Free E-book: Mercury, Sulfur, & Salt by Ben Stahl

If you’re interested in fantasy, I invite you to check out the short story Mercury, Sulfur, & Salt by Ben Stahl, recently updated and made free. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links on how you can download your copy!

The story follows a young girl named Rhea Saturna, who lives with her alchemist father. In one night, her life changes forever.

As the daughter of a powerful alchemist, Rhea resents the fact that her father refuses to teach her anything more than rudimentary alchemy. Though she understands that he is trying to protect her after her mother died in a violent alchemical accident, she still hates the secretive nature of his work. After an argument with her father, she seeks out his assistant Aurora. Instead of receiving the comfort she sought, she is asked to violate every belief she’s ever held.

Strange cloaked figures swarm the village, reducing it to cinders while they work to contain the deathly whispers floating on the scorched air. The night is red with blood and fire, filled with the screams of the dying—and something else. She must wade through the chaos of the village to try and find her father—and some answers—before everything dear to her is reduced to ash.

Worst of all, Rhea knows that it is all her fault.

Stahl is currently writing his first full-length novel, a continuation of Rhea’s story. Be on the lookout for more information on this blog, or follow the author’s blog at A World in Words.

Download Mercury, Sulfur, & Salt for free in .pdf, .mobi, and .epub:

• Smashwords.com
• Google Drive (posted by author)
• Barnes & Noble

If you try this story out and enjoy it, please share it with anyone you think might enjoy it as well! Honest reviews are also appreciated on any platform of your choice.

 

The Negligence Roundup: Fairy Tales, Space Princesses, Androids, and Air Castles

I tend to do these roundups when I haven’t read anything particularly enthralling. A combination of writer’s block, distraction, and the inability to ascertain why I liked a few elements of some books led to this entry. So, this is more of a catch up post — my apologies for my negligence.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

This story was a less compelling Howl’s Moving Castle, without the charm and with a much more “new adult” feel. The story involves a wizard known as the Dragon who takes a girl every few years from the villages in the valley he protects. The girls and villagers don’t know what he does with them, but each girl is released many years later and chooses not to return to the valley. The girl chosen in this particular instance is the unexpected choice, and she ends up finding out that she has an aptitude for magic.

It was predictable, but in a pleasing way that many fairy tales employ. The story was too long in some parts, such as exploits in the city, and the same points were made again and again. The types of magic were interesting and each user specialized in his or her own type, though the main character’s seemed a bit convenient. It fit her personality, but felt contrived within her abilities. The characters were a little flat, though I could see the efforts made to make them more compelling.

With a good base needing a bit more polish and a much too drawn out ending, I call Uprooted a READ WITH CAUTION. I would much have preferred an actual dragon.

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I chose this book because it’s considered a seminal work of science fiction, and also because it seemed like a decent adventure to read about. I was both surprised and not surprised by its contents. Basically, a veteran of the American Civil War is transported to Mars, where he learns to deal with the indigenous peoples, cultures, and eventually falls in love.

The notions of the novel are very old school, with honor and bravery being at the forefront of manliness, and womanliness being pure and worthy of defending. The story was fast paced, but at times the time line seemed to jump a bit unexpectedly. I would think only a few months passed, but it ended up being years. The fauna and flora of Mars was described with a surprising hard sci fi kant, while some other parts were more inexplicable. The main character, John Carter, always has the answer, which was both likeable and annoying.

The whole story line of love/friendship conquering even savage hearts and humanity being sealed in the notion of love as we understand it in modern times was a little trying, as were the very odd and archaic use of commas throughout the work. It wasn’t a bad read, though, and anyone wanting a bit of retro sci fi adventure would probably enjoy it. I call it a READ WITH CAUTION.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick

This is one of those novels that I liked a lot, but I’m unable to properly articulate why. The elements of the story are fairly simple. A cop hunts wayward androids for bounties in the post-ruined Earth, when most of the “good” parts of humanity have settled off world to escape the radiation and squalor. In his day of bounties, the main character confronts many concepts of identity, humanity, and religion.

The society was very interesting, as well as the story and how it kept me guessing. Usually, I can spot how a story is going to go, but these twists and turns kept me guessing far more than usual. I also enjoyed how the characters and story intertwined with one another, along with the insight into the self and humanity as a whole. I was expecting a different route for the story with each new fact I found, and I was almost always wrong. I especially enjoyed the almost 1984-flavored ending.

It was definitely a good read, even if I can’t get into the specifics of why and how without considerable writer’s block. As such, I would call this a READ.

Castle in The Air by Diana Wynne Jones

After enjoying Howl’s Moving Castle so much, when I found out it had a sequel, I decided to partake. This starts in a different land, one that might be at home as the setting for 1001 Arabian nights. Abdullah is a carpet salesman who daydreams about a beautiful princess and palace. After he’s sold a magic carpet, he is accidentally transported to this area — and eventually must save his princess and all the princesses of all the lands. The story is fairly cliche, but it has its quirks that render it amusing and fun to read, similarly to Howl’s. About halfway through the story, a sudden twist occurs, and a familiar character shows up.
I was completely thrown off by a few of the other reveals, despite being quite cynical when reading most books. Overall, it was a fun story, and if you enjoyed Howl’s Moving Castle, I’d say it was a READ. My opinion may be colored by my love for the characters, because much like Richard and Kahlan from the Sword of Truth series, I could read about Howl, Sophie, and Calcifer in nearly any situation. Otherwise, I think it’s a READ WITH CAUTION, as it’s not without its flaws and Abdullah’s prose gets a little hard to handle.

Mediocrity Roundup 2: The Mediocrity Strikes Back

Sometimes, books just aren’t remarkable enough to validate writing an entire blog post for each one. As such, I’ve bundled a few novel reviews together into a roundup of mediocrity, perhaps at the Just OK Corral. Wow, that was a bad joke.

Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten

Yes, that’s the name. I read Meg because I saw an ad for a book later in the series called Hell’s Aquarium. I didn’t want to start in the middle of things, so I grabbed the first book. Meg is like reading a b-grade sci-fi movie, much like a Syfy Original (think Sharknado). In Meg, an ex-navy deep submersible pilot has spent the last seven years proving that megalodons could exist in the Mariana Trench in order to salvage his conscience after an unfortunate incident. Long story short, megalodons do exist and one makes it to the surface of the ocean to wreak havoc.

Meg was a fairly decent read, even if it got a bit wild and fantastical at the end (even with a plot line like I described above, it got wild and fantastical). Don’t go into it expecting an excellent work of literature; this is a movie in a book. I’ll call this one a READ WITH CAUTION for those of you like me who like ancient animals and bad movies.

Boundary Crossed by Melissa F Olsen

Boundary Crossed is your basic urban fantasy novel, where magic and magical creatures exist in a separate, secret society alongside the normal world. The main character discovers that she is a special kind of witch after thwarting a couple of vampires trying to kidnap her niece. There wasn’t anything special about the plot to this novel, and the characterization was spotty. I will hand it to the author that she tried to make the area and characters unique and real, but it fell a bit short of total success. The plot was paced far too quickly to allow for the type of development the writer seemed to want to convey. It was amusing enough, in a potato chip fiction sort of way. I’d call this another READ WITH CAUTION, as it wasn’t too bad. Borrow, don’t buy.

Dust by Jacqueline Druga

I didn’t get through the back story before putting it down. The writing style is just not my thing. In the space of two pages, the author dramatically states “It happened…” four times. She also uses single quotation marks for emphasis. RUN.

Arena One by Morgan Rice

To create this novel, I feel the author must have binge-watched and read The Hunger Games Series, The Divergent Series, and a variety of post-apocalyptic movies involving fighting arenas. The plot is simple: after the fall of society (a war between political parties involving nukes), the main character and her sister hide out in the mountains until the sister is taken to fight in massive arena battles.

I read about half of this book before I could take no more. I don’t think the author ever actually thought about the plot at all. In this world, gas lasts forever (never breaks down) and motorcycles with sidecars can regularly drive at close to 200 mph with no issues. In this world, a 17-year-old girl can flawlessly drive a motorcycle that’s been sitting for three years without being cranked at speeds of over 120 mph, sometimes up to 200 mph, on icy roads with no incidents. She can also ram fortified muscle cars with the motorcycle, flip various cars, and ram several gates with only minor injuries, over and over again.

This book is so inexplicable; I had to put it down. Why anyone looked at this plot and said “that’s reasonable” is beyond me. Books like this make me wonder just how many authors pay for reviews. RUN.

Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith

This was supposed to be an interesting take on the story of Jesus’ birth, told by an author I’ve enjoyed in the past. For some reason, however, this book didn’t quite live up to what I expected. Basically, we follow the exploits of a thief named the Antioch Ghost, who after escaping Herod’s dungeons with two fellow criminals, finds himself in a small stable in Bethlehem that is already occupied. Cue exploits loosely following history.

While I do think that it provides an interesting take of the historical aspects of politics surrounding the supposed time of Jesus’ birth, the book was just written a bit too action-esque. I felt rather like I was reading a Prince of Persia game, with odd perspective shifts (to an ibex, nonetheless). While it wasn’t bad, it was also not nearly as good as the other titles I’ve read by this author. I also thought the title was misleading. While technically, the exploits therein are not holy, the term “unholy” is associated with things of a different nature. In the end, the book tried to wax religious and philosophical, which I think was a dangerous move, but also just seemed out of place. Again, this is a READ WITH CAUTION.

So there you have it. Needless to say, I haven’t exactly been reading the cream of the crop, but some of these titles might do it for a few folks. Good luck!

Review: The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Spoiler-free Snippet

Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of The Wind is a generally well written fantasy novel. It follows the story of Kvothe, a brilliantly clever, naturally talented magic user now living as an innkeeper. The novel follows Kvothe telling a scribe his life story, so most of it takes place in the past, with a few present-day scenes. Overall, it wasn’t a bad book. There were a few parts that lingered too long, and a few parts that really didn’t need to be there, in my opinion. The entirety of the tale was interesting, but Kvothe is arrogant and makes the same mistakes again and again, despite his impressive intellect and cleverness. The book ends incredibly abruptly. If you’re looking for a standard fantasy tale with some interesting magic, I’d call The Name of The Wind a READ WITH CAUTION.

Here, There Be Spoilers

Kvothe is a man of legend, but he’s living as an innkeeper named Kote. A scribe stumbled upon Kote and his student, Bast, quickly recognizing the man as the Kvothe of legend. Drawn by a rumor, the scribe bargains with Kvothe to take down his life story. In this book, we hear of Kvothe’s beginnings as a trouper, horrible time as an urchin in Tarbean, and adventures at the University where he studies magic. Above it all lingers the tragic, unnatural death of his parents and entire troupe, committed by the mysterious, mystical Chandrian.

The major driving force in Kvothe’s life is the death of his parents and troupe, murdered by the mythical Chandrian. He is spared, but vows to search them out and destroy them. As a reader, this was a very good hook, yet it fell short as you go for about 80 percent of the book with almost no more information about all of that.

After this happens, he loses himself and eventually becomes a street urchin. While he spends three years starving and homeless, it seems that he remembers none of his magical training, stage training, or even clever survival techniques. In short, it seems all too convenient and long of a time to have him destitute in a city.

Rothfuss has a very nice writing style, in that he adds elegant descriptions to his prose without it seeming like he’s trying too hard. That being said, he picks out certain phrases that he seems particularly proud of and uses them again and again, making them lose their poetic charm. Some of his descriptions are wonderful, yet in other places he seems almost lazy. He repeatedly has the main character say that those listening to him couldn’t possibly understand something, as they have not experienced it, and then only briefly describes the person or thing.

Kvothe is arrogant, but with good reason, as he has natural talent, a sharp mind, and is really quite brilliant. This brilliance only seems accessible when it is convenient, though, leaving Kvothe making some awful, repetitive mistakes throughout the book. Rothfuss lingers on certain chapters of Kvothe’s life far beyond what I feel he should have, making them seem to drag a bit, rather than giving you a good picture of what happened and then moving on.

The storytelling fell short of what it could have been, in my opinion. Kvothe constantly deals with poverty, yet when he gets money, he always seems to find a very stupid way to lose it or spend it. He then laments this and regains money, only to lose it stupidly again. His pride and arrogance constantly contribute to his problems and poverty, yet he doesn’t seem to learn from these instances at all. He is hopelessly involved with a girl who shows up in his life randomly, yet he keeps getting into odd situations relating to her without being suspicious.

My favorite part of the book was a completely unnecessary part, where the author seemed to say “let me throw some fantasy in here!” As a single part of the novel, I quite enjoyed it, but overall, it was quite superfluous and mattered little to the story. In short, I liked it but would have liked it more had the book ended sooner.

In short, I’m not too keen on continuing the series. Rothfuss failed to hook me with his clumsy storytelling, through his writing and story elements had a lot of promise. This is a READ WITH CAUTION. Plenty of folks might like this, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Cover image courtesy http://www.cargocollective.com.

I’d like to begin this post by pointing out an important distinction. Frankenstein is the last name of the person who created the monster of the novel. For some reason, popular culture often refers to the re-animated being as Frankenstein.

My first thought upon reading this work was that the story of Frankenstein and his monster has been changed a ton for the Hollywood and pop culture versions. As with anything that is widely available through media we hear and see all our lives, it can sometimes be hard to separate the original work (a problem I discussed in my Jurassic Park review).

The novel follows an explorer who is writing letters to his sister. One day he sees a large figure driving a sledge and then not long later he finds a man named Frankenstein near death on the ice. They rescue this man and he begins to tell his story, which details the creation of the monster and the events thereafter.

Frankenstein is pretty full of himself. He is dramatic and likes to picture himself as some grand gentleman and scholar. When grief knocks on his door, he keens and flails. Quite frankly, he is in dire need of a fainting couch. I was fairly put off by this aspect of his character. Perhaps the oddest part of his behavior involved the creation of the monster. After two years of ignoring everything but his feverish work on the monster, he gives it the spark of life and is immediately freaked out. He then runs to his bedroom, spurns the monster when it shows up in his bedroom after being alive for about five minutes, and then ignores that it ever happened for the next two years.

The monster himself is largely ignored and ends up watching a family for some time. In this way, he learns to speak and read. It seems that he looks so gruesome that everyone that sees him is incapable of seeing past it, which I had a somewhat hard time understanding. I might say that the time period contributed to that, though. Over time as the monster learns that he is feared for his looks and that Frankenstein, his creator, wants nothing to do with him, he turns to vengeance and starts murdering the people Frankenstein holds dear.

The question often discussed in regards to Shelley’s work is this: who is the real monster? Frankenstein is a study in humanity and what makes us good or bad. Frankenstein pursues knowledge without real ethical thought, then spurns his creation. He later becomes obsessed with protecting his family from that creation and never truly faces up to what he is done. He then spends his life blaming the monster for his troubles and whining. Not the greatest person.

The monster begins life as a blank slate and lives in the woods. He develops a moral and ethical code based on the family he observes, who is Christian. As such, when he feels the world has turned its back on him, he knowingly violates those Christian morals. He is obsessed with approval from his creator, but attempts coercion and murder to sway him.  I’d say this defines the monster as not a good person, either.

I think the main point for me was that any person may become a monster. Sentience defines ethics. The question should truly be: are we born with an intrinsic sense of right and wrong, or is that merely a social construction? Are we brought into the world with basic moral laws intact, such as not killing fellow humans, or are these merely developments of where we live? Is the monster outside the realm of humanity?

The book had an odd style and was a little difficult to read in some aspects, as is common with older works. It was interesting in the sense of the questions is asks about humanity, as well as giving me the chance to read the real story of what happened, unobscured by Hollywood. Overall, I would say READ WITH CAUTION. Frankenstein is pretty annoying to read about, especially since the adventurer he tells his story to fawns over him. The writing might be tough for some readers.
What do you think defines a monster? Neither monster nor Frankenstein are really good examples of people, from my perspective.

Mediocrity Roundup: Three Unimpressive Reads

Though my posts have dropped off a bit recently, I’ve continued to read. Unfortunately, many of my choices have been rather lackluster, neither inspiring joy nor hatred. These books didn’t really stand out to me in any way, and merely helped to pass the time rather than enrich me. As such, I figured I’d give them a few sentences in order to potentially help you in selecting (or not selecting) them in the future.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

I got this book a year or so ago from a Humble Bundle. Basically, a teen is thrown into a near-future dystopian world and endeavors to help spread freedom throughout the increasingly paranoid country. There was too much lingo that would date the work (a common theme for Doctorow, per a friend), which I find frustrating, and it was a bit tech heavy for me. It had somewhat of a Ready Player One vibe, in the sense of technology, game-like settings, and teenaged heroes. I got tired of the characters fast, and frequently didn’t care about the main character enough to keep reading. Perhaps it was too much teen angst and confusion. As such, it was a DID NOT FINISH (at around 60%).

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

I got this book as part of the Kindle First program. A newly graduated magician is signed up to become a paper magician, supposedly the most boring of all the magics, and things ensue that prove that view wrong. The book has an astonishing amount of detail, probably because the main character is obsessively detail oriented. This was not something I enjoyed. It was fairly boring, as the reader is just waiting for the character to blossom. Suddenly, it got quite interesting with a single event, but then fell back into the tedium of a journey, unexpected (yet expected) findings, and a very cheesy love affair. It could have been a very cool book, but the story and writing were droll. I don’t really understand how the world viewed paper magic as boring anyway, which is a main concept of the book. You can create temporary organs and breathe life into inanimate paper objects. How exactly is that boring? I’d call this book a READ WITH CAUTION.

Emancipation: A Civil War Vampire Novel: Book One of the Thirsty Ones by Pauline Ray

I picked up this book for free because I saw it in a Facebook ad (the title itself should have warned me away). The Civil War is just over and the south won, thanks to the aid of vampires. Overall, it was a pretty creepy and disturbing novel. The main character is, in my opinion, crazy, and continually makes horrible decisions. All the characters are exceedingly single minded. The main character claims to be super religious and hear the voice of God, yet engages in an act that completely goes against her religious beliefs at the start of the novel and never seems to realize it. It is an interesting twist on history and it doesn’t skimp on the realities of slavery, but it is overwhelmingly brought down by a unlikeable main character. Think of an insane, hyper-religious Scarlett O’Hara and a blond, jaded, blood-drinking Rhett Butler. Some people might find the book interesting or say that the character was written well, but I just couldn’t get past the irritation I felt for them. As such, I call this book a DON’T READ.

Overall, it’s safe to say I won’t be recommending these works to people. I do, however, realize that sometimes you’re just in a reading slump, and even good books might seem bad. I sincerely hope that contributed to my thoughts about these works. Have you read anything spectacularly lackluster lately?

Catching Up: Five Micro Book Reviews

Since I haven’t been doing written reviews of what I’ve been reading, I didn’t feel that it was fair to do a write up without having freshly read the book. That being said, I’ve done a few tiny reviews that consist of my basic impressions, which should give readers a starting point for looking into (or not looking into) these books.

Hugh Howey’s Shift Omnibus:  As the second trilogy in the Silo saga, Shift follows the story of how the Silos came to be. Though not as artfully done and altogether astounding as Wool, Shift is still a good read. It is, however, thoroughly depressing. I identified a lot with one of the main characters (Donald) and was able to feel the tragedy of the events through him. In short, this is worth reading if you’ve read Wool. If you haven’t read Wool, you should. ✪✪✪✪

Faith Hunter’s Bloodring: A Rogue Mage Novel: This is the first in a series from an author that I enjoy for her Jane Yellowrock books, which I’ve reviewed on this blog before. Bloodring is set in a future where angels are real (though not what you might expect) and humans are not the Earth’s keepers. The main character is a rogue mage living outside the confines of what amounts to a mage reservation. I didn’t have the same problems some people did with aspects of the book like “mage heat.” The story wasn’t exceptionally interesting, and there were odd inconsistencies in the world and lore. I don’t plan on grabbing the second book in the series. ✪✪✪

Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone: Excellent. This book was a joy to read, from the setting to the inner workings of the story. You follow a girl through a journey of finding herself, but what she finds is fresh and unexpected. It also throws the concepts of good and evil on their heads, which is a concept I like. I recommend giving this one a read, and look forward to reading more from the series. ✪✪✪✪✪

Kiera Cass’ The Selection: As a YA dystopian novel, this one is a quite popular twist on the Cinderella story. I found it intriguing, but by the end I didn’t have enough interest to read the rest of the series. There’s an interesting caste system in place, based on the money people’s ancestors could throw at the government once upon a time. A girl is elevated beyond her means by a selection to court the prince. Of course, things aren’t as they seem. There’s a love triangle, but it just seems silly. Perhaps to the younger reader, it wouldn’t be as sappy, but for me it made me wash my hands of the book at the end. ✪✪✪

Matthew Mather’s Cyberstorm: Though touted as one of the best new science fiction books to come out, this was a Did Not Finish for me. My boyfriend read it and wanted me to read it to see if he was crazy for thinking it wasn’t good. I started in and got about 40% of the way through before I completely lost interest. The concept was decent (a cyber attack cripples life), but so far as a disaster novel, this really fell short. I cared little for the situation, much less the characters. The female characters were intolerably mewling, and the men seemed to just move heavy things about and discuss conspiracy theories. I know lots of people thought this book was excellent, but it wasn’t good enough to me to finish. DNF

In all, I haven’t read many books lately that stuck out to me too much. There have been far more than this, but these were a few that I chose to micro review. Feel free to agree or disagree, or ask questions into why I felt the way I did.

The Must Reads List, Part 1

There are tons of books to sift through out there, so I thought I’d provide a list of Must Reads.  This is all based on my opinion, of course.  These are the books that I return to, time and time again, when I need a good read.  Sometimes it can be good to re-read a book you’ve known before – especially amid a sea of inferior books.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

This recommendation can stand for the entire series, but here I focus on the first book, which shares the title.  HHGG details the journey of an Earthling as he learns about the worlds in space he never knew, all starting with a group of aliens wanting to get rid of Earth to establish an interstellar highway.  Through politics, wild parties, and imaginative places, the journey through space is always engaging and magical.

The characters are written fantastically; the whole thing is written fantastically.  Douglas Adams was a brilliant, clever man with a sense of humor that can leave you giggling to yourself.  Even just his sentence structure is witty – something I have to admire.  Certain sentences I have to read over and over again because they are so fantastic!  The style is something I try to emulate in my own writing.  I highly recommend anything he ever wrote.  Please, if you like books or reading at all, take a look at this novel.

The Book of Lost Things

This novel, by John Connolly, was one I originally picked up at a library, then went out and bought on my own.  It’s a twist on fairy tales and the coming of age of a young boy.  It is done fantastically.  We have our normal archetypes of selfish kings and wandering woodsmen, but then we also have wolves gaining intelligence and a hunter that splices together animals and children to make the best prey.  Nothing is overtly original, but it is all presented in this fresh, wonderful fashion that makes you long to be a child again. 

The writing is excellent.  I can’t recommend Connolly more, though I’ve never read his ‘detective’ novels.  He has other books written in the same style as The Book of Lost Things, including The Gates and The Infernals, which are both excellent.  If you’re looking for a story with some oomph, this is a great place to start.

World War Z

World War Z is the ultimate zombie novel, hands down.  Don’t be fooled, though – it stands as one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve ever read.  I truly believe that anyone could get into this book, because it isn’t about the zombies – it’s about the people and how humanity reacts and survives.

World War Z, by Max Brooks,  is written on the basis that someone interviews lots of people after the zombie apocalypse calms down, getting varying points of view regarding different parts of the zombie plague and aftermath.  You learn of a world that has changed irrevocably, as well as see the good and bad in humanity being put on display.  The writing is excellent, leaving nothing to be desired, and the book will make you laugh and cry.  The most important part of the novel is the questions it raises about the nature of humanity.  Perhaps the most poignant part of the novel is the fact that any of these situations could easily happen.  It is exactly how different countries and people would react, by my estimation.

 If you aren’t into zombies, this is a great novel of struggle and overcoming adversity that will suck you into each character’s story and truly experience what they felt while everything was happening.  If you like zombies, this is pretty much the Holy Grail.

I’m not in a hurry to finish this list; these are the first three books I thought of when considering what would be on my Must Read List.  I intend to re-read these books and do full reviews at some point – I don’t think they are fresh enough on my mind at the moment to give an exact, dedicated review just yet.