Malasz

The Human Purity movement is growing in power and influence in Denning, attacking dwarf businesses and caravans and inciting popular rebellion against the central government, with the passive or active support of many of the ruling Golds. Opposing them almost alone is the Realmgold, a young man named Determined. His problem is that, even though the Realmgold is meant to be in charge, nobody is paying much attention to him. Victory, who rules neighbouring Koskant, would love to support Determined, but an ancient magical treaty between their realms means she can’t send in her troops, her skyboats or her pressure guns. What she can do, though, is share a new magical communications technology – and her elite corps of Gryphon Clerks… Realmgolds is the first actual steampunk type novel that I can ever remember reading and Reeves-McMillan certainly made a steampunk girl out of me. While the steampunk label may dismay some potential readers, let me assure you that your time will not be waste...

A totalitarian state doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s a slow, dangerous slide. 25 Perfect Days chronicles the path into a hellish future of food shortages, contaminated water, sweeping incarceration, an ultra-radical religion, and the extreme measures taken to reduce the population. 25 Perfect Days is a collection of short stories that span 40 years and charts the downfall of the U.S.A. It gets off to a great start with "Five Minutes Alone", a powerful short story that stands on its own as it weighs in on capital punishment. "Fourteen Angry Marchers" is next and highlights a pivotal moment in the history of the Church of the American Way, a fictitious Christian outfit which takes full advantage of President Bush's faith-based initiative and expands its reach through a clever argument. With the separation of church and state erased, it's all downhill from here. The rest of the book ticks off the loss of freedoms as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and a...

Celebrate the Sinner takes place against the backdrop of the lumber trade in Oregon during the Great Depression. The family featured doesn't put the “fun” in dysfunctional: Marie, the mother, is a lonely alcoholic with serious boundary issues; Merle, the father, is an entrepreneurial sort whom the reader never gets to know; Teddy, their son, copes. They move to a house that gives real meaning to the word “ramshackle” when Merle acquires a sawmill. The descriptive writing here is mostly very good; the reader is introduced to the cacophony and grit of living on an industrial site, the constant fear of fire, the broken men who work there. There are intermittent reminiscences by the now-elderly narrator, whose only pride is in his undiminished sexual prowess. He casts off wives and girlfriends when they become ill and just looks for the next hot encounter. These asides are jarring, because the reader is left trying to figure out how he got from here to there. We are witnesses to Teddy...

Black Book, Volume 1, has the first three episodes of the genre-bending Black Book series.  It’s a story that mixes Western, science fiction, and fantasy into a quest that spans centuries. In Part 1: The Devil’s Blood , we find Sheriff Jack trying to keep the peace in a small, American West town during the 1860s.  But Jack is no ordinary Sheriff.  He has almost supernatural skills that help him survive a bloody encounter with bandits that shoot up his town and kill many of its citizens.  He’s quick on the draw, knows how to use his fists…and can time-travel out of town when a powerful adversary leaves him no choice but to retreat. In Part 2: Out of Time , we meet Benjamin Freeman, President of the United States in the year 2308.  Ben has directed his time-travel corps to locate Jack, an old military comrade who has gone missing in the distant past.  When Ben personally oversees the operation, he walks into a trap orchestrated by a deadly faction that also w...

Barnes & Noble announced today that they're getting out of the manufacturing business. It is their intent that in order to cut losses, they won't make any more Nooks. They'll design them, make apps for them, support them with their catalog, but won't build them without outside help. Here's the original text: The company plans to significantly reduce losses in the NOOK segment by limiting risks associated with manufacturing. Going forward, the company intends to continue to design eReading devices and reading platforms, while creating a partnership model for manufacturing in the competitive color tablet market. Thus, the widely popular lines of Simple Touch™ and Glowlight™ products will continue to be developed in house, and the company’s tablet line will be co-branded with yet to be announced third party manufacturers of consumer electronics products. At the same time, the company intends to continue to build its digital catalog, adding thousands of eBooks e...

No matter how far you travel, your past is only a step behind you. The above statement illustrates the underlying theme of D.E.M. Emrys's "From Man to Man".  This short story clocks in at barely 40 pages but is enough to whet your appetite for the larger "It Begins with Ashes". "From Man to Man" follows the character of Draven, a retired mercenary as he tries to settle down into a 'normal' life.  It opens up with an almost heartbreaking scene of Draven imagining himself talking to his sleeping wife and telling her how hard he tried and how he is sorry he failed her. This initially led me to believe that Draven was going to be leaving his wife and son and going back to his life before.  Instead you find him at what you learn is yet another odd job trying to earn a living.  You also are treated to the litany of other jobs in the town that he failed at. This story is a well-crafted and engaging look at someone used to living on the outside of soci...

Anne Charnock's first novel, A Calculated Life , offers a glimpse into late 21st Century England. It isn't glamorous, nor is it horrific. It's a dystopia where government and corporations control a pacified populace. The population has been divided into augmented professionals, who live in wonderful neighborhoods with all the trappings of upper middle class life we see today, and organics , who are crowded together in enclaves outside the city. The enclaves aren't filthy hellholes, but rather subsidized housing where their residents make use of everything to scrape up extra money to take the edge off of their spartan existence. The story is told from the POV of a young woman named Jayna. She works for a successful analytical firm that studies global trends; seeking signals in the noise of everyday life, like whether or not wind direction affects reports of violence. We realize at the outset that Jayna is different, even from the augmented managers she works for. As the ...