Story Review: The Start of Something Beautiful by Kacey Ezell, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

 

Spoiler Free Summary: The Start of Something Beautiful by Kacey Ezell is the final story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Azah is a Tortantula who never should have survived hatching. Azah is about to bond an infant Flatar (and I just don’t know what that is, I think it’s the Torantula word for human, but I don’t know). But the infant Flatar, Sadek, isn’t at all what Azah expected, but after a close encounter with Azah’s murderous siblings, they start to see each other in a different light.

Character: Azah is proactive enough, but the character isn’t very sympathetic. Part of the issue stems from a short story (though this is the beginning of a novel by Ezell and Mark Wandrey called Weaver). It’s hard to connect with a character in just a portion of a story.

Exposition: This was honestly the best part of the story. I had my issues with this story, but at least the author didn’t try to narrate the problem away. The story moves quickly without forcing the reader to sit through a history and biology lesson.

World building:  This story fell way short here for me. It might be that this story relies on the universe and is targeted straight at long-time fans of the universe, but I’m not in that group. I was lost. Sure, I understood the actions of the story, but I don’t have any context and couldn’t begin to tell you much about how this story works.

Dialogue: It wasn’t badly disguised exposition, but it wasn’t very informative either. It wasn’t snappy, and it didn’t really add to the conflict or tension. The characters just sort of talked to each other without any real range or wit.

Image of Kacey Ezell taken from her website for review purposes under Faire Use Doctrine.

Description: Honestly, I needed more here. I get that Azah is essentially a giant spider, but that’s literally the only thing that stuck in my mind. Now I’m a guy who actually isn’t a fan of description. But I wasn’t given much at all to work with here. It probably would have been easier to connect with this story and the characters if I felt more like I could see and experience what was going on.

Overall: This story is fun and cute in a lot of ways. It’s just find for a quick read, but there isn’t much power or entertainment value. Even as a first chapter, it felt a little forced. It’s not bad writing at all; it’s just not great writing. Fairly forgettable characters with a plot that seemed rushed. If you like “creature introduction” stories, this is just fine, but this final segment seemed a far drop from the awesomeness of the story before it.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Story Review: Messenger by Nick Cole, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

 

Spoiler Free Summary: Messenger by Nick Cole s the 14th story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Tom Kyle was the sole survivor of Hastings Ridge. He found faith. But he’s still struggling to make sense of the massacre he’d escaped. Then he was sent on a mech with no weapons to a planet, where this new life was. All life is precious, and Kyle means to protect that life, even against another company.  Whether he lives or dies matters far less than the fact that he fights to protect life.

Character: Kyle resonates with me. I had to look up his name, but this story had a lot of power. He’s struggling with being a survivor, which is, unfortunately, something a lot of veterans have to deal with. He’s determined, and he’s sympathetic. I like that we first see him through the eyes of his former commander, then through his reflective self, then through the eyes of another character (spoilers). This really put a lot of emotional power in this story even though it’s not very long.

Exposition: This was awesome in that it was nonexistent. From one point of view, it might be a lot, but everything we learn, we learn from the viewpoint of characters who are deep in their conflict, and all we see, we see through the eyes of some wonderfully developed characters. We learn about them as they learn about each other.

World building:  This story didn’t have a lot of that. Where most of the other stories sought to play in the world and look at different aliens (which is cool), this story focused on a real, human emotion with tremendous impact.  It’s not a story designed to wow you with scope and detail. What it did for me is make me think about how I feel about combat and how others view it.

Image of Mr. Cole taken from his website for review purposes under Fair Use doctrine. 

Dialogue: This story didn’t really have any. Oh there’s a flashback story I think, but not really enough to evaluate fully.

Description: Die hard scifi fans might be disappointed. I’ll admit, this is a bit thin on description, but there’s reason. As you read one perspective and then another, you start to understand how it all fits together, and too many descriptive beats or blocks of description would have taken away from the emotion.

Overall: This reflective story gives the reader a tremendous sense of loss with an uplifting message (no pun intended) of hope, and that makes this story truly powerful. I’m not sure what general fans of the universe would think, but I think fans of speculative scifi might really appreciate this little glimpse of characters trying to deal with real trauma and loss.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Story Review: The Kra’daar by Chris Winder, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

Spoiler Free Summary: The Kra’daar by Chris Winder s the 12th story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Nik’Thil is a Kra’daar who’s looking to determine the source of a series of fires that have started to haunt his home. Will he be able to learn what, or who, is causing them before on breaks out of control?

Character:  I recalled this story a bit more quickly than others. It’s not at the top of my list, but I remember liking the back and forth between Nik’Thil and the creature he’s chasing. This story had a nice sense of tension, and I think the character is the main reason why.

Exposition: As a whole, this anthology was solid in this regard. If I don’t remember much, it means I at least didn’t feel dragged down in a story, and that’s almost always the fault of too much exposition. This story had a good pace with a nice sense of progression.  I read it pretty quickly. This whole anthology (of which this story is an example) is custom made for an airplane or long layover. You don’t get bogged down with too much depth. You get entertainment and quick resolutions.

World building:  This is the main reason I remember this story.  The setting and conflict of this story were memorable. The details were interesting, and I enjoyed an alien perspective in a story featuring an alien character.

Image taken from Mr. Winder’s Amazon page for review purposes under Fair Use Doctrine.

Dialogue: This probably wasn’t as strong. I can’t remember a single line. I can’t remember a single situation in which the dialogue added to the plot or drama. It wasn’t bad or thinly hidden exposition; it was just conversation.

Description: This holds true from my last review. Any time I don’t think back in frustration about how many buttons that guy wore or what color the chips in the paint were, I feel like I was happy with the description. This element was a bit stronger than previous stories. I say this because I immediately remembered the overall plot and the world building, which only sticks if a scene or two stick in a reader’s head.

Overall: If you want Sci-Fi that isn’t overcrowded with human perspective, you should give this story a try. I like fantasy that expands beyond the human perspective, and this story does that. Is it an example of everything I want to read ever? No, but it is interesting, and it does have a fairly compelling main character.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Story Review: Go for Bait by T.C. Bucher, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

Spoiler Free Summary: Go for Bait by T.C. Bucher is the 11th story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Mackey seems to be running a boring operation in a crap location, but when projectiles randomly start flying at his team, he has to discern who’s attacking. Once he does, his team still has to take on the threat.

Character:  This is another story that I had to go back and skim just to remember stuff. I remember breezing through the story, but the characters aren’t very memorable. This story is a great action piece. But it’s plot driven, and while I don’t have a single negative memory of the story, nothing stood out either. The characters fell into this category for me.

Exposition: This had to have been done well. If I don’t have memorable characters, the action needs to be fast and the exposition needs to be next to nonexistent for me to be able to read it as quickly as I did. So what this story loses in depth and memorability, it makes up for in pacing and fun.

World building:  This was fine. I didn’t get frustrated with any questions (I would have remembered then).

Image of Mr. Bucher taken from his Amazon author page for review purposes under fair use doctrine.

Dialogue: This is sort of up there with character. I don’t remember any, so I know I didn’t hate it, and it didn’t slow me down.  However, I can’t recall a single line of spoken word.

Description: If I have trouble remembering it, the description had to have been done right. It was enough to keep my imagination active, but not so much that I felt like I had to slog through it.

Overall: When I went back today to scan this story, I immediately thought, “Oh, this is the story with the enemy in the tunnels!” No, I won’t remember it for years to come, but if I have a long drive or a plane ride I don’t know what to do with, this book was a pleasant, fun way to burn a few hours.  Not every story can be super memorable, but this one was at least fun.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Story Review: A Family Tradition by Ian J. Malone, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

Spoiler Free Summary: A Family Tradition by Ian J. Malone is the tenth story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Taylor is a young man trying to keep his past quiet, but the nightmares of his older brother won’t go away, and he’s about to receive an offer that he never expected.

Character:  What I like about this is that Taylor’s story is powerful even without what I think is context fans of the world will have. This story is strong just on the power of Taylor’s guilt and his memory for his brother. My thought is (and I’d love it if fans of the universe could confirm or bust my theory) that Taylor is a much more relevant character than just a solid solo story. Of all the stories in the anthology (though this isn’t one of my top three) this is the story that made it most tempting to delve into the universe. Taylor’s depth and conflict are the reasons why.

Exposition: When I started reading this, I really thought I was in for ten pages of back story that would really drag the story down, so I was really impressed when I realized that wasn’t the case. Sure, the story does have some info-dumps, but not nearly as much as a lesser writer would have trying to help the reader connect. For any author looking to study “show don’t tell” this is a solid story to read to find out how it’s done.

World building:  Honestly, this is where the story fell short. Yes, I’m glad I didn’t get a multi-page pile of exposition on who these guys are and their relevance, I also didn’t really understand the scope of this story. If my theory above is true, than this is just a problem for those who, like me, didn’t read the rest of the saga. However, if the same theory is true, fans of the saga will enjoy this little peak into a character’s origin.

Image of Mr. Malone taken from his website for review purposes under fair use doctrine. 

Dialogue: This was also a bit of a low for me. One of the pivotal plot points required dialogue, and it just didn’t hit with me. Perhaps it was the shorter nature of the story.  I don’t recall that many internal narrative beats either. Ultimately, the conversation didn’t amp up the emotion, and when your plot point is based on dialogue, you really need that.

Description: This was just fine for me. I could have even used a bit more detail in the scenes, but I’d rather have “a little less than I’d like” than anything close to “more than I need.” It didn’t detract from the story, but I’d be lying if I said it added to it either.

Overall: This is an emotionally powerful story that would be orders of magnitude more powerful if the reader already had a connection with the story. Fans of the series who (perhaps) recognize this character and his unit will truly love this little vignette.  However, people who know less will still enjoy it if they like character drama or moment of truth stories. I truly would like to know if my theory is right, and if it is, what was your opinion of this story?

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Story Review: Change of Command by Thomas A. Mays, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

Hello everyone! As promised, we’re back to the anthology reviews. Thank you for being patient!

Spoiler Free Summary: Change of Command by Thomas A. Mays is the ninth story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Sheila’s company commanders have a terrible habit of dying on her. Zuul keep killing them, and they keep putting themselves in perfect position to be killed.  Sheila is just trying to keep her unit alive. How many COs will it take before they find a way to survive?

 

Character:  Shelia is a perfect character for a story like this. She had layers of conflict that made her compelling. She may have resonated with me a bit more than some. Rather, she might resonate with any enlisted person who’s been a bit peeved at an overzealous or undertrained officer.

Exposition: The pace of this story was solid. It helps that this story had a degree of snark that I personally appreciate.  When you can feel the emotions of the main character, you tend to gloss over a pretty significant amount of exposition.

World building:  This story felt pretty independent. I’m pretty sure the tech from the main universe was the common thread, but the details were woven pretty seamlessly, so I didn’t feel lost. A few of the terms and proper nouns might have given me some trouble (it has been a while), but I was able to grasp most of what was happening.

Image of Mays taken from his Amazon Author page for review purposes under fair use doctrine.

Dialogue: This was sneaky good. It’s easy to have snark or banter in a conversation. It’s a lot harder to express conflict and professionalism. Shelia’s conversations resonated with me because I’ve felt like her sometimes. No, I’ve never been in any remote sort of danger in my career in the Navy, and I’d never want to make it seem that way, but as a communication specialist, I’ve had my share of conversations with people who had one idea about what I should be doing while I had another. He expressed this well.

Description: Mays has a lot of action. I have to admit, his opening line was one of the best in the anthology, if not the best! He’s at his best in action sequences, but I was pretty happy with the visual cues in this story.

Overall: This story has a ton of cool action with some sneaky good military drama sprinkled in.  No, it’s not as memorable as some of the other stories, but if you want a nice, quick thrill ride before the plane lands, I’d recommend this story.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Story Review: Forbidden Science by Terry Mixon, From For a Few Credits More Anthology

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful (scary but not dangerous) night. Enjoy the trick-or-treating!

Spoiler Free Summary: Forbidden Science by Terry Mixon is the eighth story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Jeff Peters is a graduate student about to work with a professor as part of Peters’ doctoral studies. Instead of being able to choose a professor he’d like to work with, he’s been recruited … by a complete nut job. At least, that’s what he thinks. Professor Xaltar is as eccentric as his is intelligent, which is saying something.  The problem is, what they’re working on could be destructive in the wrong hands. In fact, even if his dean learned about how far the experiment has come, it could spell trouble.

 

Character:  Jeff and Xaltar feel so much like Marty and Doc Brown I can’t help but love them. They’re every bit as funny as they are charming. Fans of Back to the Future will love this story, and people who didn’t well, do those people exists?

Exposition: The book started out pretty heavy in this category.  I was honestly not into it for the first part of the story because I was getting information shoved down my throat, but once I got to those two characters interacting, I forgot all about my annoyance and just enjoyed the fun.

World building:  This is another of the stories I felt stood on its own. If there was some connection to the universe that I missed, I didn’t feel like it. The story is expertly contained to the plot and the characters of this tale. It doesn’t expand much as far as I can tell, but I get the feel for what’s going on, and given that the experiment is a big deal in this universe, I understood the stakes.

Image of Mr. Mixon taken from his web site for review purposes under fair use.

Dialogue: Much like with Back to the Future, the dialogue was the star of the show. I had several laugh-out-loud moments usually based on the interaction between the main characters. It was lively and entertaining.

Description: I don’t remember much, which means there wasn’t a ton of description (which I, contrary to most fans of scifi, appreciate). No, the details didn’t stick with me, and I couldn’t tell you so much as the hair color of either main character. Other fans of the series will have to decide if that bothers them or not. It doesn’t bother me. I got a good story, and a three-page description of a ship didn’t get in the way of the ship blowing something up.  (NOTE: I’m not saying those things happened, I’m just using that as an example.)

Overall: This story was just pure fun. It’s my second-favorite story in the whole anthology. It’s Back to the Future in a futuristic setting. If you like wit and zany fun, this is the story for you.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Story Review: Emancipation by Mark Wandrey, From For a Few Credits More anthology

Spoiler Free Summary: Emancipation  by Mark Wandrey is the seventh story in the Four Horsemen anthology, For a Few Credits More.  Jim Cartwright leads a team of CASPers tasked with taking down a group of slavers set on using or even killing 400 Aku, an alien race Jim means to keep alive. Can Jim take down the slavers without harming the slaves? What happens if those who paid his team aren’t interested in the collateral damage?

 

Character:  I like Jim.  He’s a classic white-hat with strong morals much like Captain America. I think characters with depth and flaws are great, but it’s nice to see a good ol’ fashioned good guy once in a while. The other characters in this story contribute to the feeling as well. Most of these characters are charming.  The villains might be a tad 1980s (bad slavers who just do bad), but I don’t mind so much, especially considering Jim.

Exposition: The exposition of this story was solid. Sure, Wandrey gets into the world a bit more, but that’s to be expected since he’s been playing in the universe for a while.  But he never dragged me down with details I didn’t need or information that could have been presented in a better way.

World building:  It’s obvious Wandrey knows his world. He was able to toss me the details I need without going to far into depth. Where it feels like most authors just sort of stayed in the context of the story, Wandrey uses his knowledge of the universe to add scope to his story without dragging the pace down.

Image of Wandrey taken from his website for review purposes under fair use doctrine.

Dialogue: This was solid. I don’t really remember any particularly piffy lines, but I do remember the dialogue helped move the plot and got me to smile once or twice. The dialogue between Splunk, a Fae, and Jim was particularly charming.

Description: I actually think this was the strongest aspect of this story.  Wandrey’s story felt like I was there, and that doesn’t happen much with me. Great little details to add a visceral feel combined with subtle adjectives when the pace was fast. Scifi tends to drag the reader down with details and description. Wandrey has that part figured out.

Overall: This is a great, motivating (in a military sense) story with just the right mix of action, adventure, and humor. Jim is a great character to hang out with, and the visuals in this story really do draw a reader in.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

September Book Cover of the Month Midway Update

Greetings all,

With just about seven days left in this month’s bracket, I thought this would be a good chance to update you all on how things have been progressing. Unfortunately, this is a very slow month. How slow? It’s in the running for the least-voted (full month) competition. (December didn’t have a full 32 entries.)

933 votes so far. Now, as few votes as we’ve had, I will say it’s a very close fight.

For a Few Credits More, edited by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey, has had the lead for a few days now.

Most Voted on so far: Scars of the Sand by Frank Dorrian has the most total votes so far with 74.

Least Voted for: Seeds of Blood by C. Chancy. This cover only has a total of seven votes. I think it’s deserving of more than that even if the voters feel it’s not deserving of the championship.

The other good news is that the championships are the closest round. There are essentially three books right in the hunt for the championship. Credits, Sand, and The Festival of Tiral and Ember by Logan Miehl are all within three “finals” votes of each other. This means if either book gets three people to vote them all the way through, they’re right back in the winners’ circle.

A quick reminder of how the tournament works. The easiest way to win is to have the most people vote for you in every round. The trick is you have to have the most people vote you through in each round, all the way to the final.  As an example, 100 people could vote someone through to the finals, but that doesn’t do a cover any good if he doesn’t win the first round. It’s not total votes. It’s not simple championship votes. The winning cover has to have the most votes in each round of the competition.
Since this is such a slow month, ANYONE can win if they can get nine people to vote them all the way through to the championships.

 

This will be the only update for this type of bracket. It’s been an amazing tournament to watch thus far, and I hope readers continue to support their authors by voting, liking, and sharing the bracket with as many people as possible.  You can vote at this address!

I’ll announce the winner is just seven days!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The September Book Cover of the Month

Happy first everyone! (In my opinion this one took way to long getting here!) If you’re curious or new, check out the Book Covers for December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and August.

September’s bracket has 30 new books. Last month’s second and third place, Black Ruins Forest by Karen DuBose and Lucky or Not, Here I come, by Gerry Orz, have a second chance to win the monthly title.

You can vote all the way through the tournament, supporting the covers you like best through each round. I like to make sure people get the credit they deserve, so please show your support. Please vote and share as much as possible to get people a chance to pick their favorite.

As always, I’d appreciate it if you tag the authors and artists if you know them. I try to tag or friend every author I can, but sometimes it’s hard to track someone down. Max participation is a huge deal to me. The more people who vote, the more recognition these authors and artists receive, and I want this to be as legitimate as possible.

Image taken from Pixabay.

If you are the author, let’s remember to be good sports! 1) Please feel free to message or contact me at any time. 2) Please feel free to like, share, text, ask for support, and call everyone you know. I absolutely want max participation. However, if you’re going to offer giveaways or prizes, please offer them for voting, not just voting for you.

Also, while your summoning your army of voting soldiers, please make sure you ask them to vote in every match. Part of the idea of this is to get exposure to as many artists and authors as possible. By all means, if you can get 1,000 people to vote for your book, do it. Just please also send some eyeballs to the other matches.

A final note to authors and artists: I currently have links to the books’ Amazon pages. If you’d prefer I switch that link to sign up for your newsletter or like your social media page or whatever, just send me the link and let me know. I want this to help you. I want this to be as helpful as possible, so whatever you need me to do to facilitate that, just let me know.

I hope you keep having fun. Please, vote, share, and discuss as much as possible.

All you have to do now is head over here to vote!

Thanks for reading,

Matt