Kal Spriggs

Tag: scifi

  • Valor’s Child, Snippet Two

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    Here’s the second snippet for Valor’s Child.  You can read the first snippet here.  Again, Valor’s Child comes out on the 30th of June, 2017: Dad had offered to fly us, but Mom had said that she needed to do it.  I would have preferred to fly with Dad.  He, at least, would have kept…

  • Movie Review: Passengers

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    Passengers is a movie that’s seen a lot of grief over the past month.  I think that’s in part because it asks difficult decisions.  In short, one character makes a morally terrible decision early on… and he makes it for a very human reason. When he makes that decision, the viewer can empathize with him.…

  • First Snippet: Renegades: Out of Time

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    Here’s the first snippet for Renegades: Out of Time. Chapter I   The Aurore emerged from shadow space into the heart of a maelstrom. Captain Mike Noguchi blanched as a thermonuclear detonation flashed in front of the ship, close enough that it filled the bridge with light.  “What the hell is that!?”  Mike demanded. Simon…

  • Book Review: The Hand of Mars by Glynn Stewart

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    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…

  • Review: Desert Strike by Leo Champion

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    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…

  • Author’s Toolbag: Maps and Drawings

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    The number one job of an author is to tell a story.  In this sense, illustrations such as maps and drawings can be excellent tools for an author, particularly when they are used to immerse the reader more fully into the world. I’m the type of reader who spends hours, sometimes days pouring over the…

  • Author’s Toolbag: Creating Science Fiction and Fantasy Languages

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    One of the things that impressed me about reading Tolkien for the first time (and even more so, years later) is how he crafted entire unique languages for all of the nations and peoples in Middle Earth. The same has been done (with varying levels of success) by many authors. Some have created languages that…

  • Book Review: Frank Chadwick’s How Dark the World Becomes

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    Frank Chadwick’s How Dark the World Becomes is a space opera, adventure science fiction novel from Baen Books. I’ll admit that I was somewhat dubious about a “new” author, but I quickly became fully absorbed in the story of Sasha Naradnyo. At first glance he is an utterly reprehensible character: he’s a mid-level crime boss…

  • Book Review: A Call to Duty by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

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    I first read David Weber and Timothy Zahn’s A Call to Duty last year.  I’ve long been a fan of both authors and I purchased the eARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from Baen’s eBooks without hesitation. I’ll say right off that the book is every bit as fantastic as I had hoped.  The characters are fantastic, the…

  • Odin’s Eye Snippet Two

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    Here’s the second snippet for Odin’s Eye, coming this weekend!  Odin’s Eye is the sequel to Fenris Unchained and a novel in the Star Portal Universe.  You can find the first snippet here. Time: 1200 Zulu, 24 June 291 G.D. Location: Bliskin Station, Hanet System   “Yep,” Mike Majors nodded as he pointed out exterior…