End of the world fiction has always been some of my favorite reading. Why? Because there are so many ways to kill everyone. Just kidding…but seriously, there is. With Deep Breath Hold Tight, Jason gives us not one, but several different glimpses into his imagination. His stories that are both gruesome and heart wrenching at the same time. If you like end of the world fiction, Jason Gurley is one of the best!

Wolfskin, gives us a very unique take on end of the times savages. If you’ve ever thought about converting to cannibalism read this first. Who would have thought that I would be sympathizing with a band of marauding cannibals?

The Last Rail Rider gives us a peek at the end of the world through the eyes of the man who would not be the last. Don’t ask me, just read it!

I won’t give away anything more, because all of these stories are amazing and need to be experienced firsthand. I will tell you that when I read The Dark Age I couldn’t read anything for several days, it left me stunned and made me realize how much I take for granted.

Deep Breath Hold tight is a must have for any collection and is available today on Amazon. Go grab a copy and settle in for some truly mind-blowing reads.

Be sure to check out my interview with Jason over on my blog and show your support by visiting his website and Facebook Page.

As always, you can hop over to My Bookshelf to pick this book and many others on Amazon.com and please check out my Writer’s Blog and join in the conversation.

This week for my review page I decided to do something a little different and talk about a movie, rather than a book. I just watched “Author’s Anonymous” on Amazon and I absolutely loved it. Man, these guys really can do everything. Soon they’ll be delivering food and selling cars, hell even the good old stork may be out of business soon...but I digress…

“Authors Anonymous” is a fictional documentary about a writers group, learning about their lives and process. While the movie wasn’t groundbreaking in any way, it gave the old napkin-to-manuscript-to-published-author-tale a clever and quirky twist.

The characters are likable, even though some slightly annoying, but I feel like the film did a great job in portraying several different kinds of writers. Of course, as with every facet of life, stereotypes exist and this collection of writers is no different. They are all awkward and funny and they all share a common dream: becoming famous writers.

Hannah is a young woman, who never attended college and doesn’t know who Ernest Hemingway is, but she loves writing. In fact, her motto is “Writing Always Comes First”. She has written a book “Sleeping on the Moon” which at the beginning of the movie is picked up by an agent. This, of course, makes the other writers in the group jealous. “Sleeping on the Moon” is picked up by a publisher and later picked up for a movie deal. 

Throughout the movie, she is nice and caring and doesn’t let the fact that she landed a book deal change who she is. (Mostly.) She continues to attend the writer’s group meetings, reading her friend’s work and offering criticisms. She meets a successful author at a book signing and the two hit it off, much to the dismay of another author in the group, Henry. (Which actually turns out to be a good thing for him.)

Of course, after the group finds out she lands a 6-figure deal the jealousy continues and ultimately leads to the break up of their once tightly knit group. 

Henry is a normal everyday guy who is well read in the classics and dreams of becoming a published author. He sits in front of a wall covered in rejection letters and never once lets that get him down. Unfortunately for him, writer’s block has hit hard, preventing him from writing anything on his current novel. He works two jobs, delivering pizza and cleaning carpets, which comes in to play at the end of the movie. He’s always focus on what other famous writers have accomplished, always focused on what they have done, not what he is doing. 

Unbeknownst to the other members of the group Henry has a crush on Hannah, and is in the process of working up the courage to ask her out on a date. Of course, when he actually does, she tells him that that “writing always comes first.” That is until she meets the author at the book signing.  So, one night while Henry is out delivering pizzas he delivers to the author’s house and guess who has the cash...that’s right, you guess it.

They have a brief exchange, at the end of which Hannah says some pretty mean things about Henry’s writing, which ultimately push him to succeed. (Isn’t that how it always happens?

Colette is a rich housewife who writes cheesy novels that are nothing more than a collection of sexy adverbs and one-liners. She sees herself as the next big thing in romance fiction but her prose is, shall we say, lackluster at best. She is extremely jealous of Hannah’s success and is so convinced that she needs to be an author that she will do anything in her power to become one. Her need to become published defines her and until that happens she feels that she isn’t complete. This drives her to an agent, who suggests her spiritual advisor write a book on his life, and Colette pushes her way into co-author.

Compromise yourself much?

Alan is Colette’s middle-aged husband, an optometrist, who makes more voice memos on a recorder that actually writing. He is completely devoted to his wife and will go to great lengths to see her succeed. Until, she cheats on him with another, younger, member of the group, William.

William is a poser. A young man who plays the part of a writer, he carries a notebook and listens to people in restaurants but doesn’t do any actually writing. He rewrites the same three pages over and over again and by the end of the movie is calling everyone else in the group fakes as he leaves to find success elsewhere—after sleeping with Colette that is.

And now we come to my favorite character…

John K. Butzin. John is a veteran, and always refers to himself in the third person “John K. Butzin writes high quality fiction.” His idol is Tom Clancy, and he believes his writing is on par with the famous author. He has decided to self-publish his novel, Roaring Lion, becomes completely focuses on his Amazon “ranking” compared to Clancy’s. After some screw-ups on the publisher’s end, and failures in self-marketing, John K. Butzin takes the book on the road for his very own book tour.

I like John K. Butzin, because he is forever the optimist and where other people might have stepped back and thought, maybe I’m not supposed to be a writer he continues marching forward, undeterred. …like me.

The movie makes an small issue with him paying $250 to publish his book, and when he gets the book back from the overseas publisher the cover is horribly wrong (it has a barking dog instead of a lion) and the back cover is in Chinese. There is even a chapter about women and their periods mistakenly added to the book.

I really enjoyed this movie. Of course, my own personal bias toward Indie publishing made me a little resentful of the way the film portrayed self-publishing, but what can you do? Sure John K. Butzin was obsessed with his work and constantly compared it to Tom Clancy, but so what? Why can’t a writer love his work? The only thing that I didn’t like about his tale of self-publishing was the fact that the company messed up the book. It could have been a great book, but because of the quality of the publisher John chose worked with, the book he got back was complete crap—the book, not the story.

Of course, the movie plugged Amazon, how could they not when talking about self-publishing? But they neglected to show how well Amazon and CreateSpace actually work together. Not to mention that the quality of most CreateSpace books is on par with, or better, than most traditionally published books. But the “Big Guys” have to get their jabs in somewhere. I’m actually glad they went after the publisher and not the writer, very classy in my opinion.

I loved the enthusiasm of John K. Butzin, because no matter what, he was extremely positive about his work and regardless of having a tiny yipping dog on the cover of “Roaring Lion” he was undeterred and continued pushing forward.

Every writer should be excited about their work, no matter which route they choose to go. (Just be sure you do your research and choose a reputable company.)

Okay, the whole point of the movie—and this post—is to say one thing: there’s only one thing that can make you a writer: writing. 

Ideas don’t make authors. Hopes and dreams don’t make authors. Finding an agent doesn’t make authors. Reading about writing doesn’t make authors.

WRITING MAKES AUTHORS.

As always, you can hop over to My Movies to check out this film and many others on Amazon.com. Please check out my Writer's Blog and join in the conversation!

Josh

  "He hid himself in the numbers and code, until even he couldn’t see where he ended and the data began."

Jedidiah Troyer only wants to be a simple farmer. He is a “plain man” with dreams of settling in a new Amish community on a new world. But New Pennsylvania has its own plans for Jed.

After nine years of hibernation, Jed wakes up in his new home on a new world, looking forward to starting his new life on this untouched landscape. But instead of finding a beautiful world, ripe for farming and working, he finds a land torn apart by warn and destruction. Dawn, a mysterious woman from his past races to get Jed to safety, as Transport—a corporation bent on total control of his new world—relentlessly seeks to prevent him from reaching his destination: the Amish Zone.

The War has raged for years and now the resistance, TRACE, may finally have the upper hand. As Jed’s new friends fight to keep him safe, he learns that he is much closer to the war than he could’ve possibly imagined.

His past is the key and his future is Pennsylvania.

The term “groundbreaking” is used a lot in the world of fiction—overused in my opinion—but with Pennsylvania, “groundbreaking” is exactly what it does. Bunker has created—as far as I know—the first work of Amish Science Fiction in history, but don’t let that fool you; this novel is anything but “plain.”

The story is gripping and along with this great science fiction tale, Michael has provided readers with a glance into his own life, and allowing the reader to experience the Amish way of life first hand.

The Pennsylvania Omnibus combines all five parts of Michael’s Pennsylvania series into one beautifully formatted novel. One might say that this “model” has become the unofficial standard for Indie publishing, and Michael—not one to follow the crowd—has taken the omnibus to another level. Not only do you get a wonderful story, you get to admire the amazing art work of Ben Adams. Every “Knot”, or part, has received an original piece of art by Adams, created specifically for the Omnibus. Jason Gurley has designed a phenomenal cover for this Omnibus edition (as he has for the previous five parts) that is absolutely beautiful. David Gatewood, who has made a name for himself in the world of Indie Publishing, has done a great job editing and has been superbly formatted by Stewart Stonger.

Pennsylvania Omnibus launches April 29th so do yourself a favor, put a note on your fridge, mark your calendar and tie a string around your finger, because you do not want to miss the story! 

Be sure you check out my interview with Michael over on my blog and show your support by visiting his website and Facebook fan page “The AZ”. 

As always, you can hop over to My Bookshelf to pick up this book and many others on Amazon.com. Please check out my Writer's Blog and join in the conversation!

What would you do if you woke up and the last six years of your life were gone? Who could you turn to? Who would you trust?

Elsabetha Ellery doesn’t know who to trust, who her enemies are and more importantly, who her friends are. Six years are gone from her life, no one seems to know why, and those who do know are keeping it a secret. Lone survivor of a tragic accident, Elsabetha struggles to put the pieces of her past together and soon discovers her friends and even family know more than they are telling.

Two friends, Alexander and Jenna, are trying to help her remember, while mysterious forces are trying to keep her, and everyone else, from the truth. As Elsabetha searches for answers, she soon discovers that the people in her life are not who they seem, and the truth is much more devastating than she ever imagined.

Made to Forget, Samantha LaFantasie’s sophomore title, is set hundreds of years in the future, where the mysterious Nepherium fight to protect mankind from the an evil that many believe no longer exists. This fast paced mystery is LaFantasie’s first foray into the science fiction genre, and as an avid sci-fi reader, I have to say that she has done a damn fine job. The plot moves along swiftly and gives the reader just enough to keep them involved while not revealing too much, keeping the suspense and intrigue in high gear.

LaFantasie does a great job of capturing the emotional roller coaster that Elsabetha is forced to ride while trying to remember her past. My only complaint is that a few of the subplots that seemed integral to the plot were not ever fully developed. That being said; this was created as a novella series and as such, works fine as the first part.

The sequel “Echoes of Memories” is set to be released in late July 2014 and I’m looking forward to seeing what these new memories have in store for Elsabetha and her team.

Samantha is a Kansas native, who spends her free time her spouse and three children. Her debut novel Heart Song garnered several Five star reviews on Amazon is available in multiple formats.

Be sure to check out her website: www.samanthalafantasie.com and her Facebook page: Samantha LaFantasie Fantasy Writer. She is also on Twitter and Goodreads.

As always, you can hop over to My Bookshelf to pick up this book and many others on Amazon.com. Please check out my Writer's Blog and join in the conversation!

"Once you've arrived at the end of the world, it hardly matters which route you took."

I started out his month with the idea to only review Indie authors for March and today is no different, however, like every good second act…there’s a twist.

Today I want to talk about Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies, and while some might say, “Hey, that’s not an Indie title!” I say, “NAY!” Isaac was an Indie author and published 3 titles before a scout looking for undiscovered talent found his website and the short story that Warm Bodies grew into. And talented Isaac is.

Don’t care for Indie authors you say? I say you’re missing out on a treasure chest of awesome books! More on Indie Authors on my blog next week! But I digress…

Warm Bodies is probably only the second zombie story EVER that I actually enjoyed—the first would be Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines (which I’m planning on reviewing next month!) I, Zombie by Hugh Howey comes in a close third and the reason I like these undead tales are because they aren’t your normal, over-told, over-gored stories of mindless killing machines chasing the last remnants of society through crumbling cites. Well, Ex-Heroes sort of fits that bill, but we’ll talk about that later.

Warm Bodies is the story of R, who is a zombie, and his life after death. Sure, R kills and eats people, but he doesn’t enjoy it. When he’s not hunting, he lives a pretty normal life…for a zombie. He collects old LPs and knick-knacks from a world long gone and has made a pretty homey residence out of an old 747.

Unlike other zombie stories, the zombies in Warm Bodies have formed a kind of structure to their un-living situation. They all live in the Airport, led by the mysterious Boneys, some even get married and have families—in a manner of speaking.

Everything is going reasonably well for R, considering the circumstances. That is, until he comes across Julie. After eating the brains of Perry (Julie’s boyfriend) —R beings to relive some of Perry’s memories, and then he does something that has never been done before in the history of undead literature, he save’s Julie’s life. He brings her back to the Airport and after making a few attempts to get away Julie starts to realize that something is different about R.

What follows is nothing less than the breakdown of everything that has kept the world going through the years and both sides, human and zombie, are reluctant to embrace the change.

At its heart this story is a love story, but it is filled will clever humor and well thought out introspection about the human—or zombie—condition. Warm Bodies is not a zombie story about death, it is a story about life. Themes revolve around embracing change and how love can quite literally heal all wounds…and undeath.

If you’ve ever considered reading a book about zombies, but aren’t really excited about endless blood and gore and a depressing “there is no hope” storyline, Warm Bodies is something you MUST pick up and read.  This book is filled with clever and intelligent dialogue, great characters and an extremely enjoyable and well thought out plot.

A prequel to Warm Bodes, The New Hunger, is available at Zola.com and according to his website an untitled sequel is in the works. Check out www.isaacmarion.com for more information on his upcoming titles as well as a collection of short stories and flash fiction that are all free on his blog.

Next week we’ll talk about the new book by Samantha LaFantasie, “Made to Forget – A Nepherium Novella”

As always you can hop over to My Bookshelf to pick up this book and thousands of others on Amazon.com, and please check out my Writer's Blog and join in the conversation!

Everyone wants Kin Roland dead.

Well mostly everyone.

Enemy of Man is a great second effort by my friend Scott Moon, author of Dragon Badge, which pits ex-naval soldier against...well...everyone.  The story follows Roland across the surreal and sometimes deadly landscape of Crashdown as he chases down an alien bent on destroying everything he holds dear. But Roland is also being chased. Naval Shock Troopers led by Roland's nemesis Sergeant Orlan will stop at nothing until to find Roland, and bring him to justice for his crimes.

As the mysteries of Crashdown are revealed and new enemies appear Roland must race them all to save his world and the women he loves.

This adventure moves very fast and is packed with violence and fun. Long wars have hardened these men and women and none of them are willing to go down without a fight. With Enemy of Man, Scott proves that he is great at writing both urban fantasy and great science fiction. This story deals with love and war and how they push people into intense and impossible situations.

This was a great read and I'm really looking forward to Book Two, which hopefully will be out soon! Do yourself a favor and go pick up this book!  

Check out Scott's website: http://www.scottmoonwriter.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter: @scottmoonwriter

As always you can hop over to My Bookshelf to pick up this book and thousands of others on Amazon.com, and please check out my Writer's Blog and join in the conversation!

DARK – That’s how I would describe this book. But on the same token, INTRIGUING, would fit perfectly as well. I use the words like this because this is how Camille Preaker, uses them. They are a part of her. Camille is a cutter, but that’s in the past, but the words live on with her—well, on her.

I’ll admit to you right up front that it took me a few chapters to get into this book—it may have been because I listened to it on Audiobook and the narrator was just so damn depressing, but I guess that was the point. Narrator aside, this book is very well written and surprisingly honest. When Camille is interacting with her parents, I could feel her frustration even without the author telling me Camille was frustrated.

Sharp Objects takes place in Camille’s hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, a town that has a serial killer problem that no one wants to acknowledge. Two girls have disappeared and Camille, a reported for a Kansas City newspaper, gets the story.  But her homecoming is not a pleasant one.

Like I said, Sharp Objects is a dark story; sex, cutting, drinking and drugs all are issues tackled within the pages.  As well as Camille’s complicated relationship with her mother Adora, who every time she spoke I wanted to choke her out. I thought most of the scenes dealing with these dark issues fit into the story well, but when Camille starts talking about the first time she masturbated, I was confused.  It really didn’t have anything to do with the story, having said that, it didn’t ruin the story for me; it wasn’t graphic or lewd and I just moved on and enjoyed the rest of the book.

There are several twists—as one would hope in a story like this—one I gleaned very early on, another I thought I had figured out all the way until the last chapter and then another twist threw me off.  Events from Camille’s past come to the forefront to the story as it begins to wrap up and she finds that she is closer to these tragic murders than she would like.

Sharp Objects doesn’t have a happy ending. For that matter, none of Gillian Flynn’s other books do either, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like them. Some books just don’t end well for their characters, and well that’s life isn’t it?

The story is well-crafted, and the “dark” almost “gothic” tone is well-maintained throughout the story; there are no comic relief breaks, or “pick-me-ups” placed anywhere to bring you up out of your funk, which is something the reader should be prepared for going in. 

I also recommend Dark Places and Girl Gone, Mrs. Flynn’s follow up novels, they will not disappoint.

As always you can hop over to My Bookshelf to pick up this book and thousands of others on Amazon.com, and please check out my Writer's Blog and join in the conversation!