This has been a crazy month (And not just with Simucon... my real life promises to start getting crazy later on in the month) so I'm going to keep it short and sweet.
For August I'm going with Myke Cole for the author of the month. He's relatively new on the scene and writes military fantasy - but also comes highly recommended by several authors I trust (Peter V Brett, Mark Lawrence, and Howard Taylor to name a few). So I decided to give his writing a try and I just finished his first book today.
Shadow Ops: Control Point
Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier
Shadow Ops: Breach Zone
Gemini Cell (This is the start of a new trilogy in the same universe)
Control Point was a good read that caught me up fairly fast. The worldbuilding is solid (Though you can tell it's a first novel a little bit) and I'm told the military aspect is very accurate - as it should be given the author's real military experience. The magic is fun, powerful and punchy but generally logical and consistent. The main character is likable but deeply flawed, causing him to make some major mistakes with some major consequences which is always nice.
... and more importantly if you want to see combat applications of Moongates this book has you covered. (A Memory of Light will also scratch that particular itch, but that's the 14th book in a series of massive books vs a <400 page 1st book.)
-Raesh
"The trouble with atheism, is that it offers a limited range of curses.” - Two Serpents Rise
DR-RAESH
BRYCOLE83
Re: Raesh's Author of the Month [Aug]
08/14/2015 03:46 PM CDT
Thanks! Keep em coming. Your last suggestion was great.
BADGOPHER
Re: Raesh's Author of the Month [Aug]
08/14/2015 05:00 PM CDT
RE: moon mage teleport/gate applications
I've been reading the Miles Franco series by Chris Strange.
The main gist is that the only magic is tunnels from/to different planes. The primary is earth, rules as we know it. The secondary is Heaven, which is almost pure chaos. They can open man-sized tunnels to physically transport goods, or they can open 'pinholes' which allow some of the chaos to spill in, and have effects in a small geographic area and short duration. No casting fireball or lightning, but he can pick locks with it, jam guns, effect general probability. And in a few more notable times he turns 'the boardwalk' into a tree to land in, then it reverts back to wooden slats.
I've been reading the Miles Franco series by Chris Strange.
The main gist is that the only magic is tunnels from/to different planes. The primary is earth, rules as we know it. The secondary is Heaven, which is almost pure chaos. They can open man-sized tunnels to physically transport goods, or they can open 'pinholes' which allow some of the chaos to spill in, and have effects in a small geographic area and short duration. No casting fireball or lightning, but he can pick locks with it, jam guns, effect general probability. And in a few more notable times he turns 'the boardwalk' into a tree to land in, then it reverts back to wooden slats.
DR-RAESH
Re: Raesh's Author of the Month [Aug]
09/03/2015 11:11 PM CDT
Just a note - I've finished all of Myke Cole as of a week or two ago and quite enjoyed them overall.
I will say that Gemini Cell (his newest book, which has a sequel coming next year) both stands alone from the other three books and is by far his strongest writing.
-Raesh
"The trouble with atheism, is that it offers a limited range of curses.” - Two Serpents Rise
I will say that Gemini Cell (his newest book, which has a sequel coming next year) both stands alone from the other three books and is by far his strongest writing.
-Raesh
"The trouble with atheism, is that it offers a limited range of curses.” - Two Serpents Rise
DR-RAESH
Re: Raesh's Author of the Month [Sept]
09/05/2015 09:12 PM CDT
This month I'm going to jump over into SciFi with George Alec Effinger.
While a quick glance at his Wikipedia page will show he wrote quite a few stand alone novels, I've read none of them and cannot speak to them. My concern here is the Marid Audran series which consists of:
When Gravity Fails
A Fire in the Sun
The Exile Kiss
Budayeen Nights (short story collection)
Unlike many authors I've discussed here, these books are relatively short and I actually discovered Effinger around 15 years ago. He also died in 2002 and Budayeen Nights was published posthumously without the series ever being properly ended. On one hand, the books stand relatively well on their own and they don't end on a MASSIVE cliffhanger (The series was planned as five books I believe) but on the other hand one of the short stories in Budayeen Nights takes place after the planned series and you can tell things didn't exactly end where you might have expected which makes the missing novels a little more frustrating. Budayeen Nights also contains the first two chapters of book four, and no more. So there's that, you've been warned.
So what are these books about anyhow? They're cyberpunk set in the Middle East and explore some very interesting interactions between that culture and the clashes with religion. The main character (Marid) is a weak protagonist never really manages to be honest with himself about his personal failings (largely centered around addiction). http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PinballProtagonist (I'm not sorry for linking you to that). Plot-wise the first is a murder mystery of sorts and I'll let you experience the rest on your own.
Overall, I found the books delightful when I found them many years ago and surprisingly thoughtful and while I haven't revisited them in a perhaps a decade I can't help but think people might find them more relevant than ever given current events. In particular they spend a lot of time dwelling on drugs and addition as well as gender (mostly transgender) issues.
-Raesh
"The trouble with atheism, is that it offers a limited range of curses.” - Two Serpents Rise
While a quick glance at his Wikipedia page will show he wrote quite a few stand alone novels, I've read none of them and cannot speak to them. My concern here is the Marid Audran series which consists of:
When Gravity Fails
A Fire in the Sun
The Exile Kiss
Budayeen Nights (short story collection)
Unlike many authors I've discussed here, these books are relatively short and I actually discovered Effinger around 15 years ago. He also died in 2002 and Budayeen Nights was published posthumously without the series ever being properly ended. On one hand, the books stand relatively well on their own and they don't end on a MASSIVE cliffhanger (The series was planned as five books I believe) but on the other hand one of the short stories in Budayeen Nights takes place after the planned series and you can tell things didn't exactly end where you might have expected which makes the missing novels a little more frustrating. Budayeen Nights also contains the first two chapters of book four, and no more. So there's that, you've been warned.
So what are these books about anyhow? They're cyberpunk set in the Middle East and explore some very interesting interactions between that culture and the clashes with religion. The main character (Marid) is a weak protagonist never really manages to be honest with himself about his personal failings (largely centered around addiction). http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PinballProtagonist (I'm not sorry for linking you to that). Plot-wise the first is a murder mystery of sorts and I'll let you experience the rest on your own.
Overall, I found the books delightful when I found them many years ago and surprisingly thoughtful and while I haven't revisited them in a perhaps a decade I can't help but think people might find them more relevant than ever given current events. In particular they spend a lot of time dwelling on drugs and addition as well as gender (mostly transgender) issues.
-Raesh
"The trouble with atheism, is that it offers a limited range of curses.” - Two Serpents Rise
