My Thoughts on Hell Holes, Book 3: To Hell and Back by Donald Firesmith
I do not recommend this book for my youth readers.
To Hell and Back was not my favorite in the series. I do not hold this against Firesmith’s ability to craft a compelling story. A good portion of book 3 went into detail about the types of weapons the humans were to take to Hell, and I am not interested in the technological side of things. A big part of what I dislike about science fiction is the technologies and science. Once the scientific explanations were complete, I was very interested in the story. I loved entering the portals to Hell, taking the fight to Hell, and learning what happened after the strike force returned home.
I think Firesmith does a great job at describing the scenery and landscape without slowing distracting the reader. His descriptions of both Alaska and Hell were vivid and clear for my mind’s eye.
My Thoughts on Hell Holes, Book 2: Demons on the Dalton by Donald Firesmith
I do not recommend this title for my younger readers.
Demons on the Dalton picks up right where Book 1 left off. This story held my interest start to finish, with the main characters moving from one deadly situation right into the next. Kept me turning the page, interested in what happened next.
Firestone did a great job at describing his magical creatures in Demons on the Dalton, and bringing the Alaskan landscape to life in my mind’s eye.
A Portait of Death The Versipellis Mysteries Book 1 by Rhen Garland
I do not recommend this book for my YA readers.
Tragedy strikes at Marmis Hall the night of great party. The plot was interesting, the characters well developed, but my favorite part of the book was seeing Marmis Hall.
Even though I have never been to Southwest England, the author did a great job at describing the settings for me to understand and see what was happening.
I learned a great deal about how to build the landscape for the reader. I could easily see and hear everything that was described in the book in my mind’s eye.
My Thoughts on Hell Holes, Book 1: What Lurks Below by Donald Firesmith
I enjoyed the story, though, I do not think this story is for my YA followers.
The story had a thought provoking concept. What if Hell was an actual place and all the demons and dark creatures of legend and mythology were real, and entered our world through galactic portals?
The plot, the character development, and the world building were all excellent. Even though I felt the backstories of a couple of the characters disrupted the flow of the narrative, overall, this was a wonderful read.
I loved how the author described the Alaskan landscape. I have never had the opportunity to visit Alaska myself, but as I read this story, I was able to clearly see what the characters saw. The world building was excellent, and reminded me that I could do better at describing the landscape of my own stories. I loved learning how the author brought the landscape to life without distracting the reader.
Bane of Ashkirath by Ariel Paiement in the Alcardia world is an absolute favorite story of mine, mostly because it was about a couple of archaeologists. I went to school to become an archaeologist, then my life took a different direction, but archaeology is still a passion of mine. And when you mix archaeology with fantasy, well, that is stuff my dreams are made of.
But, coming into The Healer of Shadow, Healer of Alcardia Book 1, that was all I knew. The author references some past experiences that Vivianna Valmurith and Kishentar had with Oblivion that I did not understand, but I felt those references did not detract from plot. Like Paiements other titles, this book was well written, well edited, and well executed. I greatly enjoyed the read, and really want to read about Vivianna Valmurith and Kishentar’s experiences with the Oblivion.
I have often felt that in my own writing, I do pretty well with explaining what happens to my characters, but I do not do very well at explaining the motivation, how the decisions were made. Every time I read a story by Ariel Paiement, I learn a little bit more about how to use a deeper point of view, focusing on the characters inner most thoughts, without distracting from the flow of the story. It was the same with Healer of Shadow. I understand Vivianna better than I understand some of my own personal friends, and my own personal characters.
JQM PRESENTS A BLOG POST INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR Derek Power
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF:
I began writing in early 2001, mainly focusing on short stories. After winning the odd contest here and there I figured I would try and write something a little longer. A few false starts later I managed to complete my first novel, titled Filthy Henry: The Fairy Detective, in early 2013. I currently live in Skerries, Dublin, Ireland. So far I have written five Filthy Henry novels, a sci-fi noir called ‘Duplex Tempus’ and been involved in three different anthologies.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE?
I always wanted to be a writer when I was younger, to have my books on the shelves beside some of the greats. Of time I was convinced that writing is a hard eggs to crack and getting a job in some other area made more sense so that I could have a pay check and then try writing later on. But the stories never stopped swirling around in my head and eventually after dabbling in some short stories and the odd contest I took the plunge and wrote my first Filthy Henry novel.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS? WHY?
My top two are Philip K. Dick and Terry Pratchett. Dick, because his sci-fi novels, novellas and short stories were in a league of their own in terms of the tales he told. There was never anything that repeated and you were always left guessing right up until the very end as to what was actually going on. Then Pratchett because he introduced me to the fact that you could combine comedy and fantasy together and still tell amazing stories that made you laugh at the same time. I was even lucky enough to meet the man at a book signing, which is now one of my most treasured possessions.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS? WHY?
Everyone always asks do I not like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ – which is a crazy question, because it is fantastic. But my all time favourite is ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ – I read it at least once a year. It is just such a good story, which so many angles to it. In fact I have read my paperback so many times that when I got a version to have on my Kindle I noticed that the publisher had changed all the dates to be set in the future – the original is set in the 1990s but the Kindle version was 2490.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE LITERARY CHARACTERS? WHY?
Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. He is one of the few characters that grows each story. When we first meet him he is an alcoholic with no intention of ever changing his ways and by the end he is a married man with a son and he has single handedily revamped the Watch. His code of conduct is also one that I can get behind – to just do the right thing no matter the cost to yourself. To never budge an inch because being right and doing right are not the same thing.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR FELLOW AUTHORS AND/OR ASPIRING AUTHORS?
Write every day, without fail, no matter what day it is. People often look at a book and think that something 100k words is a mountain that can never be climbed. But if you wrote 1000 words a day, or 500, or 100, that mountain gets smaller. So, write every day. As a much more famous author said – you don’t call yourself a write if you only do it every so often. You need to write and read every day.
IMAGINE ONE OF YOUR BOOKS IS ABOUT TO BECOME A FILM OR TV SHOW. WHO IS YOUR “DREAM CAST?” AND WHO DO YOU ASK TO CREATE THE SOUNDTRACK?
I think the one that might stand an actual chance at being turned into a movie is Duplex Tempus, the sci-fi noir one. I’d love to have Emily Blunt or Emilia Clarke cast in the main role as Detective Temple. She is one of those gritty characters with more flaws than virtues and I think that they could pull that off nicely. For the soundtrack I’d love M50 to do it. The work that one of them did for the movie Oblivion was so good that I think the entire band would really do my story justice.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH POTENTIAL READERS?
You can listen to the first three Filthy Henry novels, along with some never before published short stories, as a free podcast on most podcast platforms, just search for Filthy Henry.
WHERE CAN WE GO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR LITERARY WORKS?
You can visit my site at http://www.powerwrites.com – it has links to the books and news on upcoming events.
JQM PRESENTS A BLOG POST INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR Bruce Nesmith
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF:
I’ve spent most of my life and career in fantasy and science fiction. My first job out of college was at TSR, maker of Dungeons & Dragons. I’m best known for writing the Ravenloft campaign setting. At Bethesda Softworks, I served as a senior designer for The Elder Scrolls and Fallout video game series, including being the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These days I’m an author and gleefully enjoying world building and writing stories set in those worlds.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE?
I read voraciously as a child, and still do today, preferring fantasy and science fiction novels. Even at a young age I would dream up new stories and put myself into the books I read. Working in the gaming industry gave me a chance to tell those stories and I loved it. I’ve spent my career telling stories of one sort or another. Now I’m in a position to write my own novels and all those ideas are just begging to be put onto paper.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS? WHY?
Roger Zelazny, who challenged my imagination as a teenager. His books on gods who were men, and the classic Amber series, remain some of my favorites. Iain Banks wrote science fiction at such a high level. His Culture universe captivated me with it’s vision of the future. Adrian Tchiakovsky writes both science fiction and fantasy, and always creates quirky plots that surprise me with such a flamboyant writing style. Seanan McGuire’s amazing October Daye series defined urban fantasy for me and made me want to write in that genre. Every Heart a Doorway elevated her to more than just a writer of serial fiction with it’s unique ideas. I could go on and on.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS? WHY?
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. He bravely took on Hindu mythology as a fantasy setting in a science fiction story. His take on humans that give themselves special powers and declare themselves to be gods inspired my books. Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space is one of the best examples of believable science fiction while still presenting far flung ideas. Patricia McKillip’s Riddle Master of Hed showed my teenage self how different fantasy could be from the standard sword and sorcery plots. And who can deny Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind. I couldn’t. One of the best written fantasy books of the last few dacades.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE LITERARY CHARACTERS? WHY?
Corwin from the Amber series by Roger Zelazny tops the list. His refusal to surrender and insistence on playing it smart endeared me to him. October Daye by Seanan McGuire walked that tricky tightrope of being emotional but tough, and sympathetic but practical. Michael Moorcock’s Elric is the prototypical anti-hero, and I love him for it. My underdog favorite is Strahd Von Zarovich, Tracy Hickman’s D&D vampire from Ravenloft. A flawed villain with a heart that fails to understand the true selfishness of his love.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR FELLOW AUTHORS AND/OR ASPIRING AUTHORS?
Write what you love. Precious few of us make a decent living at it, let alone get rich. If you aren’t enjoying what you are writing, what’s the point? I’m also a fan of Neil Gaiman’s line, “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” If you are new to publishing, do your research. Learn about traditional publishing, independent publishing, self-publishing, audiobooks, and all the rest. Find the niche that is best for you.
IMAGINE ONE OF YOUR BOOKS IS ABOUT TO BECOME A FILM OR TV SHOW. WHO IS YOUR “DREAM CAST?” AND WHO DO YOU ASK TO CREATE THE SOUNDTRACK?
Tim Roth as Loki, a younger Clancy Brown as Thor, Anne Hathaway as Frigg, Salma Hayek as Esme. Ian McKellan would be an amazing narrator for my book.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH POTENTIAL READERS?
We do this for you. Okay, that’s half a lie. We do it for ourselves and for you. We write stories that we hope and pray will thrill and entertain our readers and validate our own desires to be heard. There is nothing more precious to an author than hearing from their readers. Let us know what you think and feel about our books, in whatever manner you feel comfortable.
WHERE CAN WE GO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR LITERARY WORKS?
It was pleasure to be featured on Between the Pages, and I hope you get a moment to check out the interview.
On a personal note, it feels good, even though I am always nervous about video interviews, to be well enough to be involved in the wider author community again.
James Quinlan Meservy - Author 