Red Star by Mary Flint — a familiar but welcome edition to the YA list of dystopian scifi

 

Cover image
Courtesy of publisher 

If you’re a fan of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, or the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, this first book in a relatively new series treads familiar waters. Red Star, by Mary Flint tells the tale of two teens on opposite sides of a growing rebellion against authoritarianism on a far away planet known as Rendaria. Edrix is in enforcement, a promising REGS soldier of rank, ready to do what’s necessary to uphold the law, until a clash with protestors goes horribly wrong and he’s accused of treasonous actions after an attempt to do the morally right thing. He flees prior to his sentence and winds up falling in with the members of the rebellion he was sworn to do battle against.

This is where we find Andresha, a teenage rebel out to protect the inhabitants of the deeper levels of a population that lives underground from the more privileged societies that live closer to the surface. Andresha and Edrix must learn to trust each other before they become a team, and their relationship develops accordingly during a series of trials in a competition to win a contract to be bounty hunters for an unknown entity.

Yes, if you are a fan of scifi YA dystopia, you are going to see many familiar themes here. But you might find more merit in the author’s talent for world and character building. According to her author bio, Flint was 15 when she started writing this book, which she published two years later. Characterizations and the ability to carve out a decent plot make this a reason to continue watching Mary Flint, although I was expecting more from the ending. It’s open ended to likely entice readers to continue with book two, but it leaves book one without a satisfying conclusion. It’s also pretty confusing to end with a significant character presumably (spoiler) dead only to foreshadow the next book with a final chapter that finds them in a totally different world than Rendaria. I’m not going to add more spoilers than that except to say that it’s not well explained in any manner shape or form, and instead of setting up the intrigue to learn why, I was left with a head shake trying to understand how it made any sense. Ultimately it felt like a huge stretch without the plot providing any thread of a clue. And we don’t know for certain if the story’s main mission—to disable a core computer and render the files within it unreadable—worked.

But maybe that’s everything book two is supposed to cover… You can find her Red Star series of books here, or wherever ebooks are sold.

SPOTLIGHT on a pair of indie authors working tirelessly to support the indie author community

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Author Website

I recently reviewed a little short story by Tessa Hastjarjanto that I fear may have been buried behind a review of a better known classic from Sir Terry Pratchett of Discworld fame. Hastjarjanto’s piece was A Dress to Kill For, and I was well impressed by it. I’m revisiting a mention of her now because I recently read a short story from another indie author, Rebecca Crunden, and her lgbtq fantasy piece The Final Act of Jonas Black.

Cover Image courtesy of
Author Website

It’s quite possible that I picked up an ecopy of Jonas Black from the Narratess indie book sale hosted by Hastjarjanto; I’m not certain, but it seemed fitting to highlight the work of these two women together for specific reasons. Both authors play in the horror/scifi/fantasy sandbox, but they also work tirelessly to support the indie author community in ways that help indie authors get exposure. For free. I mentioned Hastjarjanto’s semiannual indie book sales. Crunden is the might behind the social media Indie Book Spotlight accounts. 

Don’t go down some rabbit hole to search and hound them for their support though. The do it on their own terms, from the goodness of their hearts. They pay it forward, is what I’m saying, and if they have randomly supported you without you having prodded them to do so in some way, you should probably thank them. And as it turns out, they have their own catalogs of material worth a perusal. I’ve left my reviews for the two short stories I’ve read below. Check them out! Their work is well worth your time. 

A DRESS TO KILL FOR by Tessa Hastjarjanto 

This one may be short, but it’s an extremely well told horror piece about the lengths the society folk will go through to keep their fingernails clutched into their status. A touch gothic, a touch eldritch or folk horror. This short story is well paced and, quite frankly a gem. Find more of her work here at her personal website https://tessa.narratess.com/

THE FINAL ACT OF JONAS BLACK by Rebecca Crunden

Jonas Black is not who he appears to be. But he’s comfortable in his current role as a magic act in Vegas. Not too flashy, he gets by. He’s also happy in a somewhat noncommittal relationship with his SO. But then his family past comes back to haunt him, to pull him back home, and he has a decision to make. Does he leave behind the life he’s grown comfortable in, or does he expose his truth to the one he loves, risking the loss of a relationship he didn’t realize he needed?

This is a nicely done story about the lives we choose to lead and the choices we have to make in return. Find out more at her personal website https://rebeccacrunden.com/

Maryneal 1962 by Abigail F. Taylor — A werewolf story. But not really.

 Maryneal 1962 by Abigail F. Taylor — A werewolf story. But not really.

Cover Image courtesy of 
Wild Ink Publishing LLC

What a wonderfully written coming of age story disguised as a young adult werewolf tale in a Happy Days world. The location is Maryneal, Texas circa 1962.

Delah is a small town girl in a Texas town barely on the map, where everyone knows your name. It’s the summer of 1962, although rural places often don’t keep up with the times, and this town is no different. 1962 could easily pass for the 1950s here, as the girls, including junior in high school Delah, gab about boys and popularity and marriage, and spend their summers at church socials and carnivals that blow through town.

But when a carnival does blow through town, so does something wicked, and Delah and her family suffer a horrible loss because of it. The entire town is affected by the loss as, what the town claims is a rogue ky-ote, continues to terrorize the local livestock. But Delah knows it’s something more, something that she’s afraid to share with friends and family at the risk of sounding crazy. At the risk of putting her friends in more danger.

But that’s not really what this story is about, because as Delah struggles to reclaim some post grief normalcy, she also struggles to come to terms with the idea that she herself is not “normal.” The story is more about teenagers coming to terms with sexual identity in an era when normal had stricter rules. And this town being a white Christian town adds to the pressure to fit in.

It’s a wonderfully written piece filled with heart and well drawn characters. The werewolf angle poses as a nice analogy regarding hormonal changes that lead to dangerous decisions. I really liked how Taylor effortlessly pulled together a small number of trigger warning topics without crossing a line.

But this is, ultimately, a horror story, and the culmination of it does involve quite a bit of gore. I thought the ending actually fell short—not because of the gore—but because I expected to see  a bit of a wind down from the bloody climactic moment.

Overall though, this piece has strong, endearing characters who you want to root for, and not just because of the creature feature monster lurking in the shadows. It’s well worth the read, and I highly recommend it. You can find the book here, or at your favorite online book sites. 

Hollow Folk by Andrew K. Clark — A trippy ride through a hotel trapped in time by the sins of the land’s past.

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Quill and Crow Publishing 

No, this is not some ripoff of The Shining by Stephen King, but it does share some common ideas. This is arguably the third book in Clark’s Dark Things series, although it’s billed as a standalone. The first two books are connected by family histories that overlap. You wouldn’t know there was a connection to the first two books here if you didn’t have the privilege of reading them, but there is, and that connection is the hotel’s location in the Hollow and a similar backstory involving a dreadful religious past.

Clark plays with a deeply flawed rural Christian history in these books, a history that intertwines with an evil backwoods folklore that creates some sexually charged creepy stuff relating to our fears, our inhibitions and our carnal desires. We are guilt ridden by what we are taught by the church, but it can fuel us into unconscionable acts that are worse than the sins we have been taught to feel bad about. …I’m speculating here, as I’m only halfway through the book at this point. But maybe I’ll leave this part in to prove this isn’t some stupid AI summarization and to prove I was right.

Anyway…yes. My speculation still feels spot on. The book has three Holloway employees trapped in time when the hotel’s grandfather clock—and every clock—stops ticking at 3 AM. The characters, Ethan (our narrator), Teresa and Kal, begin having weird experiences with ghosts and creatures who may or may not be real as they try to figure out what the hell is going on. The existing guests have essentially disappeared, and the hotel itself seems to be gradually overtaken by poisonous things and gothic creatures of menace.

Also, Ethan and Teresa are falling in love. It’s a weird and creepy developing relationship filled with bugs and body horror linked to a heartbreaking past buried deep underground. It’s an interesting read filled with creatively gross and erotic scenes that will evoke readers to say “what the hell..?”

The gothic nature of this book is more reminiscent of a Shirley Jackson piece, although there are plenty of nods to King’s Overlook Hotel.The hotel feeds the characters and makes them complacent in a way that is sometimes frustrating, because it doesn’t foster propelling the story forward at times. But there is a reason for this that makes sense. It’s not a book for everyone, but if you enjoy the weird and grotesque, and you’re not shy of explicit sexual scenes, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy it. 

Some of it was too much for me, because I was thinking, “guys, we get it. You’re mad hot for each other, and the weird stuff that’s happening during the sex doesn’t creep you out, but come on! Your buddy’s gone missing and this isn’t natural. Where’s the moment of freaking out?” But like I said, there is a definable reason…

It’s a solid piece of weird, dark romance/horror. But it is weird. It is dark. It is erotic. You have been warned.

Find Hollow Folk here, or at your favorite online book retailer.

A Sum of Destructions by J.J. Campanella --A book review recommendation for the procedural crowd

A strong new voice in the world of Psychological Crime Thrillers

Cover courtesy of Uvula Publishing

If you enjoy the likes of Lee Child or Michael Connelly, add J. J. Campanella to your list of new authors to read.

My go to read is not the psychological crime thriller, but I check the genre out once in a while, and this book came upon my radar because of a Christmas letter. An old college friend responded to my reading and writing news by mentioning this author and thought I might enjoy his work. I often have reservations when “not horror” readers give me recommendations, but I was curious enough, and I was not disappointed. A Sum of Destructions by J.J. Campanella is a solid entry in its genre.

Eddie Bratenahl is a psychological therapist for the Cleveland PD who is suffering through his own depression after the loss of his wife, when he is dragged into a murder case involving a professor from his old alma mater. The case dredges up open wounds involving the loss of his wife and reignites ties to his extended mafia family that he would prefer to have laid dormant. It’s a political, psychological, crime thriller all rolled into one, with a touch of science fiction that borders on the all too real. The characters are nicely depicted, although maybe a tad too reliant on certain stereotypes. But overall, it’s a good read with a strong plot and some nice twists.

Some minor drawbacks for me:

I don’t know, there were times when I felt like the detail I was being given slowed the pace of the story. BUT a lot of that detail felt like a bit of a love letter to the history of Cleveland. The detailed history that serves as a backdrop for much of the story often felt specifically tailored for residents of the Cleveland area. So if you are a Clevelander, definitely check out this book. Also, due to that detail, the book felt longer than I would have liked. I feel like the book could have been edited down by 50-100 pages without sacrifice to the characters or the story.

I was able to overlook the length of the book to some degree though, due to the strong development of the main character, and many of the supporting ones. The plot is engaging. This is a solid thriller, and I’m glad I took the time to check it out.

Find A Sum of Destructions here, or at your favorite book retailer.