer valued. Slipstreaming is Raven's way of living in a world of the impossible, to capture the magical aspects of fairy tales and legends that she could not find in the physical world. Slipstream helps Raven find a measure of power and control to these narratives that she is deprived from.

In a way, Raven is like a futuristic Anne Shirley, a girl with no biological family and a fully developed imagination who can't always separate fantasy from reality. Though Raven's slipstreaming gives her the ability to interact with them in a way that Anne was unable to.

For the imaginative Bookworm, or Science Fiction or Fantasy geek, slipstreaming would seem like an ultimate thrill. It seems like a way to literally travel through cyberspace and into the imaginative dream worlds that exist in our minds.

However, through Raven's experiences, the Reader learns that slipstream can be a curse. Raven can't always control where she goes or what appears before her. She is sometimes attacked by her own mental demons to the point that she is in danger of succumbing to insanity. 

We also learn her history in which she has been targeted and experimented on from the time that she was born. Even her family has been the target of experiments that resulted in her astronomical powers. 

The end results of the experiments on Raven are a frightened embittered woman with an amazing ability to see into different worlds and dimensions but can't trust her own mind.

New Book Alert: Glitches and Stitches (Death Violation 01) by Nicole Givens Kurtz; Police Procedural Mystery Set in The Future Focuses on Gay Heroes, AI Dependency, and Genetic Engineering

 

New Book Alert: Glitches and Stitches (Death Violation 01) by Nicole Givens Kurtz; Police Procedural Mystery Set in The Future Focuses on Gay Heroes, AI Dependency, and Genetic Engineering

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If Science Fiction/Mysteries have shown us anything, it's that the future will be just as violent and destructive as the present. Except that there will be crimes involving AI, advanced technology, genetic engineering, cloning, and possibly aliens and interstellar travel (at least the fictional version anyway). The crossover genre shows that the human race will be just as temperamental, avaricious, lustful, rage filled, and violent as ever. They will just have new technology with which to use their schemes.

That's the premise behind Nicole Givens Kurtz's Death Violation and its first book, Glitches and Stitches. As Kurtz did with her previous book, Kill Three Birds, she puts a conventional murder mystery in an unusual setting. Kill Three Birds took place in a world of anthropomorphic birds. Glitches and Stitches is instead set in the future in which technology and AI threaten to overpower the human element.

Inspector Regulators, Fawn Granger and Briscoe "BB" Baker are called in to investigate the death of Dr. Leonard Cho, scientist at the Association of Genetically Engineered Humans. The duo find themselves smack dab in the middle of a case involving illicit genetic engineering and technological dependency. They also have to struggle with their own conflicts to keep this search going.

Kurtz does a good job of creating a suspenseful police procedural mystery and surrounding it with a futuristic science fiction setting. It's not as imaginative a setting as say Eternity in Russ Colchamiro's Angela Hardwicke series but it still has some fascinating touches to remind the Reader that "Yes, this is the future." 

One of the clever things that Kurtz zeroes in on but some SF writers overlook is the use of language and slang terms. In this setting, people aren't "murdered." They had a "death violation." It could be a sign of political correctness or just a change in police terminology. Perhaps, even an intentional reference to how current controversies towards the police force will reconstruct how they behave in the future. It's just one of those things that a masterful speculative fiction author like Kurtz acknowledges.

Another sample of Kurtz's attention to detail is the apparent change in social structure. Neither Fawn nor BB are interested in each other because they are both gay. BB is in a committed relationship in which his husband is worried about his dangerous job.

Fawn has massive PTSD and is considering relocating to the Southwest, but this case and a new relationship with an EMT restores her desire for justice and search for love.

Currently, the LGBT community are faced with various controversies such as their rights being scaled back by many bigoted Republicans, Evangelicals, and Conservatives. Because the present is so awful, it is nice in Kurtz's futuristic world that not much is made of Fawn and BB's sexualities.

In the future of Glitches and Stitches, when future generations can be created in ways besides procreation, Conservatives can't even use that excuse to prohibit rights. So, Fawn and BB are seen like any other hard-working cop that is faced with a dangerous job with little time for a social life though they try.

Of course in a science fiction world, many themes that come across are the overabundance of technology and whether we are in danger of losing our humanity. Glitches and Stitches is no exception.

Fawn and BB investigate some genetic engineering that could change humans and for the worse. It's a scary thought to imagine that someone else could change another's DNA or genetic code without their knowledge or consent (or if they give consent without being told all of the options and pros and cons towards such actions so they can make real informed choices).

This book also discusses how AI is used as an option for even the most basic of needs like sexual pleasure. In fact there are hints that there is an android prostitute ring in which horny AI lovers can satisfy their carnal pleasures without human contact. It says something that even the most basic needs like sex need a technological instead of human interaction in Glitches and Stitches. In this book, humans have even lost the opportunity to become close together physically. 

It's not a perfect futuristic world that Kurtz writes in her book. But like all murder mysteries, there will always be people like Fawn and BB who care about justice, fairness, protecting the innocent, and caring for those around them.  

New Book Alert: Merchants of Knowledge and Magic (The Pentagonal Dimensions) by Erika McCorkle; Unique World Building Is The Highlight of This Odd Unforgettable Epic Fantasy

 

New Book Alert: Merchants of Knowledge and Magic (The Pentagonal Dimensions) by Erika McCorkle; Unique World Building Is The Highlight of This Odd Unforgettable Epic Fantasy 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Of the various worlds in Epic Fantasy that I visited this year (and there were many), among the most evocative, unique, and intriguing is The Pentagonal Dimensions in Erika McCorkle's Merchants of Knowledge and Magic.

It is the strangest, most bizarre, most fantastic world that I have come across in some time.

The plot, or rather plots, are mostly slight. They involve a pair of merchants hired by various people throughout the book to find someone or retrieve something for some greater purpose. The missions aren't fully connected and they don't really seem to add up to anything important, at least not in this volume anyway.

 The book's structure is in loose anthology form as each mission is introduced separately and equal time is given for the characters to resolve that mission. Then that assignment usually leads them head (or heads) first into the next assignment or adventure.

Instead, Merchants of Knowledge and Magic's strongest virtues are in character, setting, and world building. In fact the main purpose of the various missions is to introduce the Readers to this strange new world. Since it is a world that captures the imagination and is impossible to forget,  I would say "Mission Accomplished."

 Every character and setting seems to come from someone's weirdest fever dreams or nightmares. Boy, is it ever a crazy oddball fever dream that we stumbled into.

The two Merchants in question are Calinthe Erytrichos and Zakuro "Pom" Rathmusen, the eponymous Merchants of Knowledge and Magic respectively. They are a very fascinating pair. 

Calinthe is half-Ulese and half-Odonata, species that many believe can't reproduce until they meet her. She has green skin, wings, and is intersex (though prefers she/her pronouns). Calinthe is a Mind volkhv which means that she can obtain knowledge. She often interrogates suspects with a game of Eight Questions in which they have to tell the truth (though they aren't above using certain points of view or telling half-truths to cover up information). 

 Zakuro has four arms, dark skin, and is  a Godblood, which means that she is descended from gods. She is practiced in various magical abilities such as making herself invisible or shape shifting. She was isolated by her abusive mother and had barely encountered non-deities until she met and fell in love with Calinthe.

The two travel together to do various assignments as Calinthe obtains information while Zakuro serves as a bodyguard and protector using her magic to help or hide them if things go badly. They earn money by trading magic and knowledge as currency.

Already this book stands out from many other Epic Fantasies and Science Fiction because of the lack of humanoid characters. Many times authors insert characters who are human in appearance as though their imaginations couldn't conceive of a world where humans, or species resembling humans, don't exist. With neither of her two leads being human, McCorkle stretches the imagination by looking through the perspectives and lifestyles of different creatures and species that are different from those who are reading it.

Calinthe and Zakuro aren't the only unique characters that this book encounters. We first encounter the duo as they walk into a bar which has a Kraken bartender and a Werewolf suspect that they have to interview. (Sounds like a bad joke from another dimension). Things go awry when the Kraken gets stabbed by the nervous Wolf.

One of the characters that they meet in the bar is Paivi Valkoinen, who may be a spy or a deserter from the powerful Aloutian military. One of Paivi's unique traits is that her belly is hollow and can be used to store objects which are chilled or warmed by her body temperature. So yes she is in fact a walking cooler (which excites Zakuro since they can have an ongoing supply of ale). 

That's nothing however. Calinthe's father is so large that her mother and sometimes she can travel inside his abdomen. (Take from that what you will).

Many of the settings are also unique. People can travel from dimension to dimension and gravity is different on each one. A person who is considered thin in one place can be weighed down by the gravity in another one.

One of those places is Ophidia, a misandrist society in which women are considered superior and men, intersex, neuter, and non-binary species are looked down upon. Calinthe hates the place and has to hide her intersex qualities whenever they visit (including a newly growing appendage which is synonymous with a penis). 

Their arrival attracts two sisters, The Ryuugas: Requiem, a white skinned purple haired biped-bibranch and  Sayuri,a reptilian Orochijan, with thin vertical pupils and a forked tongue. Oh yeah and they travel with horses who can change their shapes into bipedal forms. The Ryuugas  want to leave Ophidia even though they are members of the ruling class because it's a "f$#@d up country that treats men like mud and sludge." So they tag along with and befriend Calinthe and Zakuro.

The strangeness in character and setting is only augmented by the Pentagonal Dimensions' pantheon of demons and gods. While most Earth pantheons acknowledge their deities' offbeat qualities (like Zeus' womanizing, Loki's tricks, or The Morrigan's association with death), the gods in these worlds come right out and admit their infallibility with their titles. They are rich with names like Lord Selfishness and the Lord of Ignorance. 

Lord Williford, the Lord of Ignorance, is a particularly memorable deity in that he acts less like a god and more like the lovable storytelling drunk at the bar. He uses Welsh slang terms like "ditty" for little and "tidy" for nice. He also uses profanity and is more interested in carnal pleasures and being sarcastic than in being a positive vessel for his mortal followers. He is hilarious and fits right in with the rest of the Pentagonal Dimensions' weirdness. 

Despite or maybe because of the strange world building embedded in Merchants of Knowledge and Magic, the book surprisingly has a lot of emotions and heart.

In one chapter while they are in Ophidia, Zakuro and Paivi try to end slavery by killing slavers and slaves much to Calinthe's chagrin. The decisions that the three are faced with are ethical ones in which the characters debate whether they should put their personal experiences and safety over the greater good and whether using violence to prevent injustice causes more problems than helps.

Zakuro and Calinthe also show strong love and devotion towards each other particularly when they encounter their families. After a heartbreaking conversation with her abusive mother, Zakuro is cut off, feeling like she doesn't have a family. Calinthe takes her on a detour from their current assignment to visit Calinthe's loving parents so Zakuro could feel loved and accepted and they could adopt her as a second daughter.

In one of the most traumatic sections, Calinthe is forced into slavery for several chapters. Her narration reveals the pain and anguish, particularly when she goes from referring to her masters by name to the title of "Master" in her narration. She goes from a free spirited, independent, intelligent, intersex Merchant of Knowledge with lovers and friends to a passive, dependent, traumatized victim who isn't sure if she ever had anyone love her. It is a striking heart wrenching transformation that suggests that it will take some time in the next volume for her to recover, if she ever does.

Merchants of Knowledge and Magic is a masterful novel of world building which offers unique characters and settings that are strange but also believable. Because of that, this is one of the Best Books of 2022.

New Book Alert: Vorodin's Lair (Book Two of the Warminster Saga) by J.V. Hilliard; All Quested Up But Too Many Places to Go

 New Book Alert: Vorodin's Lair (Book Two of the Warminster Saga) by J.V. Hilliard; All Quested Up But Too Many Places to Go 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The Last Keeper was a memorable first volume in the Warminster Saga in that it depicted a dark fantasy world becoming darker. A wizard sold his soul to demons for knowledge and wealth and became a monster. Daemus Alaric, a Keeper of knowledge, has prophetic dreams about the potential end of the world. Addilyn Elspeth, a noblewoman also has dreams of tetrine, a herd of black unicorns that herald impending doom. They team up with various characters like Sir Ritter, a half-elf knight, Prince Montgomery, a seafaring Prince, and a team of outlaws including Faux, who had a grudge against many of the royal family, to fight this Apocalypse. Meanwhile many characters, like Addilyn's father get killed, seemingly good character's evil intentions are revealed, and war is afoot. It's a great introduction.

Unfortunately, the follow up, Vorodin's Lair is not nearly as compelling. There is a lot of meandering with characters going places and not getting much accomplished.

Princess Addilyn, Daemus, Ritter and the others are recruited to seek safety in the land of Abacus and request assistance from the Athabasica, a post and important leader. Meanwhile, Prince Montgomery takes part in a massacre of a Naval battle. We are also introduced to various characters and subplots that become hard to keep up with after a while. 

There are some interesting moments, unfortunately they are few and far in between. Zamiel, one of the antagonists, has a very terrifying opening when he bonds and controls the tetrine.

We also see the further dissolution of society. The Keepers, the group Daemus was once a proud member of, use corruption and intimidating means to claim new leadership. Prince Montgomery's father is another of the long list of snobbish parents who reject their children in this series.

In this book one of the most intriguing characters is the Athabasica. She is worth the build up and shows to be a wise leader and poet. She is one of those types of characters who dispenses guidance and advice through cryptic means, leading the characters to figure things out for themselves. In the ensemble cast, she is the lone stand out.

Unfortunately, Vorodin's Lair has plenty of problems that outweigh its virtues. Vorodin's Lair suffers through what I call "Second Book Syndrome." The first book introduces us to the setting, characters, and plots that carry over in the series. The third (if it's the final book) usually has the climactic battle, the resolution of the quest, and the point where the protagonists meet their eventual fates and destinies. 

If done right, the second book can lead to some interesting character development and some intriguing side quests that strengthen or weaken the bonds that the protagonists share.

If done wrong, it's just an excuse to pad out 300 pages into extensively long sections that fill plots and characters that are unnecessary. Vorodin's Lair is the latter.

In every other chapter, the Reader is introduced to a character that either is new to the book or is a holdover from the previous book that it takes a struggle to remember. Daemus, Addilyn et al are detained not by important plot points leading to self discoveries. Instead they are held back by mere contrivances. 

It's one of those books where you could flip through the pages wondering "What did I miss?" Then you realize the answer is, "Not much."

Oddly enough, one of the biggest weaknesses in Vorodin's Lair is one of the best parts of The Last Keeper. Because The Last Keeper started out in a dark somber horror tone and continued to stay that way, there really is nowhere for Vorodin's Lair to go but darker yet. The tone falls into the "Too Bleak, Stopped Caring" territory somewhere around the tenth or so chapter. The series tries to top itself with bleakness to the point that it becomes boring. 

Even the characters become boring because the bleakness dictates that they can never actually win or achieve any sort of victory. The somberness takes away their agency or ability to take action to change their circumstances. After a while, it becomes hard to give a damn about anything that the characters do.

If there is to be a third volume of The Warminster Saga, let's hope it's better than Vorodin's Lair. This one features characters that are ready to quest but nowhere to go. Book Three can't get any worse.