Review: The Thirteenth Hour

The Thirteenth Hour by Trudie Skies
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review which is a fair estimate of my experience with the book. I picked it up because it was a SPFBO finalist. That contest generally provides some good reading.

I'm not partial to steam punk, but this book had a ton of potential. That potential was wasted.

In this world, everyone is tied to one of 12...well 13...gods. Their lives are ruled by the whims to those gods. When they die, their souls return to the gods who then are able to experience those "human" lives.

There is a hub that is called Chime. Each of the domains of those 12 deities is tied to Chime. In theory, the gods cannot meddle in Chime. In theory, the humans (sort of) can be "recalled" from Chime back to their deity by praying to that deity and thereby attracting the deity's focused attention. This recall is called "death", because that is what happens.

There are other rules. I guess they make sense within the context of the book.

Chime is split into three levels. The top level is reserved for the upper class. The mid-level is reserved for the upper class and associates. The lower level is reserved for most everyone else. A lot of lower class folks want to dissociate from the gods.

As the title suggests, there is a 13th god. The book is the tale of those lower class folks, how they seek to liberate themselves from the gods, and the discovery of the 13th god.

The story is pretty good. There are a few plot holes. Two major ones being the focus and tolerance of class-based biases by everyone involved, and the fact that no one leaves Chime for the hinterlands. They all just accept that they have to stay close to Chime.

No one opts to ignore classes. No one opts to head for the hills.

Other plot holes include the invisible

The book leads off with a strong anti-capitalist vibe that suggests that capitalism causes slavery (or some sort of compulsory servitude). Capitalism is the single strongest motivator against slavery.

The book also features a bit of gender identitarian nonsense. It isn't enough to get in the way of the story, but it's still there.

If you like steam punk, acceptance of class-based structures, and a surfeit of tea, then this book is probably for you.

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Review: American Paladin

American Paladin by Larry Correia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3.5 star review which is a fair appraisal of my experience with the book. But Goodreads doesn't allow 3.5 stars. So why did I go with 3?? I acquired the book via the author's Kickstarter campaign.

Here we go. The book is centered around Mike Spears. As a teen, he went to "the other side" or "the other world". A world populated by people who would make the Aztecs and their murderous religious practices seem almost peaceful. Normal people are kept as slaves there. Used for labor, food, and/or religious sacrifices based on the whims of the "gods" and those who worship them.

There are other creatures there as well. Equally dangerous and perhaps a bit more so.

Mike randomly made it back to our world and lost his family, lost his girlfriend, and lost pretty much every human/family connection in the process. He now lives and trains for the day when he encounters the monsters from the other world again.

We pick up with Mike after he has spent years training, wandering from place to place, and killing the human monsters from our world who our justice system sees fit to release back out into the world to victimize others once again. Mike has a code. So far, he hasn't killed anyone who was innocent.

Then he runs across someone being hunted by the monsters from the other side. The story is about hunting those monsters and saving the girl. If you can shut off certain critiques, then this is a fine book. Give it a try. It might scratch a certain literary itch for you.

If you are a fan of Larry's Monster Hunter novels, then I suspect that this book might be for you. I've not read those books for reasons that I think this book confirms. Alternatively, if you like Alistair MacClean novels, then this might be up your alley. It's not quite as good as Mr. MacClean's books but it's close enough.

I have read his Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Series and the first book of Servants of War series. I heartily recommend both as being outstanding on their own merit and vastly superior to this book.

I also want to point out that I have followed the author's career and controversies within the genre. His perspective is generally pointed in the right direction in most cases, IMO.

So why the round down to 3 stars??

- Gun porn. The author has a penchant for describing guns and ammo in loving detail. I'm familiar enough with weapons to know what he is describing, but it's really just wasted detail, in my opinion.

- Putting the subtext ahead of the text. Almost every author includes some sort of underlying theme or moral value in their story. But that subtext is covered by the text; the story narrative. Early on, the author discards the text of the story in favor of trashing Joe Biden, leftist judges, and the leftist modern politics. Again, I think his personal perspective is generally correct, but in 15-20 years, no one will know or care about those specific issues. He could have been a bit more generic and still served the interests of the narrative.

- Modern cultural references. One or two major references are probably fine. Anything more than that and the book will not stand the test of time. I have a hard time believing that all of our modern cultural references will survive the next 50 years.

- Too much showing, not enough telling. We learn about Spears' history and development via a series of brief vignettes at the start of each chapter. We are told that he has done a ton of training. We are told he experienced horrors. We are rarely shown either of them.

- Over competent character. Spears is a one-man wrecking crew. He can pick locks, shoot accurately with every weapon he encounters, is an expert grappler, and knows how to make bodies disappear. The only challenges he experience are when facing multiple humans or something from "the other side". He is The Terminator. He pursues relentlessly.

- Which leads to the lack of character development. There is no hero's journey. We are dropped into a crisis where the main character's major challenge is how to use the skills and resources he has already developed.

I was disappointed. I am a sometime Hugo nominator and I was hoping this book would make the cut. I know he doesn't want one. That doesn't mean that his superior writing (when it occurs) shouldn't be recognized. This one didn't measure up.

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1776 TO 1976. AMERICA CELEBRATES OUR BICENTENNIAL.

America's Bicentennial was celebrated across the country with fireworks, parades, and a host of events that could only have made our Founding Fathers smile in appreciation.

In Jackson County, Mrs. Gerald V. Harkness won a design contest with her "Cabins to Capsules" logo. Jackson County has direct ties to two astronauts in James McDivitt and Al Worden. Both men were featured prominently in the Michigan Space Museum when it was located on the grounds of Jackson College. "Cabins to Capsules" was a natural theme for the county. 

At the time, Jackson area high schools provided students to participate in an all-county honors choir and all-county honors band. For this special year, the directors were Kenneth Todd [choir] and Kennistan Bauman [band]. The directors assembled a program of patriotic music for the 4th of July program to be held at the Cascades water feature that is located in the Sparks Foundation Park. 

The community supported the special musical program by helping with recording the two groups. The Jackson Rotary Club sponsored the choir and band. Aeroquip (now a part of Eaton) sponsored the production of a record of the groups by Mark Records [now Mark Custom Recording Service, Inc.]. 

The program and album featured a series of patriotic tunes honoring America's history. 

Side A - The Jackson County Bicentennial Honors Band directed by Kennistan Bauman

1. National Emblem by E.E. Bagley (1902)
2. American Variations by Jerry Bilik (1970)
3. March Grandioso by Roland F. Seitz (1909)
4. Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennett (1949)
5. Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa (1896)
6. America the Beautiful by Samuel Ward (1910)

THE BICENTENNIAL BAND Jim Baschall, Bette Benedette, Julie Biernat, John Brittain, Gerald Cain, Patty Clark, Larry Crouch, Robert Cummings, Craig Durst, Douglas Eicher, Mark Elenio, Ken Finton, Irene Fisher, Kyle Grinnell, Marcia Haven, Patty Heady, Janice Herl, Lorrie Huffman, Jolene Jaquays, Peggy Jekel, Marcia Jenkins, Ken Knight, Todd Krutsch, Larry Kujawa, Karen Lindow, Doug Maitland, Gina Mattone, Dan Mitchell, Barry Myers, Kathleen Mynahan, Mark Nelson, Sheryl Nidelcheff, Joy Paulson, Linda Pilatowicz, Laurie Pultz, Eric Raby, Cindy Ragonesi, Doug Rainey, Jane Ratcliff, Kathy Roelofs, Joe Rumler, Chris Sayles, Barb Schmidt, Brian Spitler, Jan Stump, Jennifer Swihart, Katrina Swihart, Natalie Taylor, Julie Weatherwax, Lee Weatherwax, Kathy Westfall, Debbie Wilcox, Carolyn Ybarra 

Side B - The Jackson County Bicentennnial Honors Choir directed by Kenneth Todd

1. The Eyes of All Waite Upon Thee by Jean Berger (1960)
2. Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair arr. by Stuart Churchill (Traditional)
3. The Music Man by Meredith Willson (1957)
4. And Thou America by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1903)
5. Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe (1861) arr. by Peter Wilhousky (1959)
6. God Bless America by Irving Berlin (1918) arr. by Roy Ringwald

THE BICENTENNIAL CHOIR

Martha Armstrong, Angie Barron, James Baschal, Steve Brown, Donna Burkholder, Elisa Canvin, 

Scott Davis, Dave Dixon, Mike Dixon, Linda Eicher, David Erber, Julee Erber, Dina Flint, Andy Fugate, Lori Grow, Jenny Heiler, Marta Hendricks, Julie Hill, Doreen Hodge, Jolynn Holton, Andy Howe, Dianne Janes, Jared Knaup, Bob Luson, Cheley Martin, Bev McClain, Kathy McGee, Lorri McGuire, Lynn Miller, Vicki Miller, Kathy Mills, Nancy Minder, Theresa Minder, Daniel Mitchell, Jeff Mossolle, Mary Nelson, Regina Pace, Sheri Pahl, Lora Painter, Jeff Rahn, Cindy Redman, Lynndy Robercs, Roger Roelofs, Amy Sayles, Karen Sharrer, Chris Simmons, Allan Smith, Kathy Smith, Chip Smith, Deborah Smith, Shelly Southwell, Dawn Spink, Nate Spitlier, Dawn Strobel, Jeff Swanson, John Swartzel, Sally Tallman, Ken Todd, Susan Tyshko, Carol VanValin, Theresa Vargo, Linda Vaughn, Kathy Whitaker, Steve Whitaker

A complete presentation of the album is available via YouTube. 

July 4, 1976 was an appropriately hot summer day. The sun set behind the Cascades. The lights beneath Jackson's famous water feature began to glow as a light breeze blew the heat of the day away. And the musical talents of Jackson's finest musicians honored our nation's Bicentennial. 

Review: Mushroom Blues

Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. Gibson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a 2-star review. I'm categorizing it as a plain "DNF" rather than a full on Dorothy Parker DNF.

This book came in second in SPFBOX. I read the winner. It was much better than this.

The premise of the book is that humans have conquered a world populated by mushroom people. They are just like humans except they have various fungi growing out of their skins including a huge mushroom on top of their heads. Everything is made of something fungal. They eat fungal foods. They build with fungal bricks and cables. They communicate partially via fungal spores. And the author reminds the reader of this fungal basis for life every other paragraph.

The book begins early on with heavy doses of racism, colonialism, and sexism. The subtext bleeds over the text pretty quickly. The native mushroom people exude a sort of language and culture that reads as "Asian" which as odd choice for people that would otherwise have no contact with an Earth Asian culture.

Within the book's narrative, there isn't any explicit reason for the humans to have conquered this planet. The impression given is that humans just love to conquer other places. There aren't any specific resources of interest nor any motivation due to expanding populations. The Terran presence on this planet is an excuse for humans to beat up on a native population...for fun?

The plot centers on a detective story. Our "hero" has a serious case of fungal-phobia and is assigned to solve the mystery of disappearing and murdered fungal children.

One feature of the story is that humans and mushroom people can make babies. How a species could evolve based on a fungal-centric biology that would be genetically compatible with humans is never explained. Do mushroom people have all the same sexual organs as human? If so, why when fungi reproduce via spores.

I made it 37% through the book before giving up. I might have lasted longer if I preferred detective stories. Belief is supposed to be suspended, not terminally broken.



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Review: Drones Above Hell Below

Drones Above Hell Below by Eric Kay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review. I was invited to beta-read this book. While that is a fair estimate of my experience, this could easily be a 4+ star book with a bit of editing/clean-up.

The book is the story of our hero Killian who is part of a prospecting/exploring team on an alien planet. Most of the team either dies or is captured (it's unclear). Killian rescues one of his teammates and escapes back to their homebase planet via a jump drive.

Ordinarily, the jump drive creates a near instantaneous transition. But something went wrong and the jump drops them ~50 years in the future. The future is controlled by an AI that uses a social credit system to control/shape human behavior.

The humans have been back mining the planet for most of 50 years.

If you think this sounds a little like the set up for the movie "Aliens", you are right. It's still a solid premise.

The AI doesn't know what to do with Killian. It starts him off with a child's social credit score and makes him an offer if he will go back with a team to the planet. The AI has lost contact with the settlement and it has decided to send a military team to investigate.

This book has all of the prerequisites for an entertaining story. Exploration of a new world. Military action. Even a bit of a Star Trek/Kirk "putting it to" an alien logic system. IYKYK

But...the beta version has many little errors. Spelling. Changes in gender for no reason. Continuity errors (our hero was released from his handcuffs, but then was back in them).

And my pet peeve was the overuse of modern idioms. I don't believe most new/modern idioms will survive centuries from now. IMO, using modern idioms only works if the book is either humorous or just being a bit tongue-in-cheek. Modern idioms generally don't work well in serious sci-fi. Generally, less is more. One or two are excusable.

Hopefully, the author will clean up some of the more obvious issues before the formal release date. The book was generally very entertaining and engaging. I was stealing time from other priorities because I wanted to know what came next.

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Review: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a 2-star review.

The elevator pitch for this book was good enough to get me to buy it. 5% into the book and I had zero connection to any of the characters or the setting.

Somehow, this mystery book ended up being mentioned in fantasy/sci-fi circles. For mystery fans, this might be a great book. For others...like me...not so much.

By a non-trivial margin.

The ghost of Dorothy Parker rose and the book took majestic flight.

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Review: Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a 2-star review which is a fair estimate of my engagement with the work.

I can't recall why I bought this book other than I was reading comments about Cormac McCarthy and this book was mentioned as something worth reading.

It didn't work for me.

It is set in the mid-1800s with the conflict between the US and Mexico. There are no heroes - including the first nations people. The characters seem to move from one desert location to another where they either end up killing a bunch of locals, or being stuck in the hoosegow for a while before being released to go kill a bunch of other locals in another desert location.

The book works hard to be "literary" to the point of boredom with extended descriptions of desert, mountains, and villages that end up being repetitious given that the region does not possess a wealth of diverse biological zones. The author also eschews the use of quotation marks to delineate when a character speaks. The lack of quotation marks isn't a deal killer, but it did make the book a more challenging read.

I made it 25% through the book before Dorothy Parker's putative ghost arrived. Go read something better.

This review made me laugh. He finished the book and nails the writing style in his review 100%.  If the writing style of the review doesn't work for you, then the book won't work for you either.

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