Winners of the Paperback Giveaway

In the drawing announced in the post

My Decluttering Means a Chance for You to Win

the following individuals have won a signed paperback.

Congratulations!

Book Review: Blaze of Glory by Ryan Krol

An Interesting Story Written in an Unusual Style

First person omniscient? That’s a narrator, sometimes the protagonist as in this book, who not only knows everything he/she is thinking but the thoughts of every other character. I can’t say I’ve read many books like that, but Jimmy Buckman, the protagonist of Blaze of Glory knows all! “I wasn’t surprised that he knew my name. Neither was Robert nor Downing.” And while that sounds like an optimal point of view, I found it quite distracting. One minute, Buckman is recounting his thoughts. The next, he’s reading everyone’s mind around him. If you want to give it a try, check out this book.

Point of view aside, Blaze of Glory is an interesting tale. Jimmy Buckman is a rancher, turned gunslinger of sorts when the villain, Lone Pine Jack Maddux tries to steal the gold he believes Buckman’s father has left him. Actually, there isn’t any gold; it’s just a family legend that Buckman has failed to keep secret. And though Buckman, his son, Robert, and his friends get the better of Maddux during the confrontation, they flee and Maddux burns the ranch. (Frankly, I had some trouble following the logic of Buckman having the upper hand against Maddux and then leaving the ranch to be destroyed, but took it as a literary gimme.) After that, Buckman and son join up with friends and they go after the gold so Buckman can start anew. Maddux pursues him, setting up potentially deadly confrontations along the route, although why Maddux didn’t just wait for Buckman to return with the gold is another mystery to me.

All of this story is being recounted some thirty-seven years after it occurred when a reporter interviews Buckman. Maddux shows up at the interview and scenes with lots of traded glares and veiled threats ensue. Of course, if you think about it—Buckman’s son was 17 during the original story, meaning Buckman was mid-to-late 30s. So, during the later interview, which occurred in 1906, you have two 70+ year-olds snarling at each other in a time when life expectancy was under 50. It’s not impossible, although that perspective changed my image of the scene considerably.

Though interesting, the story had several weaknesses in its telling. For one, the language didn’t seem appropriate to the era or the rancher/gunslinger character: “I thought it would be more beneficial to adapt to the darkness and let the moonlight take over as the spotlight.” There were quite a few typos and internal inconsistencies: “Downing managed to kill Charlie McGwire, and I got Gus Davis.” Then later, Buckman says, “Never in my life had I killed anyone ….” Terminology was used inappropriately or at least in unusual ways; Buckman often "parks" his horse, for example. Additionally, perhaps due to the author’s background in film, the text often includes detailed movements of every character. “So, Elizabeth, Whitewater, Wind Runner, Timmy, and I all dismounted.” A few sentences later, “Kaiba then led the way as Elizabeth, Robert, Whitewater, Wind Runner, Timmy, and I all followed Kaiba to his hut.” And a few more sentences, “Meanwhile, Elizabeth, Robert, Whitewater, Wind Runner, Timmy, and I all sat in the hut ….” That style hurts the story’s pace. The dialog is similar, where nearly every statement is attributed to a specific person. True, attributing statements is a balancing act—too many slow the pace, too few can be confusing—but for my tastes, the book was on the “too many” side of the issue.

Overall, Blaze of Glory is an interesting story told in an unusual style. The writing, however, ends up feeling somewhat plodding because action and dialog are told in low-level detail more than shown in the flow of the plot and through different voices of the characters.

See on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3hMBSAp

(I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)

Book Review: 5 Clones by Edward Bonilla

Questioning the Nature of Humanity in an Eerily Familiar Dystopian Future

Although this book is not listed as dystopian fiction, it should be. The future world depicted in 5 Clones is bleak and yet, it’s eerily familiar. Take all of the tensions of recent life in America—the pandemic, racial unrest, isolationism, climate change—and let them linger (the pandemic) or worsen dramatically (all the rest). Drought and fires rage out of control in parts of the United States; other areas are devastated by floods. The United States government trusts no one, as the rest of the world (and many ethnicities) become “outsiders” to be avoided at best, destroyed at worst. Then, have California and Texas succeed from the union in response, drawing the ire of the remaining “New Federal Union”. Embargoes by the NFU produce shortages in food, gas, and information in these new nations, further pushing America as we know it toward self-destruction. At the same time, science advances, producing (as is often the case), a breakthrough with great possibilities for good and an equal or even greater potential for evil. It’s the stuff that causes civil wars … and produces great stories.

Amid this social and political upheaval, we have Dan, a Mexican-American farmer who has cloned himself to provide a source of cheap labor. (No, this isn’t the technology at the crux of the NFU/California rift, although it could be). Dan just wants to sell his clones and make a new start. Things, however, are never as simple as they seem and soon, he’s helping a mysterious woman he comes across in the desert and whatever goals she has for a world turned upside down.

Author Bonilla slowly answers the questions you’ll be asking yourself as a reader—who is this woman Dan has befriended, why are people trying to kill them, where is Dan’s family, how cognizant are the clones, or even, who is Dan? As a literary technique, a slow reveal has both advantages and disadvantages. When complete, I felt satisfaction (relief?) in understanding all the pieces. And some of these are deeper issues, e.g., the nature of humanity and awareness. But the journey to that point sometimes felt meandering. More than halfway through the book, I was wondering if it was just a collection of interesting, although largely unrelated anecdotes from a possible future? And it didn’t help that many of the stories are flashbacks but without any indication that the events occurred in the past. However, to the author’s credit, all the threads are neatly tied up by the book’s end.

Overall, 5 Clones paints a bleak but largely familiar picture of the future. Themes are developed slowly but stick with it; the end is worth the suspense.

See on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3eyl6mR

(I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)

Something for Your Eyes or Your Ears

Whether you like reading or listening, we have you covered with Of Half a Mind at 99 cents for the eBook or $2.99 or less for the audiobook.

When you talk to yourself, there’s only one voice. When you look at something in your mind’s eye, there’s but one image.

Psychologist Sam “Doc” Price and his colleagues had always held those principles to be true … at least under normal circumstances. But as they studied the work of a brilliant but troubled neuroscientist, they discovered a device that created a reality that was anything but normal. And when they had unraveled its mysteries, the only question that remained was, could they survive the brutal truth?

eBook: https://bit.ly/38cat4K

Audiobook options

Author's direct: https://bit.ly/36qGgPi

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3pBjGuJ

Chirp: https://bit.ly/2NYFVgh

Google Play: http://bit.ly/3czbeZa

Apple: https://apple.co/3eHOxkY

Nook: https://bit.ly/32WFaIN

Prices good now to May 12.

Unless you can time travel too ....

Then, you’ll need to enter this Dr. Who giveaway soon!

Prizes include: Print copies of Doctor Who: The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter, Doctor Who: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead: Time Lord Victorious by Stephen Cole, Doctor Who: Scratchman by Tom Baker, a signed edition of The Binge Watcher’s Guide to Doctor Who by Mackenzie Flohr, and more!

Enter for your chance to win:  http://bit.ly/DWAllonsy

The Challenges of the Future

Environments destroyed? Societies broken? Aliens taking over the world?

It's these authors best (imaginative) guesses as to the challenges today's youth might face in the future. And the best part? These stories are all free in April with a newsletter signup.

https://storyoriginapp.com/to/u61IwEv

My Decluttering Means a Chance for You to Win

With opportunities for face-to-face giveaways virtually nil last year, I have several books I should move to make room for my new release. I have the following to give away:

• Three copies of In the Space of an Atom 
• Three copies of Of Half a Mind 
• Two copies of Mind in Chains
• One copy of Killer in the Retroscape (marked as proof on the outside - something that Amazon has started doing.)

Toward finding them a home, any new subscriber from the United States between now and May 10 will be entered into a drawing for one of these paperbacks. (Sorry, but international postage costs are prohibitive.)

I'll randomly select 9 winners on May 11 and announce the winners here on the blog.

If you'd like a chance to win, subscribe here:  https://bit.ly/2MVHdCk