One last time this year… it’s all the rest of the books I read since July 2022!
The Pharaoh of Hong Kong by Matthew Cody and Brian Clevinger
Sally Slick & the Miniature Menace by Carrie Harris
Khan of Mars by Stephen Blackmoore
The Centurions embark on their own adventures! Benjamin Hu tracks down Doctor Methuselah and his mathemagical threat! Someone has sabotaged Sally Slick’s racing tractor, and it leads her to find a terrible menace in a mysterious carnival! Professor Kahn is whisked away to Mars to battle Princess Cyclone! Thrills! Chills! And maybe some other amazing events!
So a couple weeks ago I wrote about how much I enjoyed the Dinocalypse Trilogy. Each of the heroes there gets their own spinoff novel! Sometimes two! I haven’t read them all yet (though I now own them all!), but this sampling showed that each of the characters can hold their own. My favorite of these three by far is Kahn of Mars, a great tribute to the John Carter of Mars books. My only real complaint about these volumes is that it seems the authors were assigned a title, but didn’t really work that title into the story much. Sally Slick in particular does have a miniature menace… but for very little of the story. Despite that, each book is a great romp. That aside, if you like pulp-style adventures, seriously, check these out.
The Big Sheep
by Robert Kroese
Erasmus Keane is one of the few people who can navigate both LA and its Disincorporated Zone, essentially a third world nation tucked away inside the massive city. He’s a private eye with contacts in both worlds. He’ll need all his wits about him, though, to track down a missing… sheep? Well, that’s different. Robert Kroese brings his sly humor and combines it with a cyberpunk setting to create a mystery that will really get under your wool.
Robert Kroese is great. Seriously. His Starship Grifters is one of the few books I’ve laughed out loud from. This book still has humor in it, but it’s much more focused on its gritty story. Look, just check this one out if you like off-kilter science fiction. It’s worth your time.
Drinks and Sinkholes
by S. Usher Evans
A strange drought plagues the city of Pigsend. Grumpy troops from the queen are lodging at the Weary Dragon Inn. Sinkholes form all over the town, swallowing buildings and threatening the inn itself. Innkeeper Bev will need to figure out what’s really going on!
Last year I read Legends and Lattes and was welcomed into the cozy fantasy subgenre. When I saw the Weary Dragon Inn series on Kickstarter, well, I knew it was time to try another series in the same subgenre. This book is cozy, and the characters and setting are instantly likable. My only complaint is an odd one: There’s too much tension! I expected a light read, but I got one that felt more like Murder, She Wrote. It’s definitely not an action adventure, but there was more going on than I expected going in. That said, I’m halfway through book two and enjoying it now with my shifted expectations!
Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2022
edited by Robert Greenberger
It’s the third Thrilling Adventure Yarns anthology, and it’s just as packed with adventures as the last two! Enjoy mysteries, westerns, aviation stories, science fiction, occult, sword and sorcery, and two-fisted tales!
So like most anthologies, this one is a mixed bag. However, most of these stories are pretty solid, and there’s more than one that I want to revisit the worlds introduced. I’m particularly fond of Keith R. A. DeCandido’s Ticonderoga Beck, a hero cast in the image of Doc Savage… except it’s really his crew that does all the hard work. Beck wants to give all the credit to his crew, but the press won’t believe him because they’re all women or minorities. I loved that Beck came off as a really likable guy who really wanted his friends to get the credit they deserved! Each of these anthologies have been well worth the price. If you like adventure stories, look it up.
Rook Takes the Queen
by Christopher Brimmage
Who stops cartoons when they turn criminal? Mandrill P. I.! But what happens when toons all over the city turn into strange werebeasts? Is the moon involved, or is she innocent this time? And will Manny’s elephant ghost friend stop being so annoying?
This book is crazy. Seriously. So strange and bonkers and… fun. Imagine Toontown from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, except that’s all the world is. No humans around, just cartoons, and everything works in cartoon logic. And then play it as a straight noir tale. Well, you got Rook Takes the Queen. The mashup works, too! In less capable hands it would just fall apart, but Brimmage knows what he’s doing. I didn’t back book two on Kickstarter, though I really should have. Guess I have to wait until it comes out on Amazon!
New Kings of Tomorrow
by J. M. Clark
The plague wiped out humanity. Few survived. Those few that made it through the plague were brought together to the Palace Program, a utopia where everyone has everything they need. Except… is everything as good as it appears?
This book tore me up. The first half or so cover just the first few days of the plague, and reminded me in very good ways of the opening of Stephen King’s The Stand. I felt real dread at Clark’s masterful descriptions and personal touches. And then the second half of the book takes place a few decades later in the Palace Program and… it felt like so many other YA books I’ve read. Look, you already know by reading the back cover of the book that the Palace Program is bad. There were no surprises in the rest of the book. Now, this is book one in a trilogy, and I do have the others. I’m planning to give book two a try, but… I’m hoping it can recapture the magic of the opening chapters of book one.
Havenwood Falls Legends, Volume One
by Eric R. Asher, Tish Thawer, and Morgan Wylie
Every person in Havenwood Falls has a secret. No one is what they seem. But what came before the town’s founding? How did the mysteries begin? This collection of three novellas follows sister witches that escape Salem, a woman who wants to escape her witch hunter family, and a few pirates who tick off a local fae.
I picked this book up because I love the concept of the series. It’s an anthology series set in the shared setting of Havenwood Falls. Even within that, though, there are four different series. One focuses on the adults in the town, one is a YA series focusing on the teens, one is the Legends series focusing on the origins of the town, and then there’s one that’s got spicy romance as its focus. A setting that someone could “grow up” in, reading appropriate books as they get older? I love that concept!
However, the execution… the first novella here did not connect with me in the least. Maybe the characters show up in other books, but as a stand-alone tale, it left me cold. The second story also felt like setup, but at least it enticed me to want to know more. The last story with the pirates, though, made me really interested. These are characters I’d read a full book about!
So, yeah… mixed bag, I guess.
Zao’s Tales
by J. A. Sommer
What happens when the stories you read are so real they literally leap off the page? What happens when a family reads a book and its villain enters the real world? Can they send the villain back where he belongs?
I backed this book on Kickstarter. The description felt so charming, I figured I’d enjoy it! And… I’m sorry, but I didn’t. The book felt like… I don’t know. Too safe. It felt like an adult writing for children, not trusting that children can handle danger. If you’re looking for a safe book, this one will do. It didn’t do a whole lot for me, though.
Ulla
by Martin L. Shoemaker
Eugene Hardy was supposed to make it big… but the city chewed him up and spat him out. Now in 1907, he’s home again, teaching music at his school and church. Then a circus comes to town, and he encounters a Martian. You see, H. G. Wells was wrong. But then, so was everyone else.
Here’s another Kickstarter I backed. The book reminds me in tone of Ray Bradbury in all the right ways. It’s mysterious and dark, but not dismal. It pulls the heartstrings in a small-town setting and real characters. I’m eager to read book two in this series!
Phenomenons: Every Human Creature
edited by Michael Jan Friedman
The Grey Guardsman stands up to crime at every level of society! He brings together other remarkable individuals into the United Front! And then… the Guardsman vanishes. Will the other superheroes pick up the pieces and continue the fight?
Look! Another book I backed on Kickstarter! I’ve come to trust Friedman as an author, and many of the people in this anthology are people whose stories I’ve loved, for instance, Peter David, Keith R. A. DeCandido, and Ron Marz, to name a few.
But… maybe I’ve just read too many superhero stories. Nothing here felt new to me. None of the characters or situations sang. If you’re not already a huge superhero reader, this book might have some good stuff for you, but for me… it just felt like more of the same things I’ve already read.
The Memory of Water
by Taylen Carver
A plague has created a new breed of humanity… sort of. It’s unlocked ancient genetic ties, reverting humans to creatures that resemble fae, elves, dwarves, and other mythical entities. Or maybe they don’t just resemble these beings, but become them. It’s a situation that creates all sorts of conflict, and the only wizard remaining on earth has to step in and help out wherever he can… even if he doesn’t want to.
Look! Yet another Kickstarter book! This one’s urban fantasy, which isn’t a place I often go. I loved the idea, though! It’s not a “hidden world” like much urban fantasy, but a fantastical situation forced on the waking world.
And the book brings the action and cool settings. Something didn’t quite click for me… I’d give it a solid B. Not all the character interactions quite worked in my mind, but the setting is solid enough that I’m definitely going to be reading book two.
Oddstar
by Phoenix Ward
It’s the multiverse’s most dangerous game. A disparate crew are brought together by a godlike being to find mysterious objects in universes they’ve never visited. Can the crew trust each other enough to survive the strange situation?
Yes! Another Kickstarter find! The books were sold as zany adventures, and… yeah, they’re zany. However, toward the end of the volume, there’s this push for an emotional resolution that… just didn’t work for me. I didn’t get to know the characters well enough to believe the climax.
I have the entire trilogy, but I’m not sure if I’ll be going back to this one. I liked the zany, but the emotions just didn’t connect.
The Queens of Heaven
The Queens of Time
The Queens of Space
by Andrew S. French
She’s escaped the Watchers and made friends with a space cat. Now she tries to right wrongs throughout the timeline… but there are other groups out there, other factions that want to control all of time. They’re convinced they can do it, too. Now she needs to step up and stop them… even though she’d rather just go hide.
One last Kickstarter find! These books are all fast reads. French pours out idea after idea after idea so you hardly get the chance to rest between them. The characters are consistent throughout the trilogy, too. But… the threads never really come together. The entire story begins with an invasion of earth that the protagonist narrowly stops, but something about it bothers her as wrong. And then that leads to one thing to the next… and we never circle around again. I feel like there’s a great story here, but it could have used another round of editing to get it just right.
Jonathon Mast: Author 