The Freeport Mutineers, a short story in the universe of the Eoriel Saga, is available now from Amazon. The best part is, like any good story about pirates, it’s absolutely free! (well, for today and tomorrow)
Troubled by the rumors spread throughout the Southern Fleet, the young officer turned to the Marines and Sailors under his command… yet he and they were betrayed, arrested, and convicted of mutiny, all under the orders of the ambitious Lord Admiral Hennings.
Faced with the prospect of not only his own death, but that of the men under his command, Wachter must somehow find a way to do the right thing. Yet there is little hope with he and his men jailed, weaponless, and condemned, while the town of Freeport lies under martial law and the threat of dark sorcery.
Only one course lays open to him, to break his oaths and to swear allegiance to the cause of another, to become exactly what his enemies have accused him of being: a mutineer.
My short story, Look to the Stars, will be available for free January 22 & 23 on Amazon since I’ll be at CoSine this weekend. You can get it here.
Mason McGann is a smuggler, a liar, and a cheat. With his ship impounded by customs, he figures he has no choice left but to auction off information about the lost Dreyfus Fleet. But things are never what they seem when you hold information that can change the course of history.
Look to the Stars is a short story in the Shadow Space Universe
I now have the draft cover for my soon-to-be-released short story: The Freeport Mutineers. This is an epic fantasy story set in the Eoriel Saga universe. The basic premise is simple, a young man, faced with true evil, must decide what to do.
Troubled by the rumors spread throughout the Southern Fleet, the young officer turned to the Marines and Sailors under his command… yet he and they were betrayed, arrested, and convicted of mutiny, all under the orders of the ambitious Lord Admiral Hennings.
Faced with the prospect of not only his own death, but that of the men under his command, Wachter must somehow find a way to do the right thing. Yet there is little hope with he and his men jailed, weaponless, and condemned, while the town of Freeport lies under martial law and the threat of dark sorcery.
Only one course lays open to him, to break his oaths and to swear allegiance to the cause of another, to become exactly what his enemies have accused him of being: a mutineer.
The Freeport Mutineers will be published on 23 January, 2016.
I’m excited to announce that coming out on January 23rd, I’ll have a new short story available from Amazon, titled The Freeport Mutineers. The Freeport Mutineers is a short story set in the Eoriel Saga universe, just after Admiral Hennings has seized the town of Freeport.
Young Midshipman Wachter is about to face the rope.
Troubled by the rumors spread throughout the Southern Fleet, the young officer turned to the Marines and Sailors under his command… yet he and they were betrayed, arrested, and convicted of mutiny, all under the orders of the ambitious Lord Admiral Hennings.
Faced with the prospect of not only his own death, but that of the men under his command, Wachter must somehow find a way to do the right thing. Yet there is little hope with he and his men jailed, weaponless, and condemned, while the town of Freeport lies under martial law and the threat of dark sorcery.
Only one course lays open to him, to break his oaths and to swear allegiance to the cause of another, to become exactly what his enemies have accused him of being: a mutineer.
My fellow Henchman Press author, Mark Wandrey, has his latest book out. Twilight Serenade is the fifth book of his space opera series.
I haven’t had a chance to read his series yet, but I’ve heard good things about it. It’s supposed to be big-scale, epic space opera with the kind of grand scope that I tend to look for in Science Fiction.
The galaxy is not a safe place.
More than five hundred years after Earth’s destruction, the descendants of humanity’s survivors are finally coming into their own under the leadership of First Among the Chosen Minu Groves. They’ve gained allies and slowly built strength, and now Minu has decided that the time has come to bid for freedom from the Tog, long humanity’s sponsors in the interspecies Concordia.
The Higher Order species, though, have been proven to possess fleets of starships to enforce their iron will. To leave her species helpless against such a foe is not acceptable to Minu. So she’s about to set off into the deep darkness of space looking for the rumored ghost fleets, remnants of the Lost’s ancient armada from an eons-ago war.
Those ships could be the final piece Minu needs to permanently ensure humanity’s freedom. But as her plans develop, the greater mysteries of her own history, her husband’s fate and the very nature of the Concordia may prove to be her own undoing – and with her, all of mankind.
As part of the new site content, I’m introducing character biographies to the website. I’ll have background details and general descriptions of central (and some side) characters for each of the series I write in. Up first (because it’s the smallest cast of characters) is the the Star Portal Universe and the cast of Fenris Unchained.
I tried to strike a balance of giving enough background to develop the character without including any real spoilers. As one might imagine, on Fenris Unchained, this was more difficult than I’d like, but I think I did alright.
Ideally I’ll add pictures of the characters at some point, but for now, I’m taking the time to go through and do the same to all my other universes. The good news is most of this is already done in the form of notes I keep for myself, I’ve just got to scrub those and make sure I don’t give away any spoilers.
Up next I’m working on characters from the Eoriel Saga and then from the Shadow Space Chronicles. If this is well-received, I’ll continue to do more of them. As always, I value feedback on these, please let me know what you think!
You can find the first set of character biographies here or just check in the Star Portal Universe section.
Glynn Stewart’s Hand of Mars picks up a few years after his previous book (Starship’s Mage) left off. The story remains focused upon Damien, who has grown in skills and abilities, but seems to be the same person we saw at the end of the last book.
The story revolves around a planet where a corrupt governor has ironclad control over a planet and has even subverted the Emperor’s appointed military officers. Damien, sent to help one of the Emperor’s Hands of Mars, must investigate, find out the truth, and set things right. What seems like a simple proposition goes rapidly sideways with drastic political and military repercussions.
Damien remains an interesting character, with a strong personal sense of responsibility and an overall sense of integrity. His earnestness, his desire to do what is right, is put to the test… yet at the same time, he never truly has to make a difficult decision. The bad guys in this novel are really, really bad, willing to wipe out tens of thousands or even millions of people, just to get their way. When he confronts them, we have that sense of satisfaction as he brings them to justice… but there’s never any doubt over whether he’ll make the right choice.
I did enjoy watching Damien grow. There was no doubt about where he was headed, growing in both experience and authority, and it was nice to see the character rise in that fashion. Glynn Stewart handled it well, giving Damien time to shoulder more and more responsibility and letting the reader see the character develop.
The side characters in this novel don’t feel quite as engaging as in Starship’s Mage. There it was easier, I think, due to the smaller cast, a single ship with a small(ish) crew. I didn’t feel as much personal attachment to the characters in the sequel, which removed a lot of the dramatic tension regarding their survival. They were interesting, from Hand Stealey to her Marine escort and many of the other characters… but they felt more like a backdrop. This was Damien’s story, and they were here to support that.
Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the book. It remained a fascinating read and as always, the magic system and the universe are engaging. I read the book quickly and felt satisfied at the end. It’s a quick, engaging read with good guys confronting the bad. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book and I enjoyed watching Damien’s character grow.
ROGUE MAGE TURNED INTERPLANETARY ENVOY
Three years ago, as Ship’s Mage of the starship Blue Jay, Damien Montgomery was pursued to the edge of human space by both the agents and enemies of the Mage-King of Mars — before being brought in from the cold.
Now, trained in new skills by the Mage-King himself, Damien has been sent to the planet Ardennes alongside Alaura Stealey, Hand of the King. A rebel movement there has destroyed cities fighting a Governor seemingly lost to corruption.
But not all on Ardennes is as it seems. As allies becomes enemies and an entire world comes apart in chaos around him, Damien will find both his skills and integrity tested to the utter limit.
In preparation for the new year, I’ll be bringing some updates to my blog and website. The first round of updates will mostly be placeholders for upcoming content, however soon I’ll have pages for maps, character biographies, in universe lore (news articles, wanted posters, and some short fiction), and other things to spice up the different universe web pages.
As more pages come online, I’ll link them here. If there’s enough interest, I’ll also link writing posts for easy viewing (by enough interest, I mean people ask for it).
For now, here’s the first page to go live, albeit with limited overall content: Eoriel Maps. As I get maps from the artist, I’ll post more there!
Leo Champion’s Desert Strike is a book. Okay, review done. No, seriously, it’s a book. And it’s got things in it. Go read it.
In all seriousness, there’s a lot going on in Desert Strike. We see war on a global scale, with a Chamberlain-esque government determined to avoid it, a hyper-violent enemy determined to murder and/or enslave the good guys, and a strange semi-benevolent star-spanning nation which supports both sides in return for the resources they’re fighting over.
Mix into this massive landships up-to and including aircraft carriers, a mix of tech that feels gritty and at the same time cutting edge, and incompetent leaders within the good guy’s chain of command, and you have a very interesting setting for the story that unfolds.
The book has several characters, and what Leo Champion does best is making those central characters seem real with believable goals and ambitions. You have a bad-ass, general, Jaeger, driven by anger and revenge. You’ve got a young, rookie pilot, O’Conner, who wants to leave his mark. These are the “Tropes” the “of course he has this person” but Leo goes further than that, he makes them real. The side characters abound, with momentary glimpses at a bigger universe, then whipping back to the central plot.
And what a plot. The enemy has been given free rein, and they use it. This isn’t a book where the good guys have it easy, where victory is well within grasp if they only work hard for it. If anything, I’d say the odds are too heavily stacked against them. At times, you feel that the only victory left is a pyrric, one, where the planet is left a radioactive wasteland… yet somehow you still cling to hope that the good guys will turn the tide.
Desert Strike is a book which surprised me in a lot of ways. I’ve enjoyed reading several of Leo’s books, but he writes in a certain tone, one which is instantly recognizable. Desert Strike takes his normal tone and softens it a bit, ironic in a book about combat and war. It has a fun edge to it, one which isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself, a bit of tongue in cheek even as a character’s life is in the balance.
The aerial combat feels like Vietnam Era, the ground war feels like something from the far future, and everything fits in a way that is hard to describe. If you’re a fan of military science fiction, I think you’ll enjoy the solid characters and gripping combat. If you just like exploding stuff, well, there’s plenty of that here for you too.
It’s about to go hot.
On the dry world of Arkin, the Zinj are taking over. A technologically-competent strain of Islam that make ISIS look like the Amish, they’re challenged only by the nations of the West – and a divided West without much will to fight.
Among those who do have the will are fighter pilot Egan O’Connor, a working-class kid from a tough neighborhood, ready to test himself and serve his country. He’s a chivalrous rookie ready for an honorable battle.
Jimmy Newland’s a cavalry NCO who’s earned his spurs. He’s ready to fight but he doesn’t want to; he’s seen enough skirmishes to know how bad it can be. But he’ll do his job if the cold war gets nastier – as it’s about to.
And there’s nothing chivalrous at all about Air Marshal Elisabeth Jaeger, a career intelligence officer promoted to field command. Twenty-five years ago she saw her husband murdered by the Zinj; she’s spent the time since avenging him. As she’s about do on a scale just a little bit broader than spywork…
Leo Champion described Glynn Stewart to me as one of the best authors he’s had the experience of working with. Since I also work with Leo, I took that as a bit of a challenge to step up my game, but as a reader, it made me want to check out what Glynn has written, particularly since he seems to be reading my blog and writing book reviews about my stuff.
I’m happy to say I haven’t been disappointed. Glynn Stewart’s Space Opera/Fantasy novel, Starship’s Mage, is excellent. The main character, Damien, is engaging and interesting and Glynn has created a fascinating world, one where technology and magic coexist in a science fiction setting, much like another of my favorite author’s works: Ryk Spoor.
The trials and tribulations of young Damien are vast and varied, as he tries to fix one problem only to create three more in the process. Damien is smart (possibly too smart for his own good), and he is hard working and a loyal friend. He’s also painfully naïve and far too eager to please, which make fun character flaws in a character as powerful as a wizard can be.
Overall, the book definitely feels like the first book of a planned “epic” series. While young Damien grows powerful, we still see that not only does he have limits, but those limits are profound compared to his opponents. The other characters, from ship’s officers to pirates are robust and rewarding in their own ways and in general, it was a fun read.
That isn’t to say it is a “perfect” book. There were a few minor gramatical errors (less, in fact, than some books I’ve recently read from major publishers), but there was also a nagging repetition where some things would be explained multiple times. I can understand the urge, in case the reader wasn’t paying attention, but for me, it actually broke my immersion a little bit as some of the technology and universe was explained once and then again, right before it became pertinent to the story. That said, it’s a very minor pet peeve in a book that I really enjoyed. (Further note: I hadn’t realized it was originally released as novellas, so it suffers from the same problem as my own Renegades: Origins, so disregard)
My only question, at the end of it, is what do you call this genre? Space Fantasy sounds… trite and doesn’t adequately describe it. It feels like “Hard” fantasy, where the magic has rules and the story revolves as much around those rules as the characters. Science Fantasy just sounds odd. Whatever it is, it’s fun, fast, and enjoyable.
In a galaxy tied together by the magic of the elite Jump Magi, Damien Montgomery is a newly graduated member of their number. With no family or connections to find a ship, he is forced to service on an interstellar freighter known to be hunted by pirates. When he takes drastic action to save the Blue Jay from their pursuers, he sets in motion a sequence of events beyond his control – and attracts enemies on both sides of the law!
Starship’s Mage was originally released as five separate episodes.
Kal Spriggs 