The world forgets evil exists even as it creeps over the land. You must stand firm. You do not have to wait for the day evil is to come. That day has already passed.
The war has begun! Among the Shadows: Watchers of the Light Book 1
Paperback at Amazon.com:
And, of course, the e-book for Kindles is here.
What was locked in shadow now stirs, and where darkness has laid dormant, evil awakes.
Where I was born, only dust remains. My home was put to the fire, thousands of years ago. Mound of the Dead, that is what they call it now.
Since the age of the Scourges, I have served the Darkness and my master, Ahriman. A shadowmancer of the Dark One, his servant on this broken world.
In the shadows we have seethed; crafted malice that people believe to be only myth. It is to our advantage that they don’t see the rot and decay around them. Once they realize, it will be too late for all of them. What lays dormant, now awakes.
I am Rajnai. I am darkness and all in the Light will fall before me. This is their end.
Among the Shadows: Watchers of the Light Book 1
[Photo used under license from Shutterstock.com.]
Anyone can write. At least I suspect that is what some people probably think. It’s true as far as it goes, and anyone can get published in today’s electronic age. Yet not everyone does write, and most of those who do, realize it can be time-consuming and difficult. Difficult doesn’t mean unenjoyable. Difficult means the authors who take it seriously — and most do — treat it like the craft it is. They are always learning, improving and not in a rush to get words out there. The toughest part of this process is the editing phase (at least I think so). Continue reading
James Bond. Doc Savage. Indiana Jones. MacGyver. All guys who seemed to have unlimited resources and unlimited adventures. All owe something to the pulp action stories of yesteryear — with Doc Savage being one of the icons of that era.
Now we have Gabriel Hunt.
The Gabriel Hunt series is an attempt to bring back the pulp action hero by the folks at Hard Case Crime who have almost single-handedly brought back this genre (now published by Titan Books). With a premise of Hunt being “backed by the resources of the $100 million Hunt Foundation and armed with his trusty Colt revolver,” how can you go wrong?
The series is fast-paced escapism as Hunt travels the world in search of lost places, deadly ancient mysterious and Bond-esque villains at every turn. And, of course, Hunt is quite the lady’s man.
Unfortunately, the series only went six volumes. Recently re-released (although not with the original pulp-art covers), maybe the Hunt Foundation will return? Perhaps Hunt can save us from too much “heavy handed message fic” — not that we want to check out from the issues of society, but sometimes escapist fiction can teach us a thing or two.
Like that we need a few more Hunts, Savages and MacGyvers in the world.
So I ran across The 5000 Year Leap, subtitled A Miracle That Changed the World: Principles of Freedom 101, at a book sale. Here, in one volume, is an accessible volume on the principles that went into writing the U.S. Constitution. The chapter I opened today reads:
3rd Principle: The Most Promising Method of Securing a Virtuous and Morally Stable People is to Elect Virtuous Leaders
Isn’t that a novel idea?
Author Ren Garcia tries to answer the allusive question of where authors get their creativity:
Creativity is a very personal thing. Where a person draws inspiration from will differ. I suppose, for me, creativity is a result of everything I’ve ever seen, read, watched, smelt, tasted and felt. For those with a creative persuasion these things stay in your head; you dream and ponder about them. It’s also based in all the things you love, you’ve hated, been confused by, been afraid of … everything sort of stirred together over time like a vat of hot butter in the basin of your brain continuously churned, and then recycled into something sort of like what you’ve experienced, but different. Sometimes these images linger in my head for years, slowly evolving over time before I insert them into my books. Lt. Kilos was one such character. I saw her in my thoughts for a long time, initially a banana blonde, in a colonial uniform holding a gun. Eventually the rough-and-tumble lady from Tusck spilled out onto the page, though quite a bit different than what I’d dreamed of. Things always turn out different once you get to writing.
As issues of race dominate the news, H.G. Ferguson writes in Playing the Race Card on how authors should approach this:
We should write about people, not race, regardless of genre, and avoid the stereotyping and, if I may be so bold, true racism that can occur when we do not…Three films speak to this question in a powerful way: Dances with Wolves (1990), Unconquered (1947), and The Last of the Mohicans (1992).
In Dances with Wolves we are treated to a presentation of “truth.” Every single Native person is portrayed as good…every single non-Native person apart from Dunbar and Stands with a Fist is depicted as either stupid, evil, or insane. This viewpoint, in a word, is a lie. Not all Native Americans of that era were good people, and not every non-Native person was evil. Why? Because people are people, and some are good and some are not. That is the truth.
Continue reading
In my review of travel adventure books, we have searched for Sheba and explorers of the New World. We have also disappeared into the jungles of Latin America on the trail of lost cities. Now we will return to uncovering the ancient world.
Mark Adams set a benchmark for travel adventure lit with his Turn Right at Machu Picchu. This fish-out-of-water follows the trail of legendary explorer Hiram Bingham who brought Machu Picchu, the hidden Inca mountain refuge, to the world’s attention. A perfect combination of Adams’ travails and history — every bit a page turner as a novel.
Adams followed this adventure up with Meet Me in Atlantis. Here he tries to hunt down the true experts of the legendary lost city, among a field known for, how should I put it, fringe thinkers. His hunt leads to many possibilities, and even though not as much adventuring as his first book, it is a refreshing change to the libraries full of bizarre Atlantis speculations.
Now we turn to David Roberts‘ The Lost World of the Old Ones where he continues his many years of hiking off-trail into the Southwest. Readers will be amazed at how much lies undiscovered and unknown about the civilizations that once populated these states. Roberts chronicles the politics, history and conflicting visions that have attempted to preserve the past — not always successfully. A fascinating and entertaining account that will remind people that United States has its own lost civilization still waiting for discovery
No other species approaches what man has done. While the dolphins were still swimming in the sea, man was building pyramids. When the monkeys still hid in the treetops, man was landing on the Moon. And yet it is said we have forgotten our full potential. In a age long past, man could see further. The veil was not so dark. What he could do became legend. What he saw became myth. There are those, however, who have remembered who they are and what exists around them.
Some have embraced the Light. Others, the Darkness.
I have walked among the ruins, seen the shades and fought the horrors that lurk in the shadows. I control life around me. The blades surge with power. A mother, a wife. A defender, a warrior. Loving, lethal.
I am Milena. An Arc Maiden. A Watcher. The Darkness will flee from me.
Among the Shadows: Watchers of the Light Book 1
[Photo used under license from Shutterstock.com.]
Less and less on television holds my attention. Repetition, little creativity and stories that don’t go anywhere. And I’m always asking myself, “Isn’t there something else I could be doing?” So, halfway through last year’s television season, I gave up on what few shows I was watching. There was one big exception, Amazon’s excellent A Man in The High Castle. Now, another gem of a find, AMC’s Turn:
Spies. Revolutionaries. War.
Where can you get this on network tv?
Darrick Dean 