The Book Plank

Media Alert: Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods Finally I may share this amazing book trailer for Mario Routi's final book in his Rebecca Newton series. Enjoy!  more information: Rebecca and her family face their greatest challenge yet in this epic battle between good and evil. It all ends here! The Forces of Evil are poised to invade not only the Land of the White Sun, but also the Elysian Fields, home of the Gods – and now they have the power to throw human civilisation back into the Dark Ages.  Princess Rebecca  and her family  face  monumental battles in their attempts to defeat the massed forces of Evil, and the only way she can save mankind is by revealing herself to them. Her daughter, t he young Oracle Leylah,  falls in love with Prince Alexander, grandson of Hercules, but soon things are going very wrong between them. The fate of the entire universe rests on confused Leylah’s shoulders, as she travels with Ale...

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley, Lightspeed Magazine Issue 66 [no synopsis provided]  Kameron Hurley is far from a stranger in the Fantasy world. Being the bestselling author of the Bel Dame series and her most recent Epic Fantasy series the Worldbreaker series. Earlier this year I read a short story by Kameron Hurley, Elephants and Corpses which blew me away. So when I found out that Lightspeed Magazine reprinted one of her stories. What else was there left to do! The Light Brigade definitely picks up with one of the catchiest introductions. Stating that the war has turned them into light and that light is the fastest way to travel. You have to take this last bit very literal. People have literally been turned into light making them heroes. Because aliens once took over in a more than hostile way and this was the only way to fight them. In this introduction you meet a young man who turned from being a soldier into an light hero. There is something very unique to this sto...

Media Alert: Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods Rebecca and her family face their greatest challenge yet in this epic battle between good and evil. It all ends here! The Forces of Evil are poised to invade not only the Land of the White Sun, but also the Elysian Fields, home of the Gods – and now they have the power to throw human civilisation back into the Dark Ages. Princess Rebecca and her family face monumental battles in their attempts to defeat the massed forces of Evil, and the only way she can save mankind is by revealing herself to them. Her daughter, t he young Oracle Leylah, falls in love with Prince Alexander, grandson of Hercules, but soon things are going very wrong between them. The fate of the entire universe rests on confused Leylah’s shoulders, as she travels with Alexander to planet Earth to learn to control her powers. While the forces of Evil prepar e to invade from Tartarus , Zeus gather s the Gods and ancient Heroes to defend the Sacred...

Wooden Feathers by Ursula Vernon  [no synopsis provided]  Wow. That is all I can say. Wow. I actually made up my top 5 favorite short fiction stories for the round up post of the year earlier this week but it seems I need to do some revision...  The story of  Wooden Feathers focuses on the protagonist Sarah who works at a flea market making wooden carvings. The business isn't going all that great. Her carvings are the worst of the three wood carvers present. This negativity influences her whole thinking of herself. However Sarah does have one regular customer who comes in every week to by a new duck carving. Sarah has never known his name, until her friend Rauf mentions his name. It is Jep. Eventually Sarah's curiosity takes over and she confronts Jep with starting to ask question. Mainly because Rauf told her that Jep was once a famous woodcarver himself. Maybe Jep can help her become better. Well if only. Jep only confirms that Sarah's wood car...

The Shootout Solution by Michael R. Underwood, Genrenauts #1  Leah Tang just died on stage.  Not literally.  Not yet. Leah's stand-up career isn't going well. But she understands the power of fiction, and when she's offered employment with the mysterious Genrenauts Foundation, she soon discovers that literally dying on stage is a hazard of the job!  Her first job takes her to a Western world. When a cowboy tale slips off its rails, and the outlaws start to win, it's up to Leah - and the Genrenauts team - to nudge the story back on track and prevent major ripples on Earth. But the story's hero isn't interested in winning, and the safety of Earth hangs in the balance... There are a few themes in book that really work wonders. Stories that focus on alternate dimensions of fiction, or that deal with librarian with supernatural powers. I read the works of Jasper Fforde, Genevieve Cogman, I started with the Bookburners led by Max Gladstone and there is plenty more...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter #4  It is the summer holidays and soon Harry Potter will be starting his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is counting the days: there are new spells to be learnt, more Quidditch to be played, and Hogwarts castle to continue exploring. But Harry needs to be careful - there are unexpected dangers lurking ... One thing that Harry Potter hadn't dared to dream off with his wildest imagination three years ago was that he is a wizard. Harry has so far survived three very eventful years at Hogwarts but the summer holidays are quite the bore. Last year, Harry found out that his godfather Sirius Black was wrongfully convicted of a crime. He met Wormtail, one of Voldemort's followers. The ending of the third year was an all end well one, however it left some people shaken.  And thus we come to Harry's fourth year. Which begins well, eventful. Because the Quidditch world cup is to...

Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed , Star Wars The bravest soldiers. The toughest warriors. The ultimate survivors. Among the stars and across the vast expanses of space, the Galactic Civil War rages. On the battlefields of multiple worlds in the Mid Rim, legions of ruthless stormtroopers—bent on crushing resistance to the Empire wherever it arises—are waging close and brutal combat against an armada of freedom fighters. In the streets and alleys of ravaged cities, the front-line forces of the Rebel Alliance are taking the fight to the enemy, pushing deeper into Imperial territory and grappling with the savage flesh-and-blood realities of war on the ground. Leading the charge are the soldiers—men and women, human and nonhuman—of the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry, better known as Twilight Company. Hard-bitten, war-weary, and ferociously loyal to one another, the members of this renegade outfit doggedly survive where others perish, and defiance is their most power...

A Kippled Meal by Daniel Polansky and Lawrence M. Schoen When the idea of having Lawrence M. Schoen and Daniel Polansky write together came up, it seemed an unlikely match.  Daniel’s  The Builders  is a tale of of bloody revenge and razor sharp wit, while Lawrence’s  Barsk  is a story of prophecy, the afterlife and deep pathos. Then we looked again and realized that  Barsk  features sentient, genetically engineered post-elephants as protagonists, and   The Builders  has a star studded cast of anthropomorphic desperados. Of course! Each authors’ characters are sympathetic and human-like, but the choice of creature matters, revealing key character- and world-building details. “A Kippled Meal,” the result of their collaboration, is a meditation on the nature of various idealized animals.   I have been a big fan of Daniel Polansky ever since the Low Town series. Just about a few weeks back I read his latest short story. The Buil...

Author Interview with Patrick S. Tomlinson Author bio: Patrick S. Tomlinson is the son of an ex-hippie psychologist and an ex-cowboy electrician. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a menagerie of houseplants in varying levels of health, a Ford Mustang, and a Triumph motorcycle bought specifically to embarrass and infuriate Harley riders. When not writing sci-fi and fantasy novels and short stories, Patrick is busy developing his other passion for performing stand-up comedy. You can find Patrick online at his website: www.patrickstomlinson. com , on Twitter @stealthygeek  and on  Facebook . -------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Patrick, welcome over at The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions for us!  BP: First off, can you give us a short introduction of who Patrick S. Tomlinson is? What are your hobbies, likes and dislikes? PT: Patrick S. Tomlinson is an author/comedian about yay high wh...

Flash Author Query with James A Moore If you have followed this blog you know that I am a big fan of the Seven Forges series of James A. Moore, having read the first two books and the featured the short stories in my Short Fiction Friday feature. The City of Wonders was released earlier this month and therefore it was time to catch up with James.  Hi James, welcome back to The Book Plank for another interview! BP: first off can you give us a short introduction as to who James A. Moore is? What are you hobbies likes and dislikes? JM:  Thanks  for having me back! Well, to start off, I’m a voracious reader. That is to say I love reading and if I had the time in the day I would read a book a day. As it stands it’s more like a book a week because I have two jobs. Aside from that I occasionally like to sculpt, I like watching TV and I have a full time day job, partially to stop me from becoming a hermit. BP: Your Seven Forges series is doing mightily...