I continue to punch dead people...

So I've made a pretty sizeable dent in my reading list (some down time whilst traveling helps), and I'm here again with yet another author request review.

You can read my review for the first book in Jim Bernheimer's Dead Eye series, Pennies for the Ferryman. I enjoyed that one, but was really impressed with the second book in the series, The Skinwalker Conspiracies. It's a rare sequel that improves on the original in almost every way. The narrative was tighter, and while the first book sometimes seemed like a collection of (appropriately titled) episodes, the episodes in this book feel more connected and seem to do a better job of advancing the story and creating the feeling of an overarching story arc.

It helps that protagonist Mike Ross has somewhat settled into his role as the Ferryman at this point and now, rather than just learning about his new found powers, he's a man on a mission. Because of that, there's an element of suspense and urgency that permeates The Skinwalker Conspiracies that didn't really show up until the last act of the first book. Plus it still retains the sardonic gallows humor and even more wild takes on the (after)lives of the rich and famous.

Probably the best addition is instead of a collection of increasingly difficult "boss fights" Mike gets into in the first book, there's a Big Bad who looms over the entire story. I won't spoil who it is but again, students of history will enjoy these books.

This is the first audiobook I've heard read by Jeffery Kafer, and I really think he was a perfect fit for the book. For some reason his voice and performance reminds me of Nick Offerman, just at a somewhat higher pitch. He really nails the tone you would imagine the character having.

All told I really enjoyed this audiobook and highly recommend it.

-Mike, out.

Freaks and Greeks

Up next for review by author request is My Lady Olives: Maiden of Migraines by Mandy Oviatt. The lady in this case is college junior Olisbeth Mason, and no, that is not a typo. “Olives” as she is known to her friends due to her affinity for olives (the Greek references and imagery in the beginning of the book are not subtle), starts off her junior year crossing paths with a pair of twins that will do much to shape the coming events in her life: her roommate Phobe and eventually Phobe’s enigmatic brother Arthur, with whom she will become romantically entangled. Olisbeth’s primary nemesis is her severe and frequent migraines, along with a snobby college professor. But nothing in Olisbeth’s life is what it seems, not even her frequent headaches. Eventually she will learn she has the power to send her migraines telepathically to those she deems more deserving of them…and that will be the least surprising thing she discovers. 

As much as this book telegraphs a lot of the revelations, it still manages to hook you into it. A lot of this stems from dramatic visions the Olisbeth will eventually learn come from past lives. And despite the heavy foreshadowing, it still pulls off some good plot twists. Olisbeth and Arthur are probably a little to perfect as far as people go, even for Greek gods made flesh (most of us would go a little drunk with power if we could give migraines to people), but the other characters are a little more engaging. Even the romance between Arthur and Olives turns out to be less a romantic subplot and more an intricately intertwined part of the main plot.

This book’s real Achilles’ heel (yes, pun intended) is a lack of professional editing and formatting. Awkwardly worded sentences and internal monologues that aren’t clearly defined abound, particularly in the beginning.  I don’t think you have to be a grammar Nazi to be a good writer, but you’d better have a friend who is (or be willing to fork over some cash for a good professional editor). Also I tried downloading the .mobi for Kindle verision and it kept not displaying pages in the right order, so I ended up only able to read it on the Universal Book Reader app on my phone. (The UB reader app on my computer also had some issues). Self-publishing may well be the way the industry is going but this book kind of highlights some of the issues that self-published writers face and why there is still some stigma attached to it. It reads less like a polished commercial product and more like a good rough draft.

So between those two issues there were a few times I almost stopped reading the book, but the plot kept drawing me back in. Greek mythology is a considerably under-utilized source for storytelling nowadays, considering the rich universe they inhabit. The only real place I see it happening is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.

So anyway, if you like new-adult paranormal romance and Greek mythology (and can get past the editing and formatting issues),  Oviatt’s entry into the genre is worth your time and a few bucks for the e-book.

-Mike, out

Truth is stranger than fiction....

Well, I had originally planned to put this on THE EIGHTH DAY's Goodreads page under trivia but it didn't really fit there so I decided to post it here.

I've been reading some reader reviews of the book (my favorite comment so far is "a big dumb summer blockbuster movie in book form. I can't help but like it". I'll drink to that. Now if it could only become a big dumb summer blockbuster movie in movie form, I'd be in business). I won't defend the book's wild implausibility, I think that's part of the appeal of fiction is that we're not necessarily bound to reality.

That said...sometimes reality seems implausible too. And the book's most ridiculous sequence was inspired by not one but three true stories that are almost as ridiculous.

In October of 1944, 20 year old USAAF pilot Bruce Carr was shot down over Czechoslovakia. Knowing there was a German air base nearby he headed towards it, intending to surrender to the Luftwaffe rather than risk capture by the Gestapo (the Luftwaffe tended to treat downed Allied pilots reasonably well). Upon finding the airbase he noticed a lone FW-190 fighter plane being serviced by a ground crew. They left as night fell and Carr snuck over the fence and climbed into the cockpit. As dawn rose he tinkered enough with the plane that he was able to get the engine started, and had figured out enough of the controls (even though he couldn't read the German labels) to get it airborne. He drew fire from Allied positions the entire flight back to his base in France, where he belly-landed it before the base defenders could shoot him down (he had no radio to tell them he was friendly, and they likely wouldn't have believed him anyway). He was surrounded by MP’s until his CO came out, shocked to see him sitting in the cockpit of a German fighter, reportedly remarked, “Carr, where the hell have you been?” Carr would go on to score 14 kills and become one of the top-ranked aces of WWII.

"Man, I forgot to get the supplemental insurance" 

On May 28, 1987, 18 year old Mathias Rust, an inexperienced private pilot from Germany, flew a Cessna 172 into Russian airspace and boldly landed it in Red Square in downtown Moscow. Miss-communication and confusion prevented Soviet air defenses from intercepting him, and the embarrassment led to dismissal of many high-ranking officials and may have hastened the end of the Cold War. Rust was tried for “hooliganism” and served several months in prison before being released.

'sup, comrades?

Almost exactly 2 years later, 26 year old Russian air force pilot Alexander Zuyev, seeking to escape the Soviet Union (and his soon-to-be-ex-wife) drugged his squadron mates with a cake heavily infused with sleeping pills and walked out to the flight line. A mechanic saw him and tried to stop him, they struggled and Zuyev eventually shot him with a pistol, wounding him. He then hopped into his MiG-29, fired it up, and flew 150 miles to the NATO base in Trabzon, Turkey, before anyone could pursue him. He was granted asylum by the United States and immigrated to San Diego, and died in a stunt-plane crash in 2001

"You can't just fly away from your problems, Alex!" 

But he totally could, and it was awesome. 

So now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

-Mike, out. 

I punch dead people...

And now for something completely different…

Code Name Verity was a great book, but man, what a kick in the feels. So today I come to you with some much lighter fare. Today’s review is Dead Eye: Pennies for the Ferryman, the first book in Jim Bernheimer’s Ferryman Series.

Protagonist Mike Ross is born to lose. Growing up poor and eventually fatherless, his fortunes don’t improve in adulthood. His stint in the US Army is cut short by an Iraqi IED, but his troubles have barely begun once he arrives back home. To repair his damaged eye he’s given a cornea transplant, and he’s rather dismayed to find out his new eye allows him to see the dearly (and not so dearly) departed. Mike eventually learns he’s a Ferryman, someone who can see, speak to, and interact with the dead (and “interact” in this case usually means “get his ass beat”). Some of these spirits just want to cross over, and Mike is happy to help…for a small fee. Others just want to cause trouble, and trouble seems to follow Mike wherever he goes. Along the way he collects an odd assortment of allies (and enemies), from battered housewives and dead Army buddies to Union Army Generals and Supreme Court Justices.

Pennies is a fairly straight-forward story with a few good plot twists sprinkled throughout, and it’s a very  fun read. Mike has a very sardonic sense of humor, and it’s always easy to cheer for an underdog, which he’s been his whole life. He’s a Ghostbuster on a shoe-string budget; no fancy proton packs here, just a trusty pipe wrench, some iron filings, and a mean right hook. History buffs will enjoy the historical characters, from the Poe family to Union Army officers and soldiers like John Reynolds and Strong Vincent. I really enjoyed this book (and it was a nice palate cleanser after Verity), and if you like adventure fiction with a dose of the paranormal, you probably will too.

I got the audiobook for the second book in the series, The Skinwalker Conspiracies, so stay tuned and I’ll post a review of that one as well when I finish.

Pennies for the Ferryman is available on Amazon for Kindle, in paperback, and on Audible. 

-Mike, out

"I have told the truth"

Wow.

Bear with me, this may be a long and rambling post disguised as a book review. It is rare to read a piece of fiction that can strike such a chord with you, but every once in a while…

About a month or so ago I found a promotion for several audiobooks, offering the chance to download one for free. I picked Code Name Verity, the story of two young women during the middle of the Second World War.

If this sounds familiar on this blog, it is. I read Violins of Autumn earlier, and like that book, this one also centers on the British Special Operations Executive and its agents, but the two books could not be more different. Verity is the book Autumn only wishes it could be.

Codename Verity tells the story of Julie Beaufort Stewart and Maddie Broddart, two young women who could hardly be more different, yet quickly become the closest of friends. Both are members of the Royal Air Force’s Women’s Auxiliary, though both eventually find their way to the roles they were meant for: cool, aristocratic Julie (a Scot descended from no less than William Wallace (Braveheart)), who can effortlessly be anyone she wants to be, is recruited into the British SOE. Maddie, daughter of eastern European Jewsish immigrants, is one of the few pre-war women pilots in England and is eventually allowed to join the Air Transport Auxiliary, Brittan’s answer to the US WASP program. One fateful night they find themselves on an ill-fated mission to occupied France.

The first half of the book is told through a diary written by Julie as she is interrogated by the Gestapo. Her mission in France was over before it began, bailing out of a burning plane and quickly captured by the enemy, but even by these meager standards she has fared better than Maddie, based on the pictures of the wrecked plane and its remaining occupant her Nazi interrogators show her. The diary is supposedly for the Gestapo captain in charge of her interrogation, but mostly it’s a meandering narrative about her and Maddie met, and how their friendship grew, and perhaps most of all, how Maddie came to fall in love with flying.

The second half of the book comes totally out of left field and it’s an emotional roller-coaster. You’ve written off both of these girls from the very beginning, Maddie in the plane crash and Julie marked for execution, and with D-Day more than six months away you know there’s no cavalry coming. Yet the plot twists come fast and furious and author Elizabeth Wein could give a master class in suckerpunching your readers. You have forgotten that Julie is a spy, and in a spy’s world no one is who they say they  are and nothing is what it seems.

This book is a wonderful piece of genuine literature. It is beautifully written (and if you get the audiobook, which I highly recommend, beautifully narrated). I’ve heard it said that even the most articulate American sounds crass by English standards, and this book kind of makes me think whoever said it might be on to something. Though Wein is American by birth, it should come as no surprise that she’s spent much of her life in England, Scotland, and other places with significant British influence.

It should come as even less of a surprise that Wein is a pilot herself. I don’t think any non-pilot could have truly captured the love Maddie has for flight, or how magical, beautiful, exhilarating, and sometimes terrifying it can be.

I have thought much about flying lately. I’ve had a few chances to go this year, only as a passenger, but better than not being up there at all. I met a young airline pilot at a party earlier this year and realized how much I missed being surrounded by peers who share my passion. I also recently rented How to Train Your Dragon, and found it odd that it captures just how magical the notion of human flight is so much better than most of the aviation movies I’ve seen. I also now understand the people who saw Avatar and became very depressed because Pandora is not a real place, I feel the same about Toothless. As an animal lover and an aviator I would love a pet that combines the loyalty of a dog, the playfulness of a cat, and the maneuvering characteristics and firepower of a F-35 J

About a month ago I was manning a recruiting booth for the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Aviation program at a local Women Can Fly event, and I thought of Maddie as I saw these young girls stream in and out of the building. You could quickly tell who had just been up for a ride, see it in their faces. One girl and her father came up to talk to me, she couldn’t have been more than a freshman in high school, and said she wanted to be a pilot in the Coast Guard when she graduated from college. It is heartening to see how far we have come; yet disheartening to see how long it has taken. Women have been pilots for almost as long as there have been pilots, yet they still make up less than ten percent of the pilot population. They even today, in 2014, face outright sexism that would not be tolerated in virtually any other arena. People seem to think there is some magical quality one needs to be a pilot, and while they’re wrong about the specifics, they’re not wrong in general. It’s a quality that transcends race, sex, creed, or religion: It’s love. Love of flying.

“But it ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say.”

“I do. But I like to hear you say it”

“Love. You can learn all the math in the 'Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.”

(-Malcom Reynolds and River Tam, Serenity)

I’ve flown with men who have flown in places I have only read about in the history books: Guadalcanal; The Chosin Reservoir; Hanoi. I have flown with men who have flown counter-narcotics in Central America in a 4-engine piston plane, where 100 feet above the ground was considered “too high”. I have flown with men who have flown rescue aircraft into superstorms so others may live. Yet probably the best pilot I have ever flown with was a young woman, just a few years older and a few hundred hours more experienced than me. She was one of my instructors at school, and it was her passion for flying that showed through in every aspect of everything she did. That passion was relentless, and it made her relentless. When she wasn’t flying (6 days a week weather permitting), she was in the maintenance hanger, soaking up every bit of knowledge about each of the different types of aircraft we flew. She was very demanding, of herself and her students, and that meant sometimes she was a royal pain to fly with and learn from, but I never learned more, or was a better pilot, than when I was flying with her. Yet despite all her professionalism and just generally being a hard-ass, there was no hiding her exuberance that came from flying, like her giddiness when we (flying a light piston twin) received ATC instruction to reduce speed to follow a Citation private jet on approach (“Dude! We just got told to slow down to follow a jet!”)

My point in this rambling mess is that aviation should be the most, not the least, inclusive community in the world. We have all looked up at the sky, at the birds, and wondered what it’s like in their world. Those of us who know have been granted a special privilege, and we should extend a welcome invitation to all who want to join us.

Also, Codename Verity was a very good book and you should go read it J

 -Mike, out.

THE EIGHTH DAY is coming to Audible and iTunes!

Hey All

UPDATE: The audiobook is now available! Check it out at Audible, Amazon, or iTunes! You don't need to be an Audible member to buy it off Audible but there is a discount if you are. In two months I will be starting a promotion for anyone interested in an Audible membership, check back for updates!

Big news! I inked a deal yesterday with Reel Audiobooks to produce the audio book version of THE EIGHTH DAY! I love audiobooks and am very excited about this project. Reel has produced books for authors like Homer Hickam (October Sky) and Jason Mott (The Returned, which Brad Pitt's production company Plan B adapted for television, now showing as ABC's freshman drama Resurrection). Narrator Robert Martinez brings over 20 years of voice acting experience to the project, and I loved his audition tape! You can listen to a sample below:

The project should be completed mid summer. Check here for updates! 

-Mike, out.

Offworld, reviewed

The first four people on Mars end up being the last four people on earth in Robin Parrish’s Offworld. On the way home from their successful mission to Mars, the crew of the Ares mission mysteriously lose contact with Earth two months out from their arrival. Barely surviving a harrowing re-entry, they are shocked to discover….nothing. Not one living thing, human or animal, at the entire Kennedy Space Center complex. Security footage shows that one second everyone was there…and the next they were gone.

What follows is a harrowing journey across country towards Houston, Texas, where satellite imagery shows an inexplicably bright light emanating from, something that must be connected to the disappearance of the whole world. And as the obstacles between them and their destination grow more treacherous, they soon realize they’re not as alone as they thought…

I liked this book. It’s an imaginative spin on the post-apocalypse genre, and it’s very quick paced and action-packed. It will also keep you guessing until the very end. The book has religious undertones but they are done with expert subtlety, it feels very organic to the story and never gets preachy. In fact there’s a line I particularly liked in the book that goes something along the lines of “Everywhere I look in the world I see poetry. And the thing about poetry…it doesn’t write itself.”

My one complaint is that that the four main astronaut characters seem flat. Can't put my finger on exactly why, they just seemed kinda bland. The book was a fun enough read I didn’t really care, but for some reason I just found them hard to get invested in.

Offworld isn’t a YA book but it’s an easy enough read that high schoolers should have no trouble with it. It’s available for Kindle and in paperback. 

Katya's World, reviewed

Tonight I review my new favorite YA book:

 

Fifteen year old Katya Kuriakova is a resident of Russalka, a water covered planet colonized several centuries into the future exclusively by people from central Russia. Since it’s covered by oceans ,the inhabitants live entirely in underwater settlements and move about by submarine. Russalka is one of several planets colonized by Earth. The Terrans (people from Earth) and the Russalkans had a falling out that led to a short, brutal shooting war that ended abruptly when the Terrans suddenly and mysteriously disengaged and left.

Katya is a fledgling navigator on her uncle Lukyan’s transport sub when they are commandeered to transport a suspected pirate, Haviland Kane, to prison. But there is much more to Kane than meets the eye, and they will all have to form an uneasy alliance to survive the dangers of the deep. Because in the uncharted depths of Russalka, here be monsters. Possibly man-made….possibly not…

I loved this book. Nevermind it’s a whole planet populated by Russian submariners, the action is non-stop, the world-building well-done, and characters decently fleshed out. Kayta has no love interest, in fact she’s the only non-adult in the book. The science is very accessible and reasonably well grounded.

If you’re a human being who can read and like action-packed stories, you’ll probably enjoy this book. I know I did.

Mike, Out.

The Violins of August, reviewed

Howdy all

Well, in honor of Valentine's Day, here's a book with a teen heroine and a love triangle set largely in the City of Love:

In The Violins of Autumn, Adele and Denise are two young women visiting Paris and the surrounding countryside, taking in the sights, visiting French cafes, and falling in love. Doesn’t sound like my usual fare, does it? Well, all is not what it seems. The year is 1944, and Adele and Denise are members of the British Special Operations Executive, a paramilitary force that served behind enemy lines in World War II. They are tasked with aiding French resistance fighters hindering the German forces prior to the coming Allied invasion at Normandy, and when Adele isn’t torn between a French resistance fighter and a downed American fighter pilot, she’s tearing the Nazis a new one via espionage and sabotage.

Violins of Autumn isn’t particularly memorable, but it’s an enjoyable way to kill a few hours (it’s a very quick read). Author Amy McAuley seems to have done her homework, and the book celebrates some unsung heroes, the few women who fought behind the frontlines against the Axis for the Western powers (there were 55 female SOE agents, 13 of whom were KIA or died in captivity).

-Mike, out.

FAKE ID, reviewed

Howdy all

So, a little over a week ago I was browsing my Facebook newsfeed when a sponsored post appeared, advertising a local YA author's book launch at a nearby Barnes and Noble. The book, FAKE ID by Lamar Giles, was advertised as part YA mystery thirller, part family drama, and I admit the premise alone intrigued me. Plus, as I thought to myself, no one ever came to the book signings I ever did, so I should go to either comiserate or see what he's doing right.

As it turns out, Giles is doing a lot of things right, most important among them writing a taunt, action-packed YA thriller that should have plenty of appeal to guys and gals alike. FAKE ID grabs your attention from the begining and doesn't let go until the very end, keeping you guessing until the last twist that you never see coming.

The basics: Nick Pearson and his mom and dad have just moved to Stepton, Virginia. Except Nick Pearson isn't his real name. Nick and his family are in Witness Protection, after Nick's dad turned state's evidence on his boss, gangster Kreso Maric. With Maric on the run, Nick and his family have been moving around the country under federal protection for the last 4 years, and his dad just can't seem to stay out of trouble.

But trouble has a way of following Nick, starting with a run-in with the school bully on his first day at school. Rescue comes from an unlikely source in the form of Eli Cruz, the school's resident journalist. But in a month's time Eli will be dead, and he won't be the last to die. It falls to Nick to unravel the mystery, and all he has to go on is the codename of Eli's last investigation....Whispertown.

I think one of the hardest part of writing YA fiction as an adult is making everything feel authentic and organic. Giles makes it look easy. I can't quite describe his writing style, but I like it. The book flows very well, and in addition to being an entertaining story, it's very well written. I highly reccomend it.

FAKE ID is out now for Kindle, in hardcover, and as an audiobook.

-Mike, out.

Cat Outta Hell!

Hey Everyone!


Just a quick note today. Aircraft Resource Center, one of the preeminent scale modeling sites on the web, ran an article today on my F-14 model featured on the new cover of THE EIGHTH DAY. Head over there if you want to learn more about the model and see some exclusive photos!


http://www.arcair.com/Gal13/12701-12800/gal12785-F-14-ONeal/00.shtm


-Mike, out

Re: Your braaiinnnssss...

Special treat today, boys and girls. The Kindle edition of THE EIGHTH DAY is now live (so if you were waiting for that to get an e-book copy, go download one now), and here’s a backstage peak at how the cover was made:

Also today is a review of a book I’ve been meaning to post for the last 6 months or so, and it’s been out for a long time, so I’m pretty late to the party.

Max Brook’s oral history of the zombie apocalypse is a new American classic. It’s the book equivalent of The Dark Knight, taking a ridiculous concept and making a genuine piece of art out of it. Much as I do love reading off my Kindle or a good old fashioned paperback, for this one I’m going have to recommend the movie-edition audiobook. The book is so well written, and the voice acting so superb, by the end you feel like you have just had something recounted that actually happened, which is crazy considering how different the world is at the end of Brook’s book from ours. The book is read by a full cast with some big names: Martin Scorsese, Mark Hamill, Nathan Fillon, Alan Alda, the list goes on, and the talent shows through. Structured very differently than a traditional novel, we hear the story of the Zombie war from those who lived it at every level, from civilian survivors to Army grunts to world leaders, and at every phase, from Patient Zero to the initial panic to the US Army’s eventual long march to retake the country. I also really like how there’s no magic “thing” that leads to a climax, no magic cure to be found, just a long, bloody, determined military campaign and the retooling of what’s left of America to support the war effort, in a manner very reminiscent of WWII.   

In world building it’s the details that matter, and Brooks nails it here. From the nicknames the soldiers come up with for the swarms of undead, like “Zach” or “G’s”, to the tales of war-profiteering, political incompetence, and celebrity privilege run amok, World War Z creates an immersive atmosphere more believable than even the ripped-from-the-headlines (or more eerily, predicting the headlines in some cases) Clancy-esque thrillers I generally favor.  So if you haven’t done so, go check it out!

P.S. Haven’t seen the movie yet but I hear the only thing the book and the movie have in common is the title, so no movie cliff notes for you!

-Mike, Out.