Book Review: Dark Musings by David Boiani

Book Review

Title: Dark Musings

Author: David Boiani

Where to get: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/722258

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y3HB1PF

Star Rating: 5 stars for both enjoyability and structure

Age Rating (IMO): PG13 for most of the stories

This book is a collection of short stories ranging from somber, macabre, all the way through beautiful. Some of them are all of these things. It starts strong and stays strong through the entire book. Some of these stories are going to haunt my head for awhile, such as the child rescued by the teacher, the serial killer, the mother that lost touch with reality, and the one about the birth of Adolf Hitler and his parent’s expectations as examples. There are so many different viewpoints and scenarios, and no character is flat. They live, they breathe, some of them you wonder if you’ll meet walking down the street or getting your morning coffee. Some of them you pray you never will. Yet, it is likely that at some point you will meet someone that might have stepped from these pages.

These are tales that might happen, some that do happen. It is not a journey for the faint of heart. However I also feel it is one that most should read. Some of these are great cautionary tales, and I would consider this a very good addition to a collection of modern folklore. They remind me in a way of books that I grew up with, such as the Scary Stories collections by Alvin Schwartz, but aimed for an older crowd.

It is hard to find anything that I did not like. Some of the stories appalled me, but not because the author dared write them. They appalled me because I’ve read of things similar happening in news and some of the things addressed are real. It is not the author’s job to control his fellow man, and an author’s job is as much to shine light on the good as it is to expose the bad. Therefore I do not find anything to actually detract. It was very well done. I am going to be suggesting this book to several people that I know who will immensely enjoy it.

Personal note for Youtube: It took me a couple days to finish this book. I prefer to read in long uninterrupted sessions, but it just was not able to happen as I’d have liked. If I had nothing else on my plate I would have been able to finish in less than a day. You might prefer to read this one story a day and contemplate to let the full effect seep in, or you might read in spurts here and there and you can grab the time, both would work and if done would lengthen your reading time. If you are like me and like to carve out reading days then you still will be able to. This book fits any reading style due to the short story structure.

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Book Review: The Eleventh Hour (The Prime Insurgency #11)

We have come to the end of my personal challenge, the Advance Review Copies, and the series. I greatly enjoyed the chance to read through these books. Having spoken with the author there will be two boxed sets for this series.

• Books 1-6
• Books 7-11

Book Review

Title: The Eleventh Hour (The Prime Insurgency #11)

Author: J. D. Stonebridge

Author’s page: https://www.amazon.com/J.D.-Stonebridge/e/B00OPZ1YQU

First off the end of this made me tear up. Even in winning there was defeat, as should be expected in a storyline such as this, as inevitably someone is going to lose. I don’t think any of the characters in this were truly evil. In this I am reminded a bit of Miyazaki’s works. It is very fast, but at the end, in that last chapter, it gets very somber very quickly.

Even though we have deity-like Primes, the truth of the gods of the various religions, there is no deus ex machina in this. Everything is explainable. Even down to the battle between two “father figures” and a colossal screw up that possibly could have been avoided if not for one thing. Pride. This is what I take from the story anyway.

The story is not ended, not with what the epilogue sets up. Once more Tony goes missing, leaving behind a note begging not to be sought or stopped. Of course Lauren and Lance are going to go looking. I hope to see another series following this storyline.

Once more the writing is good. The characters come alive in this and it is the interplay of character with plot that keeps the pages turning so fast. You get attached to them. You grimace when they get hit, feel bad when they die.

There were a few places that jarred me out of the flow but I was pulled along by the story so fast that by the time I realized I was already too far forward to go back and make note of it properly. This was a very enjoyable book and series, which I would recommend for anyone that likes contemporary sci fi, whether teen or older.

Book Review: Ten Great Beams (The Prime Insurgency #10)

Nearing the end of my personal challenge, the Advance Review Copies, and the series. There's only one more after this! Having spoken with the author there will be two boxed sets for this series.

• Books 1-6
• Books 7-11

Book Review

Title: Ten Great Beams (The Prime Insurgency #10)

Author: J. D. Stonebridge

Author’s page: https://www.amazon.com/J.D.-Stonebridge/e/B00OPZ1YQU

In this book we learn what happens with Tony and get more intimate with Sun Child, or Rathanos. We also discover that this Prime is a huge book worm. I have to compare him with Thoth and with Apollo. We are not brought in his viewpoint to where he met back up with Lance yet, I am assuming that this comes in the next book “Eleventh Hour.” We do however learn more about two plans, Rathanos’ plan, and that of the Zeus/Ivan. I cannot recall off the top of my head the actual name of the storm Prime that was given in one of the previous books. Thus I have to admit falling into the pantheon problem when these beings are more of what is at the root of them all.

So I wonder if this also makes Sun Child/Rathanos the seed for Amaterasu as well, given how some saw that deity is female and others male.

Again the writing is well done. I noticed less strange drop downs in dialogue. This time they really were at logical places such as paragraphs within speech. The characters are still rounded and believable, and growing, living, breathing. It is obvious how much thought each character was given. The story stays intriguing the further one goes. I also very much liked how Tony, the scholar, ends up standing up to Ivan, the host of the Zeus-like Prime, and displaying the bravery that others have commented on.

Book Review: Ninth Wonder (The Prime Insurgency #9)

I am back with another review based on an Advance Review Copy that I was given for feedback.

Book Review

Title: Ninth Wonder (The Prime Insurgency #9)

Author: J. D. Stonebridge

Page count:

Where to get:

Author’s page: https://www.amazon.com/J.D.-Stonebridge/e/B00OPZ1YQU

This was another quick read. You really want to read the previous books in the series before reading this one in order to fully understand and appreciate what is going on. In this episode Lance and his new Prime body buddy have to learn to work together, which would be a lot easier if Lance was the sort of guy who could share. Lance has to make some more close calls, follow his instincts, and walk a bit in faith in order to meet back up with his battle buddies.

That plan, as one might expect in a war of Primes, does not go exactly as planned, but he does make some new allies and learns a shocking, or perhaps not so shocking, truth. Tony has been lost but now he is found, and Lance is not a happy man.

I was pleased with how the characters continue to grow and develop, and with the way the new characters are introduced into the storyline. It reminds me a bit of folding the batter versus stirring it, to borrow from baking terminology. The books are feeling like they are getting a bit longer than the previous ones in the series. There is more meat in these later episodes. Perhaps it is because the stakes are so high, and there is so much more to take care of now that we are running at speed.

Book Review: The Writer's Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing

Book Review

The Writer's Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing

I borrowed a copy of this from the local library as I have been considering getting a copy of my own. Advice that writers often give each other is to always be reading, whether fiction, history, or books about writing.

I found it to be well worth the borrow and it will definitely be moving up in my mental list of books to procure for when I am stuck with a writing problem. I ended up renewing the book after the first two weeks so that I would have more time with it. I found a great deal of information in it that even though it is a review I found useful to be able to isolate and focus on elements concept by concept. Some of the concepts have more than one article about them and by more than one author to give various viewpoints and methods of address.

Book Review: Eightfold Way (The Prime Insurgency #8)

This book is not currently available to the public yet. I get the treat of reading the Advance Review Copy of this book and posting a pre-release review. I will be returning to update this post with the individual link once the book has been released to the public.

Book Review

Title: Eightfold Way (The Prime Insurgency #8)

Author: J. D. Stonebridge

Where to get:

Author’s page: https://www.amazon.com/J.D.-Stonebridge/e/B00OPZ1YQU

I have to say that I really like how these title names not only work in the number within the series but also trace out a particular spiritual path.

In this book we get treated to memories of the Prime that now inhabits Lance. Two of the Primes that this Prime shares memories of remind me greatly of Zeus and Juno. It almost has me seeking a place to put “Amacaron” within the Greco-Roman pantheons, but I know that if I give in to this urge too much that I could miss a lot. However as I read further I am reminded more and more of Mercury. After Apollo’s appearance, however, I had to look up Amacaron.

The scene in this part of the story regarding the planet itself waging war against the alien invaders has me thinking about the stories of Atlantis and the lesser known Mu and Lemuria.

Overall I would say that a good portion of this episode of the series focuses on the story of how man came to be, what was the event that caused Pangaea to break and begin continental drift, and several other events set into motion in the distant past. It was absolutely fascinating to me.

And then it ended on the usual cliffhanger. Functionally, limiting each book to six chapters seems to be really good at doing that.