July 2020 - Gary David Gillen

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie, Age of Madness Trilogy Book #1

Introduction

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie is the first book of the Age of Madness Trilogy, a follow-up trilogy of the First Law World Trilogy. The Trilogy occurs thirty years after the First Law Trilogy. This Trilogy follows an additional set of characters; some are the children of characters from the First Law books. First Law characters also appear in secondary roles in this series. There is a war brewing in the North as the Northmen invade Angland, the northern province of the Union. The Industrial Revolution has arrived in the Union and civil unrest increases following unfair labor practices. The city of Valbeck is the center of the unrest. Will they destroy Angland and Valbeck or will they survive?

Summary

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie features seven points of view characters from both sides of the Angland and Valbeck conflicts. The characters meet and part in this complex narrative.

Summary Angland

Leo dan Brock, the first character, is about to come into his inheritance as the Lord Governor of the province of Angland, a part of the Union. His mother is his regent. Angland ally is the Protectorate, ruled by the Dogman, the chieftain of the city of Uffrith. Rikke, the second character, is the Dogman’s daughter. She has the Long Eye, a way of seeing images from the past or the future. Leo and Rikke meet and renew their childhood relationship.

The Northman invade the Protectorate and Leo’s mother command their troops to fall back toward Angland. The king of the Northmen is Iron Scalehand. His brother is Black Calder and Calder’s son is Stour Nightfall. Stour is the king’s heir. Jonas Clover, the third character, was a famous warrior but is now an observer of the Northmen’s court. The two armies face either other, leading to a confrontation between Leo dan Brock and Stour Nightfall.

Summary Valbeck

Savine dan Glokta, the fourth character, is the daughter of Sand dan Glokta, the head of the King’s Closed Council and the head of the Inquisition. She has substantial wealth and invests in new businesses at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution of the Union. She lives in Adua, the capital of the Union. The fifth character is Crown Prince Orso. He is the do-nothing, wastrel son of the King. He wants to make a name for himself and he has a romance with Savine.

Victarine (Vic) dan Teufel, the sixth character, is an undercover agent for Sand dan Glokta’s Inquisition. She is infiltrating the group called the Breakers. The Breakers want to destroy the factories and bring sweeping change to the Union. The revolution is brewing in Valbeck. Gunner “Bull” Broad, the seventh character, brings his family to Valbeck looking for work and becomes involved with the Breakers.

Savine, Orso, Vic, and Bull all have roles to play in the Valbeck plot.

Recommendation

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie is a fabulous start to the Age of Madness Trilogy. The action runs smooth and the characters bounce between the two plots. Most chapters follow either a single viewpoint or two sequential viewpoints of the seven main characters The exceptions are the chapter titled The Little People where a series of people react to the revolution in Valbeck and the chapter titled The Battle of Red Hill where a series of people react to the conflict in Angland. Those chapters were my highlight of the book.

I liked the arc of the two sets of lovers; Leo and Rikke; Savine and Orso. I’m looking forward to their struggles in the next book of the trilogy, The Trouble with Peace, publishing on September 15, 2020.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie, Age of Madness Series Book #1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35606041-a-little-hatred

This is a link to my review of Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, First Law World Series Book #6

Bandits burn Shy South’s farm and kidnap her sister and brother. She must fight tribal members who live in the Far Country who are called Ghosts, a mercenary captain bent on obtaining the rumored treasure of the Ghosts and the remnants of an ancient empire to rescue them.

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, Book #2 of the Imperial Radch series

Introduction

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie is the second book of the Imperial Radch series. Breq is appointed Fleet Captain by the Lord of the Radch, Anaader Mianaai. Breq’s mission is to secure the Athoek system for the Lord’s side in the civil war that broke out in the Radch, Breq discovers a plot related to disappearing Athoek transportees. Can Breq solve the mystery or will Breq lose the system to the Lord’s rival?

Summary

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie follows the exploits of Breq, who was once the starship Justice of Toren a thousand years ago but is now limited to one body. Breq confronted Anaader Mianaai, the Lord of the Radch in the novel Ancillary Justice. Afterwards, the Lord appoints Breq as Fleet Captain and assigns Breq to the ship, Mercy of Kalr. Breq’s mission is to secure the Athoek system for the Lord’s side in the civil war that broke out in the Radch. Breq’s senior Lieutenant on the Mercy of Kalr is Seivarden Vendaai, who assisted Breq in the novel Ancillary Justice.

Upon entering the Athoek system, they encounter the Sword of Atagaris commanded by Captain Hetnys. The Captain is suspicious of Breq, but Breq pulls rank on the Captain and docks the Mercy of Kalr with the Athoek Station, a space station orbiting the system’s habitable planet. Breq knows that Basnaaid is on the station. She is the sister of Lieutenant Awn, someone who Breq loved but was unavoidably killed by Breq. Breq wants to make amends but doesn’t know how. Basnaaid is a horticulturist in the garden area of the station.

Breq learns of the deplorable conditions in a part of the station called the Undergarden. Breq discovers a plot related to disappearing Athoek transportees. A death complicates Breq’s investigation and Breq goes to the planet’s surface at a tea plantation to continue the investigation. The workers are exploited by the Athotek overseers. After an assassination plot against Breq is foiled, Breq discovers the leaders of the transportee plot and acts.

Recommendation

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie is a completely different kind of book than Ancillary Justice. Ancillary Justice had a revenge plot interspersed with flashbacks that illuminated the story. It was tight and brilliant. I suppose any plot after that would be a comedown, but this novel is sneaky good. Breq’s mission is vague, and maybe that is the point. Go to Athoek and secure it for the Radch. Freeing the repressed Undergarden residents and the exploited transportees are excellent plot ideas. The looming threat of the technologically advanced Presger race adds tension. The assassination attempt and the concluding showdown in the garden add action to the end of the novel. It feels like these plot points are building to an epic conclusion in the third novel, Ancillary Mercy.

There are a lot of narratives devoted to tea services. The Radch nobility is addicted to tea, and the planet of Athoek is their main source for tea. That whole idea comes out of the left-field for me. It turns the middle of the book into a Victorian English story of manners. If a reader reads this book without an expectation related to the first book, then the reader will be rewarded with an interesting exploration of the nature of the self, how to relate to oppressed people, and the absence of gender.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20706284-ancillary-sword

In Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie, Breq plans her revenge on the Lord of the Radch. Her plans are in jeopardy when Breq befriends the disgraced former Captain Seivarden Vendaai. Will Breq carry out her goals or will the powerful Lord defeat her? This is a link to my review.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

A similar book in the space opera category is Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey. This is the link to my review.

Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey

A similar book I have read in the Hard Science Fiction category is All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This is a link to my review.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Fifth to Die by JD Barker

The Fifth to Die by JD Barker.

The Fifth to Die by JD Barker, 4MK Thriller Book #2.

Introduction

In the Fifth to Die by JD Barker, the hunt for Anson Bishop the Four Monkey Killer has gone cold. The rest of Metro Chicago detectives of Sam Porter’s group are investigating other murders. They find a girl frozen under a lagoon and Porter’s fellow detectives and the FBI wonder if the 4MK has returned. Porter doesn’t think it is 4MK and searches for Bishop’s mother. His actions get him suspended. What will Sam Porter do when the answers he finds are more disturbing than he could have ever realized?

Summary

Fifth to Die by JD Barker starts with the Chicago Metro detectives investigating a murder of a girl found under the ice of a lagoon. There are multiple viewpoints in the novel with Porter as the main viewpoint. Sections of the novel end with a recap of the detective’s Evidence Board. The kidnapped girls have viewpoints to increase the reader’s tension until a viewpoint called The Man in the Black Knit Cap appears. Porter’s fellow detectives Clair Norton and Brian Nash also have viewpoint chapters as they investigate the recent murders. Edwin Klozowski (aka Kloz), the information tech guy helps them.

The recent murders have some similarities as the 4MK murders such as the actions of the murdered girl’s parents make them targets. But the differences in the cases lead Porter to conclude that 4MK is not the culprit. The FBI sends Special Agent Frank Poole to take over the investigation, and he has viewpoint chapters.

The plot splits when the captain suspends Sam Porter. Sam follows his lead about Anson Bishop’s mother that he discovered in the diary that Bishop gave him during the first novel. Detective Norton, Detective Nash, and Agent Poole follow their leads in the recent murders. The stories coincide until they are one step behind Porter. The solution goes back to Bishop’s diary. Porter finds out how and why Bishop ended up the way he did. A confrontation between Porter and Bishop ends this novel setting up the third and final novel of the trilogy.

Recommendation

Fifth to Die by JD Barker continues the 4MK story. It’s not clear at first how The Man in the Black Knit Cap and 4MKare connected, but that connection in time. I felt a juicy twist coming at the end of the novel, but Anson Bishop and his mother fooled me. Well done. The novel ends in a cliff hanger. The reader should treat books two and three as parts of one novel. I’m certain that the answers are coming in the next book and the answers will not be what I expect. That is an excellent thing. The Sixth Wicked Child is book three of the trilogy, published on August 27, 2019.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Fifth to Die by JD Barker, 4MK Thriller Book #2.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35721148-the-fifth-to-die

This is the link to my review The Fourth Monkey by JD Barker, 4MK Thriller Book #1

Detective Sam Porter is on the trail of the Four Monkey Killer. See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil, Do no evil. An eye, an ear, a tongue, and a body. Will he find the killer’s latest victim before it’s too late? Read and find out.

The Fourth Monkey by J. D. Barker

Writing Progress Report July 2020

Writing Progress Report July 2020.

This is my Writing Progress Report, July 2020.

Looking at the Manor house across Punderson Lake in Newbury, Ohio.

Writing Progress from June 2020.

I wrote three blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for June 2020 linked below.

Writing Progress Report June 2020

Updated eight posts on my website to improve their SEO rating, to leave 43 posts to update.

In July 2018, I completed the first draft of my novel 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 finished it in April 2020. The third draft will have 32 Chapters and I worked on third draft edits on Chapter 3 in June 2020.

In June 2020, I submitted a new Chapter 1 of Assassin in New Marl City to the Novel Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio library.

In June 2020, I submitted the story “Am I Going Insane?” to the Introductory Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio library.

Writing Progress from June 2020 Continued

I made five posts on my Goodreads account in June 2020.

In the past, I submitted the stories; Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to magazines.

Flash Fiction Stories I have submitted is Get to the Point, LARP Film noir, Space-Dog Confession, Wormhole Generator, Sleeping Sickness, Caliburnus, and Popular Mechanics Re-brewed to magazines.

I submitted “Wormhole Generator” to Fireside in June 2020.

Also, I submitted “Runs with Scissors” to Flash Fiction Online in June 2020.

Magazine submissions for 2020 are 6 unique stories submitted 10 times with 0 accepted, 1 pending, and 9 rejections.

Events from June 2020.

I planned to attend the Ice and Fire Conference in Mount Sterling, Ohio on April 23 to 26, 2020.

They postponed the conference because of COVID-19. They plan to hold the conference from October 29 to November 1, 2020, and I plan to attend.

This is a link to the Ice and Fire Conference website.

Home

Writing Goals for July 2020.

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

My next novel is named Cuba Liberto. I plan to write Chapter One in July 2020 and submit it to the Novel Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio library.

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 3 and 4 in July 2020.

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

Submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, 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 July 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 July 2020, I plan to make five posts on my Goodreads account and update eight posts on my website to improve their SEO rating to leave 35 posts left to update.

Planned Events for July 2020.

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

They canceled the conference because of COVID-19. I plan to go to Confluence July 23 to July 25, 2021.

Link to Confluence’s website.

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