April 2020 - Gary David Gillen

Phantoms of Ruthaer by Jason McDonald

Phantoms of Ruthaer by Jason McDonald, Stormy McDonald, and Alan Isom

Introduction

Phantoms of Ruthaer by Jason McDonald is a fantasy with a ghost story and a murder mystery. Hector De Los Santos and the bounty hunting group named Damage, Inc. are called to Ruthaer for a side job. Hector’s crew is human archer Dave Blood, half-elf tracker/healer Aislinn Yves, and elf empath Hummingbird. They get more than they bargained for when they get to Ruthaer. The mysteries of the town are complicated. Damage, Inc. must fight ghosts, zombies, demons, and vampires to solve the mystery. Ancient dragonkin points to the solution and to the greater mystery involving Hector and Dave. Will they defeat the phantoms, or will they all die in the attempt?

[Reserved for Phantoms of Ruthaer Book Cover]

Summary

Phantoms of Ruthaer by Jason McDonald is set in the same fantasy world as the author’s Cayn trilogy. The locations and characters are different. The only character mentioned in this book from the Cayn trilogy is Jasper Thredd. He is a mage and a member of Damage, Inc. but does not appear in this novel. Jasper has some connection to the trio of Hector, Dave and Robert. Robert is another character mentioned but not met in this novel.

At the beginning of the novel, Hector bails Dave out of jail. Damage, Inc. has business in Ozera, but a job in Ruthaer comes first. They pick up Aislinn and Hummingbird and sail to Ruthaer. Aislinn is from Ruthaer and is responding to the request of Tallinn, the sea ranger she knew as a girl. Once they get to Ruthaer, they face the mystery of what happened to the monks. Lord Francis and Father Blackwood helps them. There is a fog over the town. They fight ghosts, vampires, and spiders to get to the heart of the mystery. A ghost ship and the mysterious Count Dodz complicate the mystery. There are plenty of more thrills and reversals as Damage, Inc. uncovers mystery after mystery.

Recommendation

Phantoms of Ruthaer by Jason McDonald is a great genre mash-up novel. There is a mystery, a ghost story, and a fantasy adventure in the novel. The bounty hunting idea is like the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. Damage Inc. is paid for killing magical creatures like the Witcher. The mystery is hard to solve, and the ghosts are real in this adventure. It also reminded me of John Carter from Mars concerning Hector, Dave, and Robert’s interaction with this fantasy world. I want to see more adventures with Damage, Inc.

I received this novel as a beta reader. After they release the last book, I will update this post as necessary.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page for Phantoms of Ruthaer.

[Reserved for Phantoms of Ruthaer Goodreads Link.]

This is the link to the Goodreads page for Blood of Cayn.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47145155-blood-of-cayn

My review of Blood of Cayn, the Cayn Trilogy Book #3. It’s the thrilling conclusion of the Cayn Trilogy. The plague has returned. Will Xandor’s crew find the cure or will everyone die?

Blood of Cayn by Jason McDonald

My review of City of Cayn the Cayn Trilogy Book #2. It’s a suspenseful adventure. The plague story begun in the first book takes our heroes to Cherigov, a human city overrun by orcs. They must defeat the orc king, or the plague will devastate the land.

City of Cayn by Jason McDonald, Alan Isom, and Stormy McDonald

My review of Son of Cayn, the Cayn Trilogy Book #1. Xandor the ranger’s mission is to infiltrate a caravan that is smuggling soap. Soap? Yes, soap. Xandor’s crew must determine where and why the soap is being smuggled.

Son of Cayn by Jason McDonald, Alan Isom, and Stormy McDonald

Last Emperox by John Scalzi

Last Emperox by John Scalzi, The Interdependency Sequence Book #3

Introduction

In Last Emperox by John Scalzi. Cardenia Wu-Patrick is the current Emperox of the Interdependency. She is coronated as Grayland II and her reign starts with a crisis. The Flow connects the star systems of the Interdependency, and the Flow is collapsing. She faces a looming disaster when the dependent colonies of the Interdependency will become isolated. What can she do about the collapse of the Flow and can she get the ruling class to agree to her solutions?

Summary Part One

Last Emperox by John Scalzi has four main characters.

Cardenia wants a solution to the collapse of the Flow connections between the stars of her Empire. The Flow is a wormhole network that connects the different stars of the Interdependency. Humans can only live on the surface of the planet called End. All other colonies are space stations or enclosed stations on planetary bodies. The trading clans head the Interdependency. Each clan owns a star system and has a monopoly on one product. They trade the products between the clans, and no colonies are independent. Cardenia’s clan is the Wu clan holding the system of Hub. The Wu clan created the Interdependency and every Emperox for the last thousand years has been a member of the Wu clan.

The Nohamapetan clan opposes Cardenia’s rule. Nadashe Nohamapetan had been accused of the attempted assassination of Cardenia and was imprisoned for the crime. She escaped and is on the run. Nadashe wants to keep the status quo of the clan system. What that means is that the leaders of the clans will get transferred to the End system and the rest of the people will be left isolated in their home systems to perish.

Summary Part Two

Kiva Lagos oversees the Nohamapetan clan’s finances by Cardenia’s rluing, which causes conflict with the Nohamapetan clan. All Kiva wants is to lead the Lagos clan and to retire with her girlfriend, Senia Fundapellonan. But Cardenia wants Kiva to help her capture Nadashe while Nadasche wants Kiva to release the Nohamapetan fortune to her. They both thwart Kiva’s plans.

Flow physicist Count Claremont of the End system predicts the collapse of the Flow by his calculations. Flow Physicist Marce Claremont, his son, continues his father’s work and is Cardenia’s closest advisor and becomes her paramour. Marce wants to transfer all of humanity to the End system. He believes that the solution is somewhere in the data and he continues his search for the solution.

The fate of the people of the Interdependency rests on the actions of these four characters.

Recommendation

Last Emperox by John Scalzi is a great ending to the Interdependency trilogy. I did not want the ending to go the way it did, but it was the correct ending for the series. All the ideas begun in the first book led inevitably to the resolution in the third book. That makes the trilogy a successful series to me. On reflection, I like a story best that is true to its nature, and this story is true to its nature. The three books were consistent, funny, and interesting.

All together the three books total 948 pages. They could have published the trilogy as one long book but this isn’t epic fantasy so I appreciate getting a book every year. The characters come to a satisfying concluding arc. There could be other stories in this series, but probably not with these characters and their conflicts. I am looking forward to the author’s next series.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page for Last Emperox by John Scalzi.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38322550-the-last-emperox

This is a link to my book review of The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi, Book 2 of the Interdependency Sequence

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

This is a link to my book review of The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, Book 1 of the Interdependency Sequence

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Book #1 of American Gods

Introduction

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is the first book of American Gods series. The old Gods have lost power and have been replaced by the new Gods. War is their last chance to regain their power. Dropped in the middle of their war is recently released prisoner Shadow Moon. Mr. Wednesday offers him a job. With little prospects, he accepts the job, not knowing that they will catch him up in the middle of the war between the Gods. Will Shadow survive? Will Shadow be more important to the Gods war than they could ever realize?

Summary of Novel

In American Gods by Neil Gaiman, the Old Gods get their power by being worshiped. The more they are worshiped, the more power they have. Immigrants to America brought their own Gods with them to the unknown land. The Gods power was potent to begin, but through the generations living in America the worship has faded and the Gods have weakened. New Gods include Technical boy, media, and Mr. World. The old Gods plan to gather and fight the new Gods to regain their power.

They imprisoned Shadow Moon for a botched robbery for the last three years. Next week he will be released and can go home to his wife Laura. Something tragic happens and they release him early. With no prospects as an ex-con, he accepts a job from Mr. Wednesday as his driver and bodyguard. They travel the country by car to interact with old friends of Mr. Wednesday.

Shadow and Wednesday travel from Eagle Point, Indiana through Cairo, Illinois, Lakeside, Wisconsin, House on the Rock, Wisconsin, Lebanon, Kansas, and Blacksburg, Virginia. The confrontation between the Old Gods and the New Gods takes place in Rock City, Georgia.

In between chapters of the major story, the author places short works about some old Gods. The Gods depicted are Bilquis and the Jinn.

Summary of Book versus TV Show

In 2017, I heard about the American Gods show created by Starz that was released to DVD on October 17, 2017. I planned to read the book and watch the show. I read the book in 2017 but returned the DVD to the library. Always planned to take the DVD out again to watch it, but I didn’t until 2020. I didn’t write a review of the book then, so my plan here is to review the book and season one of the TV show. They released season two on August 20, 2019. I haven’t watched it yet. They based it on the second half of the book American Gods.

Coming to America Stories from the TV show

Seven of the Eight episodes of the show start with a coming to America story. The other episode follows Laura’s backstory. Episode one tells the story of the Vikings coming to America and their Norse Gods. They set the second episode on a slave ship and features the African God, Anansi. Episode three has the Egyptian God Anubis interacting with a Muslim woman. The fifth episode introduces the gods of the ancient people wandering to America from the Bering Strait land bridge. Episode six has Mexican immigrants bring their version of Jesus to America. The seventh episode features the leprechaun from Ireland. Episode eight has Mr. Nancy telling the story of the Ethiopian God, Bilquis.

Recommendation

I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman from April 18, 2017, to May 4, 2017. There were three books I read in 2017 for which I did not write a book review then. This is the third of the three retro posts I will write. American Gods is an interesting mixture of legend, fantasy, and Americana. I liked the Coming to America stories. Some of them were dark and disturbing and I liked the challenge. Shadow moon’s story was the most interesting, and I wanted to go back to it as soon as I could. Seeing the novel brought to TV was great. They did a lot of background material that I liked, and I want to see the second season soon.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30165203-american-gods

Link to my review of Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card. Alvin Miller is the seventh son of a seventh son which gives him special powers in this alternate history tale of America set in 1811. In American Gods and in Red Prophet, the gods are alive and interact with people.

Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card

Writing Progress Report April 2020

Writing Progress Report April 2020.

This is my Writing Progress Report April 2020.

I saw Blue Oyster Cult on March 8, 2020. It was a great concert. It must have been one of the last large gatherings before COVID-19 hit. I remember going to my writing class at the Library on March 11, 2020. They closed the library on March 14, 2020. They have canceled conferences I planned to attend, including Concoction and Marcon, and they have postponed the Ice and Fire convention until October.

Writing Progress from March 2020.

I wrote five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for March 2019 linked below.

Writing Progress Report March 2020

In July 2018, I completed the first draft of Assassin in New Marl City, totaling 99,981 words and 36 chapters. Completed pre-second draft (30 chapters long) in December 2018 at 89,072 words. Finished second draft edits for Chapters 26 and 27 in August, chapters 28, 29, and 30 in September, and chapters 19 and 20 in October. I reviewed chapter 21 in November and chapter 25 in December to complete the second draft edit. I started writing a new Chapter 1 in February 2020 and plan to finish it in April 2020. The third draft will have 32 Chapters and I will start the third draft edits in April 2020.

Writing Progress from March 2020 Continued

I made five posts on my Goodreads account in March.

In the past, I submitted the stories The Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, LARP Film noir, Sleeping Sickness, and Popular Mechanics Re-brewed to magazines.

I submitted “Wormhole Generator” to Daily Science Fiction online magazine in February.

Magazine submissions for 2020 are; 3 unique stories submitted 2 times with 0 accepted, 1 pending, and 2 rejections.

Events from March 2020.

The next conference I planned to attend was Cleveland ConCoction on March 20 to 22, 2020.

They canceled it because of COVID-19. I plan to go to ConCoction in 2021.

This is a link to the Cleveland ConCoction website.

http://www.clevelandconcoction.org/

Writing Goals for April 2020.

I plan to write four blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my Writing Progress Report for April 2020.

I plan to work on third draft edits for Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Novel Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio. In July 2019, I started the third draft edit for my earlier Chapter One and used it in the first pages workshop at Confluence 2019. I plan to complete third draft edits for chapters 2, 3, and 4 in April 2020.

Polish and submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit the stories Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, LARP Film noir, Sleeping Sickness, Popular Mechanics Re-brewed, and Caliburnus. to other short fiction magazines.

Writing Goals for April 2020 continued.

Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the writing program, Scrivener.

Buy an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

In April 2020, I plan to make five posts on my Goodreads account and update ten posts on my website to improve their SEO.

Planned Events for April 2020.

The next conference I plan to attend is the Confluence Conference from July 24 to July 26, 2020, at the Airport Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Link to Confluence website.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/