Tag Archives: review

Review: “Lady, Go Die!” by Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane

Posted on May 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

I finished the new Spillane book posthumously completed by Max Allan Collins.  And although it isn’t a great book with a capital “G” — it’s no contender for the Nat’l Book Award or anything — it is a great Mike Hammer book.

Everything you want is there.  Corrupt cops and politicians, evil mobsters, and psycho killers all cower in the dark, waiting to be rooted out of their holes, itching to be punched in the nose or plugged with a 1911 Colt by the incomparable P.I. known as Mike Hammer.  And yes, there are luscious dames, highballs at 10 am on Sunday, loyal friends, and aging heroes with scores to settle.  I can’t stand cliche — except in my hard-boiled fiction.  Here it’s an essential ingredient.

A tip of the fedora to you Mr. Collins.  Although I noticed your hand in the prose a few times, there was nothing there Mickey would’ve said was out of place.  You done good, kid.

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Review: Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig

Posted on May 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

I really wanted to love Blackbirds because I’m a fan of your Terribleminds website.  Your advice to writers — your brass knuckled advice to writers — is great stuff.  You’re a no-nonsense kind of writer.

But I have to say “Sorry Chuck, I liked it but I didn’t love it.”  I’ll give you an “A” for originality because I haven’t read anything like it before.  It had a nice twist at the end, and I was really curious about how Miriam could possibly extricate herself from her predicament.  But overall I had to grade you down in the language department.  And I just wasn’t wrapped up the characters.  I wasn’t sucked into their shoes, and I think that goes back to the language (but I could be wrong).

Blackbirds has a sweaty-balled kind of beauty.  Like a rusty diamond plate bumper on a big rig, you slam the reader down the road and into the guardrail of literature.  You are a true artist in the realm of swearing.  But for me, this was Italian food.  There’s nothing wrong with Italian food.  Millions of people love it.  But me, I’m just not a fan of pasta.  I prefer pretty language.  I’m a sucker for it.  The Catcher in the Rye is raw, there’s sex and swearing, but it’s beautiful to read.

But I suppose we can’t all be Salinger, and you aren’t trying to be, so that’s not a fair thing to expect from you.  It’s a solid book, fun and fast-paced.  I’ll give you a “B.”  Not that you give a flying frick through a rolling doughnut what I think, of course.

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The Templar Papers by Oddvar Olsen

Posted on March 27, 2013 | 1 comment

I just read The Templar Papers edited by Oddvar Olsen, a compilation of material from The Temple magazine. Some of the articles are better than others.  The best ones don’t have the phrase “what if…” in every paragraph.  There are a couple of sections that chain together five or six “what ifs” to arrive at a “fact” which is then used as the launching point and a reference for one of the other writers.

I’m not sure, but my impression is that these writers are all in their own secret abbey somewhere trading bits of speculative information and nourishing each other’s ideas.  And although that sounds like fun, the level of speculation in this books puts it more the the realm of fiction than non-fiction.

It’s great to read as entertainment and it is valuable as such.  It excites the imagination into flights of fancy and its fun to read along and let your imagination run wild.  Unfortunately, it seems like most of what it contains is, well, just that.

Don’t pick it up for scholarship, pick it up for fun.

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Posted in Mysticism

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Write a Review and Get Free Stuff

Posted on January 29, 2013 | 1 comment

Want some free stuff?  All you have to do is write a review of any of my books.   (preferably on Smashwords but I’m not picky).

Look people, I don’t have a staff of editors and a publishing house helping me polish my material.  I need feedback!  So I’m giving away four prizes — one for each of the four eBooks I have available.

The first review of each book gets a priority mail grab bag stuffed with a fat pile of my zines, a signed copy of the original perfect bound Cabal Fang Manual, and other miscellaneous items.  If you review Ghilan I’ll sweeten the deal and add a little something extra to the bag I think you’ll dig — a printout of the full 600+ word Ghilani lexicon (that’s the language spoken by the creatures known as ghilan).

Just write your review and post a link in the comments right here.

Someday, if I start selling more books than James Patterson, the stuff in this grab bag could be worth a gabillion dollars.  Think of it as an investment.  Sort of like buying up a ton of real estate back in 2008…

 

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Posted in Green, Martial arts, Writing

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The Colleagues of Professor Van Helsing (review)

Posted on November 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

I recently read Rick Russell’s The Colleagues of Professor Van Helsing over at Smashwords.  This book was really fun (and hard to beat for 99 cents).

I had been intending to read something by Machen and Blackwood, and had long thought it would be fun to read some of Aleister Crowley’s fiction, so I was very excited to find this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mr. Russell’s introductions to each tale are worthy and sound, as is his prologue, and I may well read more of his compilations. My only criticism is that Mr. Russell did not include the original publication date for each story, but that omission doesn’t diminish enjoyment.

I must say that the most unsettling of all the tales was Crowley’s “An Old Head on Young Shoulders.”

Go check out Rick’s book, and while you’re there, check out mine too.

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First Review of Ghilan Isn’t Awful

Posted on November 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

Amy Brantley over at A Girl and Her Kindle just read Ghilan and didn’t hate it.

That’s a relief!

 

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