The Truth - Terry Pratchett

    2000; 348 pages.  Book 25 (out of 41) in the “Discworld” series.  New Author? : No.  Laurels : 193 in the “Big Read”.  Genres : Humorous Fantasy; Satire; British Humour.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    There are two things those Discworld dwarfs love to do.  First and foremost, they love digging for gold and gems.  Second, they love to tinker with new ways of doing things.

 

    Just now, William de Worde has discovered the dwarfs have figured out how to put together a printing press.  With easily insertable and smoothly interchangeable letters.  It beats the heck out of the old way – carving a woodcut for every page you want printed. What a slow process.

 

    The dwarfs aren’t all that impressed with their new methodology, but William de Worde is.  Imagine setting up a page and printing it in minutes instead of spending hours or days carving a piece of wood.  With that kind of speed, doing a print job that requires multiple pages is suddenly doable.  But what kind of business would need that?

 

    They call it a newspaper, William.  And people will pay money to receive one on a daily basis.

 

What’s To Like...

    Although The Truth is Book 25 in Terry Pratchett’s fantastic Discworld series, and is set in Ankh-Morpork, Discworld’s capital city, the two main characters, the editor William de Worde and his ace reporter, the buxom Sacharissa Cripslock, are newcomers to the series.

 

    True, lots of recurring characters also show up, such as the Patrician, Sam Vimes and several of his City Watch guards, a couple of wizards, and DEATH and his companion DEATH of RATS, but for the most part, they are cast in cameo roles.

 

    In a nutshell, The Truth tells the story of Ankh-Morpork’s first newspaper, “The Ankh-Morpork Times”, and the various, and hilarious, challenges it faces.  Will people pay for something recapping yesterday’s news?  Do we send employees out to sell the paper?  Do we send employees out to search for newsworthy tidbits?  What do we do if/when a competing newspaper crops up?  And most importantly, what do we do if someone strongly objects to some headline-worthy item being investigated and reported in the paper?

 

    As always, Terry Pratchett’s wit and puns are in abundance here.  So are his trademark footnotes and his eschewal of Chapters.  Somehow, even Quantum Physics gets some ink, which surprised me pleasantly.

 

    The main storyline involves William de Worde’s investigation into an assault alleged to have been carried out by one of Ankh-Morpork’s leading citizens.  To give more details would be a spoiler. This doesn’t qualify as a mystery novel because the reader is given a key clue early on.  So the fun is following William de Words, with assistance from Sam Vimes, as they attempt figure out the “why” of the mayhem.

 

    The ending is entertaining, despite not being very twisty or action-packed.  The truth eventually comes out, justice is served, mercy is shown, and karma takes its toll.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 6,996 ratings and 504 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.41/5 based on 25,004 ratings and 1,603 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “I’m not a thief, friend,” said the shadows.

    “Who’s there?”

    “Do you know what’s good for you?”

    “Er . . . yes.  Healthy exercise, regular meals, a good night’s sleep.”  William stared at the long lines of loose boxes.  “I think what you meant to ask was: do I know what’s bad for me, in the general context of blunt instruments and sharp edges.  Yes?”  (pg. 204)

 

    “We still don’t know what we should be doing,” said Mrs. Tilly hopelessly.

    “Go and find out things that people want to put in the paper,” said Sacharissa.

    “And things that people don’t want to put in the paper,” William added.

    “And interesting things,” said Sacharissa.

    “Like that rain of dogs two months ago?” said O’Biscuit.

    “There was no rain of dogs two months ago!” William snapped.

    “But—”

    “One puppy is not a rain.  It fell out of a window.”  (pg. 340)

 

Lies could run around the world before the truth could get its boots on.  (pg. 106)

    As usual, the cussing is mild and sparse.  I counted only six instances in the first 25% of The Truth, all of which were of the eschatological variety.  One of the characters habitually uses a stronger bit of profanity, but Terry Pratchett solves this each time by rendering it “—ing”.  Freaking Fantastic!

 

    I enjoyed The Truth, but wasn’t dazzled by it.  Part of it, I suppose, was the theme itself—running a newspaper is just not all that exciting.  Also, my favorite set of misadventurers, the wizards of the Unseen University, have almost no impact on the storyline.

 

    But I quibble.  The Truth is still a fun, entertaining story.  It’s just a matter of it being more a tale of Intrigue, and less a tale of “Thrills-&-Magical-Spills”.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  One of my favorite recurring characters who does get a fair amount of ink here, is Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, otherwise known as “CMOT”.  Take my advice, and do NOT partake of the sausages that he sells.

Point Blank - Catherine Coulter

    2005; 355 pages.  Book 10 (out of 27) in the “FBI Thriller” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Crime Thriller; Suspense.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    It’s the chance of a lifetime.  FBI Agent Ruth Warnecki is sure of it.

 

    Legend has it that during the closing days of the Civil War, Confederate soldiers hid a bunch of gold in a place called Winkel’s Cave, near Maestro, Virginia.  Over the years, many others have looked for it but no one’s ever even found a trace.  Maybe it is just a legend.

 

    Now, on her day off, amateur spelunker Ruth Warnecki has decided to see if she can find the lost treasure.  She’s doing it on the sly.  She’s parked her car a good distance away.  She hasn’t brought along anyone else.  She hasn’t told anyone what she’s doing or where she’s going.

 

    Hmm.  What if something goes wrong, Ruth?

 

What’s To Like...

    Ruth Warnecki’s spelunking misadventure opens things in Point Blank, and the series’ two main characters in Catherine Coulter’s “FBI Thriller” series, the husband-&-wife FBI team of Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, show up in the second chapter with their own plot thread.  A pair of wisecracking psychopathic killers, for unknown reasons, have decided to target them.  The two storylines soon merge, although to give more details than that would be a spoiler.

 

    The story's setting is in the Virginia/Maryland area.  The dual plotlines aspect works well at keeping the book’s pacing at a rapid clip; so does a spate of local murders.  And  one detonation of Savich’s prized Porsche.  The writing style is a deft blend of crime-thriller and police procedural; two genres that I always enjoy.

 

    Character development is a prominent aspect of the Catherine Coulter's storytelling.  It was fun to meet Sheriff Dixon Noble, in whose jurisdiction Winkel’s Cave is located.  It was a refreshing change to see the FBI Feds and the local law officers working as one unit on a case.  The resulting investigation introduces a slew of possible suspects, plus one hyperactive toy poodle named Brewster.  This is only the second book I’ve read in this series, so I’m not sure whether any of these local characters are, or become, recurring ones.

 

    The ending ties up all the major plotlines, but is presented in such a manner to where the reader doesn’t figure out who the baddies are before Savich and Sherlock do.  My guess at the who and why of the perpetrators was totally amiss.  Things close with a hint of romance in the air,

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 4,124 ratings and 288 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.16*/5, based on 14,287 ratings and 456 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Savich raised his face to the steel-gray sky, breathed that fresh wild air deep into his lungs.  He could feel Moses Grace was close.  He punched up the incoming call.  “Savich here.”

    “Hello, boy.  This here’s your nemesis.  Ain’t that a grand word?  Claudia read it to me out of a book, said that’s what I am to you.”

    Savich stilled, his mind working furiously.  He knew, he simply knew.  “Who is this?”

    “Why, this is the poor old man you’re trying to hunt down and kill, and bury real deep, Agent Savich.”  (pg. 56)

 

    Ruth put a smile on for Cynthia when she jerked the front door open.  “Well, what do—Dix, hello.  Do come in.  Oh, you.  So you’re still here.  Sorry, but I don’t remember your name.  You’re some kind of police officer, too, aren’t you?”

    “Some kind, yes,” Ruth said agreeably.  “Agent Ruth Warnecki.  I believe we had lunch together, what was it, two days ago?  They say memory is the first to go.”

    Cynthia said, “Yes, I’ve heard that, too.  But why would I even want to remember you?”

    “Good one,” Ruth said.  (pg. 270)

 

“What are you up to, smearing hot dog all over my shoe, making everybody laugh at me?” (pg. 243)

    I wouldn’t label Point Blank a cozy mystery, but the cussing is sparse.  I counted just 8 instances in the first 25% of the book, all of them being of the milder 4-lettered ilk.  A number of adult situations are also referenced, but none are witnessed firsthand.

 

    I don’t have any major gripes with anything in Point Blank, other than nitpicking about Savich and Sherlock not revealing the key break in the case until they confront the main perp.  I have several more books from this series on my Kindle and TBR shelf, so we shall see if holding back on the “big reveal” is a regular occurrence in this series.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing. At one point, a psychochemical compound called QuinuclidInyl Benzilate (shortened to “BZ” for simplicity's sake) figures into the story.  I thought I had heard of all such hallucinogenic chemicals, but this was new one to me.  You can read more about it in Wikipedia here.

The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump - Harry Turtledove

   1993; 408 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Historical Fantasy, Alternate Timelines, Science Fiction.  Overall Rating: 7½*/10.

 

    Something rotten is going on at the Devonshire dump, located in the northern part of Angels City.   We know that indirectly, based on the sudden increase in the number of birth defects in the surrounding neighborhoods.

 

    The EPA—that acronym stands for Environmental Perfection Agency— higher-ups have instructed their local agent, David Fisher, to start an investigation.  Pay a friendly visit to the dump, find out who the major dumpers are, then call on those companies and find out exactly what they’re disposing.

 

    Inspector Fisher has been instructed to keep his probing low-key and non-threatening.  And especially not to communicate anything he finds to anyone except the EPA higher-ups.  Because whatever is causing those birth defects is almost certainly magical.  What makes the EPA think that?

 

    Three of those cases involve newborns with an extremely rare disease called apsychia, a term no mother wants to hear.  It means her baby has been born without a soul.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump is a standalone novel set in a parallel world to our own.  The geography is the same, but that world has two realities: a mundane dimension like we have, imaginatively called “This Side”; and a magical dimension, called the “Other Side”, where all sorts of spells, hexes, potions, gods, and otherworldly creatures that go bump in the night exist.

 

    The two Sides are interconnected, which means magic-containing things can be imported into This Side, bought and used, but that inevitably generates waste which needs to be properly disposed of a dump.  As is true in our reality, the key word is “properly”.

 

    The story is set in what we call Los Angeles, which over there is called Angels City.  Harry Turtledove gleefully renames/reinvents all sorts of nations, religions, places, and other items; as one would expect in an alternate world with an alternate timeline.

 

    So here, the Aztecian nation still survives; as does Carthage.  The Mithraism religion still exists, so does a Zoroastrian one.  In the Angels City area, you can visit Saint Ferdinand’s Valley via the Saint Monica Freeway.  To get there, you hop on your flying carpet; but you still do your airborne “driving” on designated streets, since without them, three-dimensional travel would be dangerously chaotic.  And as you might guess, a “spellchecker” has an entirely different function.

 

    For most of the book the reader tags along with David as he tries to figure out what is causing the increase in birth defects.  Lots of companies use the Devonshire dump for magical waste disposal, all of them resent them being suspected of improper dumping.  Things build to a tense, two-stage ending (Chapters 10 and 11), where magic and deities are invoked to take corrective measures.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Geas (n.) : an obligation or prohibition magically imposed upon a person.

Others: Curandero (n.), Burin (n.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.4/5 based on 256 ratings and 66 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.87/5 based on 937 ratings and 87 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “You may accompany us if you like, Miss Adler.”

    “How generous of you,” Judy said.  I knew she’d have accompanied us whether Kawaguchi liked it or not, and gone off like a demon out of its pentacle if he tried to stop her.  The irony in her voice was thick enough to slice.  If the legate noticed it, though, he didn’t let on.  I wondered if the Angels City constabulary wizards had perfected an anti-sarcasm amulet.  If they had, I wanted to buy one.  (loc. 1119)

 

    “Listen, let me call you back.  I think somebody’s at the door.”

    I went out to see who it was: most likely one of my neighbors wanting to borrow the proverbial cup of sugar, I figured.  But somebody wasn’t at the door, he was already inside, sitting on a living room chair.  I could still see the chair through him, too, so it was somedisembody.  (loc. 2337)

 

The trouble with technology is that, as soon as it solves a problem, the alleged solution presents two new ones.  (loc. 1476)

    The profanity in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump is pretty light; I noted just five instances in the first 10% of the book, all of which were mild, “four-lettered” terms.  Later on, the “female dog” expletive gets used a couple times, plus a strong cuss-phrase in Spanish which I thought was kewl.  There are also a few rolls-in-the-hay, but tastefully done.

 

    There were a few typos, such as care/cares, now/not, ration/ratio, were/where, though/thought, and knew/know, but not enough to be a distraction.

 

    For me, the mystery-solving angle was pretty blah.  David visits the main customers of the dump, one by one, but it’s not until about ¾ of the way through the book that he catches a lucky break, and e even that one felt forced.  The ending was so-so as well.  Chapter 10 saw deities duking it out, which was rather exciting, but then David squares off against the Ultimate Evil, and emerges victorious with remarkable ease.

 

    But hey, I read Harry Turtledove for his fabulous alternate-world-building, not for over-the-top, superhero-type excitement.  And I also read Harry Turtledove for his witty repartee, suitable-for-YA storylines, and groan-inducing puns.  The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump did not fail in any of these areas, plus it was a treat to see the quantity and the diversity of mythical creatures that the author works into a tale as he combines both Alt-History to Alt-Fantasy.

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  My favorite character in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, was David Fisher’s coworker and EPA lab analyst, Michael (don’t call him Mike) Manstein and his Laboratory Field Testing skills.  Quality Control ROOLZ!!

The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag - Robert Rankin

   1998; 360 pages. Book 2 in the “Completely Barking Mad Trilogy” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Humorous Absurdism; British Humour; Weird Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    Lazlo Woodbine is in a bind.  Literally.  He’s been committed to a mental institution and put in a straitjacket.  The problem is that everybody knows that “Lazlo Woodbine” is a fictional detective.  So the main aim of the nuthouse right now is to figure out who this guy pretending to be Lazlo really is.

 

    There are other issues, of course.  Lazlo claims to have a “holy guardian sprout” named Barry living inside his head.  Lazlo and Barry have lots of conversations.  One of their main topics is a quest that Lazlo is currently working on—he’s searching for an artifact called the “Voodoo Handbag”.

 

    It’s going to be a challenging quest because, according to that well-known axiom “Hugo Rune’s Law of Obviosity”, the artifact will be hidden in the least likely place you’d expect it to be.  Good luck with that, guys.

 

    But Lazlo is determined to find it, just as soon as he can get out of the straitjacket.  Because snagging that handbag is of the utmost importance.

 

    The end of the world is at stake.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag is vintage Robert Rankin fiction.  There are several storylines, some real, others illusory, and no easy way to tell which is which.  The author’s trademark literary device—recurring gags—are here again, including Fangio’s Bar, talking the toot, and of course, Barry the Sprout.  Witty dialogue and absurd antics are present in abundance.

 

    The main task for Lazlo, and for the reader, is to figure out what is going on.  This is no small feat since there are multiple dimensions and frequent time jumps to deal with.  For both the reader and the protagonist, the key is to keep applying Hugo Rune’s Law of Obviosity to whatever set of circumstances are being confronted.  

 

    There are several bad guys to deal with along the way.  One of them is a guy named Henry Doors, which is a subtle take-off of … well, I’ll let you work that one out.  I loved the explanation of Voodoo Theology given in Chapter 17, and the brief nod to the Thirteenth Floor Elevators on page 153.  Mr. Rankin has excellent musical tastes.

 

    The ending is over-the-top and tense.  It felt a bit forced, but that’s okay; Lazlo Woodbine would heartily approve of it.  The evil plans are thwarted and the world is saved, but you knew that would happen.  The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag is part 2 of Robert Rankin’s “Completely Barking Mad” trilogy, which I didn’t read in chronological order, and now wish I had.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Tosspot (n.) : a foolish or contemptible person; or a drunkard (British slang)

Others: Runcible Spoon (n.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 68 ratings and 12 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.79/5 based on 879 ratings and 21 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Well, chief, there are some who might suggest that you are nothing more than a paranoid schizophrenic with a multiple personality disorder and persecution complex.”

    “Outrageous!  And who might suggest such a thing?”

    “Well, there was the doctor at the mental institution you’ve just escaped from.”

    “Oh, him.”

    “Him, chief.”

    “And what about you, Barry?  Do you think I’m mad?”

    “Me, chief?  Absolutely not.  But then, what would I know?  I’m only a voice in your head.”  (pg. 156)

 

    Have you ever wondered about the kind of noise the Big Bang made?  And whether, in fact, it was the first noise?  If it was the first noise, then it was undoubtedly the biggest and the loudest, and all later noises are a terrible let down in comparison.  But was it the first noise?

    I remember being taught at school that sound cannot travel through a vacuum.  And if that’s the case, then the Big Bang couldn’t make any sound at all in the infinite vacuum of space.  Which would mean that it wasn’t really a Big Bang at all, was it?

    It was more of a Big Poof!  (pg. 229)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Mass Market Paperback edition (which is the format that I read this book in) of The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag is apparently not available at Amazon right now.  The e-book edition is priced at $6.99.  Robert Rankin offers several dozen other “weird fantasy” tales in e-book formats, most of them in the price range of $0.99-$5.99, plus one autobiography I, Robert, which costs $9.00.

 

“Everything that can happen will happen, and everything that can’t happen will happen too, if you’re prepared to wait.”  (pg. 297)

    The cussing in The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag is sparse; I counted only eight instances in the first 25% of the book.  Later on, there are a couple references to “adult situations”, plus one to a part of a donkey’s anatomy.  But overall, this is a pretty clean story.  I didn’t notice any typos, which is a rare and noteworthy feat.

 

    The story is told from both the first-person POV (our protagonist’s), and the third-person POV (the main bad guy’s), but if anything, that helped clarify whose plot thread was being addressed.  Each chapter starts off with a poem and a quote, which were cute and witty, but generally without relevance.

 

 

    My main quibble (is that an oxymoron?) is that, at times the absurdism fogs up the storyline.  Yes, Robert Rankin is a top-tier author in Absurdist Literature, and the Law of Obviosity predicts a plethora of unforeseeable plot tangents will arise.  But at times, both Lazlo and I yearned for just a bit more clarity.

 

    Still, and as always, I enjoyed The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag.  When the overarching plotline emerged in the second half of the book, it imparted a welcome sense of direction to the tale.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  The would-be evil world leader that emerges is eerily similar to several power-obsessed politicians making headlines nowadays.  Did Robert Rankin have the gift of prophecy when he wrote The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag?  Maybe Barry the Guardian Sprout resides in the author's head!

Rise of the Forgotten - Scott Baron

   2021; 363 pages.  Book 3 (out of 6) in the “Warp Riders” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Space Opera; Science Fiction; Space Exploration.  Overall Rating: 7½*/10.

 

    First the good news.  Nobody’s shooting at Sadira Perez’s spaceship anymore; their galactic enemies, the Ra’az Hok, have been vanquished; and their former taskmasters, the Chithiid, are now their allies.  So they’re relatively safe for the time being,

 

    Now for the bad news.  Sadira’s ship and crew have been warped to who-knows-where, which has rendered their star charts useless.  Once you’re become lost in the universe you tend to stay lost.

 

    However, the ship’s AI reports that’s there’s a planet up ahead, and it’s inhabited.  Chances are the beings are either human or Chithiid.  Maybe they have star charts of this part of the galaxy, and if so, maybe they’ll let Sadira take a look at them.

 

    Yeah, and maybe Murphy, he of “Murphy’s Law”, won’t pay them a surprise visit, as he is wont to do.

 

What’s To Like...

    Rise of the Forgotten is the third book in Scott Baron’s “Warp Riders” series.  He’s written five series in this setting, 32 books in all, and has posted a useful timeline of these on his Amazon webpage showing the chronology of these series.

 

    This series follows the “Clockwork Chimera” one, which I’ve read and reviewed in its entirety over the last four years.  That one chronicled the war between the Ra’az Hok and the Humans; this series focuses on the aftermath.  Sadira’s crew is still intact, and includes a pleasant mix of humans, cyborgs, Chithiids, and gender-juggling AI entities. 

 

    Rise of the Forgotten is a fine example of both Space Opera and First Contact genres.  Making contact with this unknown planet is desperately necessary, but prudence is required.  Are they friends or enemies?  Are the Ra’az Hok truly eliminated, or do pockets of them remain on far-flung solar systems?  Might the inhabitants down there know how to get back to Planet Earth or will they shoot first and ask questions later?

 

    To no one’s surprise, Sadira’s "first contact" strategy rapidly gets derailed, with thrills, spills, and mayhem all rapidly ensuing.  I read the Books 1&2 in this series back in 2021 so I very much appreciated the first couple of chapters giving a recap of events in those volumes.  I also enjoyed watching the creation of the “disguises” to be used to infiltrate into the planet’s inhabitants and chuckled over the acronym “ASAFP”.

 

    The ending is decent but not very twisty; tense but not very exciting.  Good triumphs over Evil, but some of Sadira’s objectives remain unfulfilled.  Oh well, there are another three books in the series to deal with that.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 145 ratings and 14 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.43*/5, based on 76 ratings and 11 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “He’ll be okay, Cap.  Hel’s a pain in the ass sometimes, but he’s no fool.”

    “He ditched his comms, Moose.  And we have no way to find either of them now.  It’s thousands of Chithiid, all dressed the same, all packed in there, and even if we knew roughly where he was, we can’t even get a clear visual from up here because of the atmospheric issues.”

    “I know, I know.  But it’s like taking a kid riding without training wheels.  Eventually, you have to trust them and let go.”

    She raised an eyebrow sarcastically.  “Most kids crash the first time, you know.”  (loc. 1592)

 

    “Things don’t always go according to plan, but if anyone’s going to take a risky gamble, I suppose the AI superbrain that processes data a bazillion times faster than any of us meat brains can is about the best odds you can get.”

    “Did you just call me a meat brain?” Moose asked.

    “Well, technically, it’s neurons, glial cells, neural stem cells, and blood vessels in addition to fat, but I think the spirit of the comment is valid,” Hump said with a laugh.  (loc. 4698)

 

Kindle Details…

    Rise of the Forgotten sells for $3.99 right now at Amazon.  The other books in the series, including the Book 1&2 bundle, go for either $0.99 or $3.99.  Scott Baron has several other series in e-book format, both in bundles and as individual stories, and mostly priced in the $0.99-$4.99 range.

 

“Smoke me a kipper, I’m heading home.”  (loc. 738)

    I counted 11 instances of profanity in the first 10% of Rise of the Forgotten, which I’d call a moderate amount.  None of them were f-bombs, but a couple of those did show up later on.  I don’t recall any adult situations.

 

    There’s not much else to quibble about.  There were no slow spots in the storytelling, but it was a quick-&-easy read, ideal for a day at the beach.  And maybe it even suggests a subtle concept: that regardless of ethnic, cosmic, and/or gender varieties, when it comes to surviving in the Universe, we are all in this together.  Now onto Book Four, Pandora’s Menagerie.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  My favorite cosmic deity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, gets a brief nod here, and as a loyal FSM follower, I found that greatly satisfying.

Brightside - Mark Tullius

   2012; 304 pages.  Book 1 (out of 2) in the “Brightside” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Dystopian Fiction; Psychic Suspense.  Overall Rating: 7½*/10.

 

    They call us Thought Thieves.

 

    The more common word is “telepaths”.  There’s a fair number of us living quietly among you normal people.  Mostly, we’re just trying to avoid revealing to you that we can read your thoughts.  Because if the authorities find that out, they will immediately take the thought-thief into custody.

 

    My name’s Joe Nolan.  I’m one of those detainees.  My own father turned me in.  Can you believe that?!  The Boots (that’s what we call the thugs that snatch us away) grabbed me and took me to a place called “Brightside”, somewhere way up in the mountains.  The shrinks there will neutralize my thought-thieving brain and gradually reprogram me.   I’ll be a happy resident here.

 

    If I don’t kill myself first.

 

What’s To Like...

    Brightside is a dystopian thriller that imagines a world where a portion of its humans can hear the thoughts of others.  It reminded me of a very old Outer Limits TV episode, set IIRC on an outer-space mining operation, where a mutant suddenly becomes telepathic, much to the chagrin of his fellow miners.  Google-image “Outer Limits” for pictures from this episode.

 

    I liked the limitations that Mark Tullius puts on this “gift”.  Not everyone is blessed/cursed with being able to listen in on others’ thoughts.  The range of telepathy is limited; at one point our protagonist is amazed that a fellow thought-thief can “hear” thoughts from as far as 50 feet away.  Also, there are ways to mask or nullify one’s thoughts so that they can’t be read.  It’s an important resource that even thought-thieves need to survive.

 

    The story is told from the first-person POV: Joe’s.  Two telepaths can use both speech and thoughts to communicate with each other.  Mark Tullius puts all thoughts in italics, which makes it easy for the reader to follow along.  I liked the nod to Dune via the quip “Fear is the Mindkiller”.

 

    The ending is exciting, nail-biting, with several neat plot twists thrown in to keep you on your toes.  The storyline stops at a logical point.  All the plot threads do not get tied up, but I’m certain that Book Two, Beyond Brightside, will pick up and continue the narrative.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 3.8*/5, based on 307 ratings and 122 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.52*/5, based on 350 ratings and 63 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Brightside required us to work.  It wasn’t for the money.  The government funded most everything.  But Brightside needed us to keep busy, to feel productive.  They started the jobs program after the first month.  Too many Brightsiders had jumped off the mountain, took the easy way out.

    Quotas kept us from living in our heads.

    Busy people don’t kill themselves.  That was the idea, at least.  (loc. 416)

 

    Listen.”  She closed her eyes.  “What am I thinking?”

    I zeroed in, but heard nothing.  No mantra, no hum, just silence, like Danny.

    “You’re too far,” I said.

    Rachel pressed herself against me.  I listened.  Still nothing.

    She stepped back, curtseyed.  “I learned it in The Cabin.  That’s why they let me out.  Nothing but a blank slate.”

    “How?”

    “Something about the pills.  I can just shut it off now.”  (loc. 3567)

 

Kindle Details…

    At present, Brightside sells for $3.99 at Amazon, as does its sequel, Beyond Brightside.  Mark Tullius is also the author of a 20-volume “Interactive Adventure” series called Try Not to Die, with the entries priced at either $3.99 or $5.99.

 

They call our town Brightside because, as they like to remind us, things could be worse.  (loc. 96)

    I counted 62 instances of profanity in the first 20% of Brightside, which extrapolates out to a projected total of 310 cusswords.  There were also three rolls-in-the-hay and a couple references to “adult situations”.  True, any dystopian fiction will inherently be bleak and brutal, but this was excessive.

 

    The typos were few: straightjacket/straitjacket; BMW’s/BMWs; duffle/duffel and girl’s/girls.  I thought barbequing was also misspelled, but it turns our that’s correct.  My biggest gripe, along with the excessive use of profanity, was the lack of page numbers and the lack of “time remaining” for each chapter. 

 

    Some reviewers thought the story’s tone was too dark.  Well, it is, but wouldn’t one expect this when reading dystopian fiction?  Paradoxically, the fact that readers were bothered by that means the author did an effective job of world-building.

 

    I think the main aim of Brightside was to show the reader what a terrifying world it would be if a portion of the population were telepathic.  Both the normal humans and the thought-thieves live in constant fear of being exterminated by the other faction.  Mark Tullius does a great job of creating a frightening world and I am eager to see how the storyline progresses in a second book.

 

    7½ Stars.

Lost Is The Night - Greg James

   2014; 174 pages.  Full Title: Lost Is The Night: A Grim Dark Fantasy Adventure.  Book 2 (out of 3) in the “Khale the Wanderer” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Dark Fantasy; Time Travel.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    Khale the Wanderer is a stranger in a strange land.  He seeks only shelter for the night, and if luck is with him, yon castle will take pity on him and let him sleep in the stable.  The castle guard that is approaching him will hopefully not try to kill him.

 

    “Master Khale, you are welcome to Castle Barneth.”  The guard somehow knows who he is?  Khale’s self-preservation reflexes go on full alert.

 

    “Come with me, if it pleases you.  The feast is begun and Lord Barneth awaits your company.”  Khale's jaw drops.  He, a lowly traveler, is on the guest list?  Surely this is a trap of some sort.  Can things get any weirder?

 

    “The feast is in your honour, and you are missed.”

 

What’s To Like...

    Lost Is The Night is the continuation of the journey of Khale, a sort of “Conan the Barbarian” protagonist.  It is the sequel to Under A Colder Sun, which I read a couple years ago, and is reviewed here.

 

    Despite the feast being already underway, there are priorities.  Khale is caked with dirt and foul odors from his journeying, and requests a bath, which the steward of Castle Barneth readily arranges.  The bathing amenities include Cacea, a beautiful maiden who will do the scrubbing of Khale.  We’ll let you guess whether other services are offered.

 

    The main storyline involves the subsequent adventures of both Khale and Cacea.  The book’s subtitle, “A Grim Dark Fantasy Adventure”, is quite apt.  The fantasy in this book, and indeed, this series, is not lighthearted, nor intended for kids.  Lord Barneth’s sigil is a red wheel with a crucified victim on it.  The tone of the book reflects that.

 

    I enjoyed the gradual evolution of Khale’s character.  He started out in this series a total anti-hero, but here we are seeing him learning to care about others and about the role he plays in the events unfolding around him.  Does he get to make his own decisions when Thoughtless Dark stands before him?  Or is he simply a meat-and-bones puppet on strings, being manipulated by a higher power?

 

    The ending is appropriately grim and dark, highlighted by an exciting fight scene.  None of the plot threads are resolved, but hey, that’s presumably what the next and final book, Hordes of Chaos, is for.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Goetic (adj.) : pertaining to black magic or necromancy.

Others: Xanthic (adj.); Foetor (n.); Benighted (adj.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.1*/5, based on 52 ratings and 16 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.82*/5, based on 38 ratings and 5 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Good evening, Master Khale.  I am Bartell, his Lordship’s steward, and I will attend to your needs.”

    Khale looked him over.  Dressed in blue-green silks, he looked, for all the world, like an over-embroidered cushion.  The wrinkles in his face wept dry tears of perfumed powder.  When the man smiled falsely at him, the Wanderer saw familiar signs of a life spent eating too many sweetmeats and loqma cakes.

    Rotten on the inside, fragrant as morning on the outside.

    He could taste the sin hanging in the air around this one.  (loc. 180)

 

    Murtagh was speechless as the nightmare thing before him finished pouring the last traces of itself from the bowl where it had been in repose.  The elongated mass rushed at him, a tide of black quicksilver moving across the chamber in a single, sinuous motion that consumed the space between them.  Its lipless mouth opened and continued to open, becoming a gaping wound that muttered to itself in the language of decayed silt and haunted mires.  (loc. 1638)

 

Kindle Details…

    Lost Is The Night sells for $2.99 at Amazon right now.  The other two books in the series go for the same price.  Greg James has several other series and standalone e-books available on Amazon, ranging in price from $0.99 to $2.99.

 

“Slow and predictable,” Khale mocked.  “You fight with too much honour.”.  (loc. 608)

    Surprisingly, I only counted eight cusswords in the first 25% of Lost Is The Night, although five of those were f-bombs.  There are several rolls-in-the-hay and references to three variations of the act of intimacy.  The experience on the red wheel is left to the reader’s imagination but not the outcome.

 

    The editing was good; I espied only one typo, “bows” instead of “boughs”.  As already mentioned, this book takes place immediately after the first book, and there are numerous back-references to events therefrom, so I’d suggest reading this series in chronological order and gearing up that you’re committing to reading all three books in the series.

 

    Finally, keep in mind the books in this series are all short.  The longest book is the first, at a mere 214 pages, and they get progressively shorter as the series continues.

 

    Nonetheless, I enjoyed Lost Is The Night.  It’s a fast-paced action-adventure tale with no slow spots, and the “grim dark fantasy” phrase in the subtitle let me know what to expect as far as R-rated material goes.  I’m curious to see how Greg James manages to resolve all the plotlines in a mere 163 pages of the final book, and will try not to wait two years to read the sequel.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  You’ll notice “time-travel” is listed as a genre for Lost Is The Night.  When you come to the end of the last chapter, you may, as I did, wonder where the heck the Time Travel was.  Not to worry, you still have the Epilogue to read.