Review of "The Last Policeman"

    
Amazon (Kindle/Print Copy)/ Barnes&Nobles (Nook/Print Copy)

Complimentary copy attained at Quirk Book's stand at Book Expo America

Synopsis:
(Obtained via Random House's detailed page about the book)

What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?

Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.
 The Last Policeman presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.

The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond “whodunit.” What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered?

Review:

    There is an impending sense of doom and gloom, attributed to some meteor that is bound to collide into the Earth in under six months. Reassuringly, this is an apocalyptic event that is occurring only in the Last Policeman; a cerebral amalgamation of police procedural and a rather dangerous dose of apocalyptic intrigue. While reading the book, I kept wondering to myself: How are police officers relevant anymore within a world that is on the brink of apocalypse? Why does our government within this fictional story still futilely try to police our country, uphold some fatalistic belief in any kind of constitutional rule?

   Without becoming too didactic with speculation into these complicated questions, Ben Winters subtly asks  these questions whilst focusing on a weird crime surrounding a suicide that might not really be a suicide. Essentially, everything within the Last Policeman  has become wonky and off-kilter all due to the apocalypse. Part of the cleverness of this novel is that while apocalypse is on the horizon, there is still ample mental space for people to involve themselves in human crimes that seem inane in comparison with discussions surrounding the incoming comet.

    At first, I thought the the sheer magnitude of the story's cleverness might have consequently made some of the characters less developed. In actuality, the characters are just as unpredictably weird and eccentric as a story that successfully reads like a crime novel with the added element of Apocalypse Now-esque danger.

     While you are sitting along the deceptively calm waters at any beach this summer, I highly recommend that you read this well-written, unorthodox novel in the beach chair. You are forewarned that it may cause your vacation to appear very unexciting, especially when compared with this very fun, yet wonderfully odd police procedural that might spoil your disbelief in any conception of the apocalypse! If anything, this book provocatively asks the age-old, existentialist question of "What is our purpose beneath all the pedantic details of normal life?"

Existential Dread

 

Death abounds

As abundant corpses

Formerly flourishing with cerebral artistry

Lie strewn against the cold, menacing streets

Whilst blood seeps through the smallest cracks

Of these paved, Man-made streets

Left behind,

We are nothing but individuals distilled

To our primal essence

Cruelly reduced to strands of

Random configurations of DNA

Identifying these material cadavers,

Where is the art of these lives anymore?

One of these fallen, blood-laden bodies

Formerly created rich symphonic compositions

That sang beautifully pitched tunes

Within the dark hollow of his skull

They remained unwritten

During his transient life

Another aspired to be a writer

Envisaging a glorious story

Patterned after her own complex life

Maybe the puzzling paradox of this self-created story

Might grant elusive answers

To the mystery of the personality that

Gives us the imaginative senses

To enumerate the objects of an accidental creation

Another was a scientist

Curiously resigned to the amoral stance of life

He vied for meaning amidst the

Litany of theories proposing

A Meaningless Universe

“That just is...”

In lieu of death,

The Music, the art,
the elaborate sports of ambiguity

                                                        All the Complicated theories
                                               of the seemingly absolutist sciences
                                                   Which we madly invoke in our lives

Are Reduced to that single, paradoxical

Nothingness in the short span

Of the Great Cosmic rip

                                                       

In the face of death

That cynical, atheistic denial of Meaning

Hardly differs from any other form of Delusion

None of these are substantive truths

They are a hopeless mantra

That imaginatively whisks the true

Face of death from the mortal disarray of our minds

 Undergirding our plastic illusion of bliss

Lies a great, strangulating fear of death

We can pathetically utter spells

Pretend that we are not fearful of

The implications of complete death

There is no one alive not afraid to die

When I die, I will tremble with

Crippling Fear of the horrifying

Revelation of what lies beneath

Maybe, I’ll never know for I’ll forget...

I won’t go looking for celestial heavens,

Or wear the clown mask of a

Seemingly Fearless Logician

Who frightfully yells their absolutist claims

To the empty, uncaring skies

Will I have a chance to even cry or contemplate?

Or like those whose bleeding bodies are strewn across the pavement

After a major car accident

Would my last casual laugh be my demise?

Certainly, it’d be nice to finish that chuckle

In an ineffable place of eternity

Or bring fulfillment to the deep sense of the void

Slumbering perpetually beneath my anxious feet

Who knows?

Not the scientific pundits, the priests, nor the philanthropists

In the end, our God is death

When we pray, we desperately beseech

Death to be meek and mild

If God is greater justice, death is equal in that regard

Our churches reside next to cemeteries

Science labs are filled with abundant relics of death

Thus, the two most sacrosanct places

Are essentially places of death

With death in our periphery,

So many deceased persons disintegrating

In our limited perception,

Is there any meaning anymore?

Or has meaning rotted with the face of my beloved?

Where is meaning beneath the confused paradox of death?

Does the universe die and live, much like us?

Are our scientific theories projections of mortality?

Is the “Big Bang” a Genesis?

Whilst the Big Rip our frightful mortal death

Manifested on a cosmic scale

Is there something nestled beyond our

Obstinate sense of nothing?

Can intelligence exist only in ourselves?

But be woefully nonexistent in the grander scale of existence

As Orpheus struggled to return from Hades

Did his desperate, mortal breath

Match the existential dread of a universe

Slowly resigning itself to death

In approximately five billion years

Are we wiping secretive tears over

The burgeoning sense of our

Very mysterious sense of nonbeing

Are heaven and hell better comforts

Than my growing sense of meaninglessness

Is my sense of the world an exploding star?

Forlornly transforming into a black hole

Sucking away every imaginary premise of meaning

Even the “black hole” blackens with the end of the universe

Does the universe end eventually?

Will creation become one big cosmic joke?

How can our intelligent senses be just cosmic dust

Desperately seeking meaning within the grander scale of unintelligible things?
How can a paradox exist from an anomaly?

Anima&Animus

Sister... is that you...
Staring from the glass membrane of the mirror
With bated breath
Stirring, Wishing to reclaim life


On the other side of the glass,
I scream plaintively
For a breakthrough
Except, there's a puddle of blood...

Resting under your feet
From an unknown source
It plummets down
Dipping despondently into the river underneath

Am I imagining this?
Beginning to bleed profusely,
The stigmata on my arm
Mirrors your own gaping wounds

My female twin,
A mirrored self
 Why are you weeping so bitterly?
Stop your bloody crying!

Unresponsively, she twiddles with
A curl of blonde hair
Playfully, Perilously
Unaware of her impending demise

Separated from her,
I'm left barren
With an inescapable
Fate of death by blood-letting


Without me, how can neither of us endure?
Male and female twins
Formerly coexistent
Now forcibly split

In the reasonable reality,
I'm left to wither
Unfulfilled by my female twin
Ceasing to exist in my reflection

Death is the only curative
To rejoin ourselves
Together we must bleed
In hopes of this split being patched

Within and Without the mirror
I cannot exist without her,
Neither can she without her brother
In death, What is left of me?

Medusa: A Love Story Bewitching Book Tours

Blurb:

It's said love can change a person. Medusa

wasn't always a monster...

Medusa is ruled by duty, to her Titan father and

the Goddess Athena. She's no room for the

tenderness her warrior guard, Ariston, stirs.

When Olympus frees her from service, her heart

leads her into the arms of the guard she loves...

and curses her as the creature with serpent locks.

Ariston goes to war with a full heart... and

dreadful foreboding. He learns too late of the

danger Medusa faces, alone, and a Persian blade

sends him into the Underworld. But death, curses, nor the wrath of the Gods will

keep him from returning to her.

Poseidon will use Greece's war to get what he wants: Medusa. He does not care

that she belongs to another. He does not care that she will be damned. He is a God,

an Olympian, and she will be his.

book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90fH7xoZiCo

"This tragic and beautiful retelling of one of the world's oldest stories tackles the

eternal battle between duty and happiness. Medusa, A Love Story broke my heart

then filled in the cracks with joy. Sasha Summers is simply a mesmerizing new

talent." ~Stephanie Dray, Author of the critically acclaimed Song of the Nile

Excerpt:

“You asked for an audience, you have it. Now tell me, where do you belong?” Hades’

voice was deep, emotionless.

Ariston swallowed. “Athens.” He met Hades’ gaze, but the God revealed nothing to him.

“Why? You died with honor and glory. Is that not what every soldier wants?”

“My wife…” His voice wavered.

Hades brow lifted slightly. “Lives. You do not.”

“She is in danger.”

“Earthly danger. She is no longer your concern, Ariston.”

“The danger she faces is not earthly, but far from it…” Ariston’s voice was hoarse, his

desperation mounting. He took a wavering breath before he began again. “She is everything to

me. I am proud of my death, but it means nothing if she is in peril. I must know.” Ariston

kneeled. “I beg you. I beg you to return me to Athens.”

Ariston waited, willing himself to be strong.

“Who is this wife?” Hades asked.

“Medusa of Athens.” He paused. “Now of Rhodes.”

Hades was silent, his dark blue eyes regarding him steadily.

“When I die—” Ariston began.

“You are dead,” Hades assured him.

“When I return…die again, I would serve as guardian to Tartarus. I am a skilled warrior,

a skill I might offer you.” He spoke with confidence.

“You vex me,” Hades muttered, the slightest crease appearing between his eyes. “You

offer this to me for a woman?”

Ariston nodded. “She is worthy.”

Hades was silent again, his eyes shifting to the blue-white flames in the massive

fireplace.

“My words do not…adequately express the love I have for this woman. But I cannot

leave her. She is at risk. I must return.” The words came without thought. How could he justify

such emotion to a God who reviled affection or companionship? “As Olympus has my arm and

sword, she has my heart – a mortal, and perhaps weak, heart.”

The room was silent for too long. He would have to fight his way out…

“It is a weakness not reserved for mortals alone, Ariston of Rhodes.” Hades’ words were

so soft Ariston feared they’d not been spoken. But Hades continued, strong and clear. “I will

return you to your ship so that you may lead your men to victory. Too many have fallen from

this war and I would see it end. When that is done, you may go to your wife.” He paused then

added, “When you return to my realm, I will have your fealty.”

The God of the Underworld, Lord of Death, gave him mercy? Mayhap there was one

God he might serve with honor.

Ariston vowed, “You have it.”

Author Bio:

Sasha Summers is part gypsy. Her passions have always been storytelling, history,

and travel. It's no surprise that her books visit times past, set in places rich with

legends and myth. Her first play, 'Greek Gods and Goddesses' (original title, right?

), was written for her Girl Scout troupe.

She's been writing ever since. She loves getting lost in the worlds and characters

she creates; even if she frequently forgets to run the dishwasher or wash socks

when she's doing so.

Luckily, her four brilliant children and hero-inspiring hubby are super

understanding and supportive.

Sasha is an active member of RWA and several Texas Chapters. A self-proclaimed

movie-addict, she is full of all sorts of useless movie tidbits and trivia.

Facebook Author Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sasha-Summers/213036208773108

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5759214.Sasha_Summers

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sashasummers/

Twitter: @sashawrites

Webpage: http://www.sashasummers.com

Interview Questions:
1.FF: Having read the tragic history of Medusa's character, I was always waiting for the right author to vindicate her in a sense. What sparked the idea to write a far more positive story about the character of Medusa,whom I think has undeserving fame as a monster?

SS:I didn’t believe that a woman could do such things simply because she was angry. Anger, for most people, fades. Also, knowing her history, I suspected there was ‘more’ to her story. Which led me to my version. I mean, what would you do to protect the person or people you love most? That’s my basis … but I’m kind of a hopeless romantic and a fan of all things tragic and doomed, too.

2.FF:I always love to ask questions about other books in the genre that might have inspired your book. Are there any books that inspired this story? If they aren't any, do you have any recommendations of  well-written novels that feature mythological characters?

SS:Hmm. I haven’t read anything similar to mine. I know mythology seems to be on the rise as far as books, so I’m sure there will be plenty to read. Stephanie Dray’s Lily of the Nile inspired me. She uses a brilliant mash-up of real history and mythology. That’s what I try to do.

3.FF: Knowing the complexity of Greek mythology, was it hard to discern specific redeeming traits that helped you to develop your vision of Medusa?

SS:The wonderful things about Mythology – it’s interpretive. There are plenty of versions out there, you have to find the threads that feel right to you and work with them. While some reviewers have characterized Poseidon or some of the Gods as the villains in Medusa, I’m not sure there is really a villain. Of course, writing on in the series, I have to come to an understanding with each of them – so I guess I look for a way to like them all. J

4.FF:What was the last movie you've seen, and did you enjoy it?

SS:Snow White and the Huntsman. I did enjoy it. I’m addicted to Chris Hemsworth (my inspiration for my current WIP – Apollo) so I’m not sure the movie was really that good or if I was just bewitched by him… Either way, I enjoyed it immensely.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog today. - Sasha

Heritage Avenged:Bewitching Book Tour

Heritage Avenged 

by Marsha A. Moore

Genre: Fantasy romance 

Blurb: 

 

Lyra McCauley receives an alarming letter from the coroner who evaluated her deceased aunt, originally thought to have died of cancer. The news causes Lyra to take leave from her job and travel from sunny Tampa to the frozen island community in northern Michigan. Questioning whether Dragonspeir magic was responsible for her aunt’s death, she resolves to learn the truth and accepts the Imperial Dragon’s appointment into the Alliance sorcery training. 

Additionally, becoming proficient in magic craft is the only way she can bridge the gap between her mortal human world and her lover’s. Cullen, a 220-year-old wizard, is dependent upon his Dragonspeir magic for immortality. He is her only family now; she cannot lose him. 

Evil forces block her and try to steal her inherited scribal aura. Riding a stealth dragon, a cloaked rider pursues Lyra. Both the Alliance and Dark Realm alchemists lay tricks and traps. Her aura equals that of the first and most powerful Scribe, but will Lyra’s novice training allow her to discover the truth? Will she be able to be with Cullen, or will the Dark Realm keep them apart?

Purchase Links:

Amazon Heritage Avenged: Enchanted Bookstore Legend Two ~ available for only $1.29

Amazon Seeking a Scribe: Enchanted Bookstore Legend One ~ available for only 99 cents

Author Bio: 

Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. Her creativity also spills into watercolor painting and drawing. After a move from Toledo to Tampa in 2008, she’s happily transforming into a Floridian, in love with the outdoors. 

Crazy about cycling, she usually passes the 1,000 mile mark yearly. She is learning kayaking and already addicted. She’s been a yoga enthusiast for over a decade and that spiritual quest helps her explore the mystical side of fantasy. She never has enough days spent at the beach, usually scribbling away at new stories with toes wiggling in the sand. 

Every day at the beach is magical! 

Author Links: Website: http://MarshaAMoore.com 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MarshaAMoore 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marshaamooreauthorpage 

Fantasy Faction staff page: http://fantasy-faction.com/staff-members?uid=38 

Goodreads author page http://www.goodreads.com/marshaamoore 

Google + https://plus.google.com/u/0/100564214132835514192/posts


Excerpt:

Excerpt:

From Chapter 1: The Letter

Lyra worried about Cullen on his flight home. Despite the fact he was over two hundred years old, it was only his second plane trip. The few wizards of Dragonspeir who visited the real world seldom traveled far, and then not conventionally. He kept her safe in his world last summer. She intended to keep him safe in hers.

“Next!” the heavyset postmistress belted out.

 “I’ve got to hang up,” Lyra quickly whispered into her cell phone. “Be sure you call me when you land in Sault Saint Marie. Love you.”

She sighed and maneuvered to the clerk at the far end of the counter. If only they could live together in one world. She needed to learn more magic first and hoped to make a start in a few weeks, when she took her winter break from teaching to attend his Solstice Festival. Unfortunately, her formal lessons would have to wait until next summer.

When Lyra approached the counter, the woman peered over the top of her reading glasses as she shuffled papers. “Yes?”

“I’m here to pick up my mail from a vacation hold.”

“Theme of my day,” the postmistress muttered and then barked, “Name and ID.”

“Adalyra McCauley. Just since the day before Thanksgiving.” She fumbled in her purse and pulled the driver’s license from her billfold.

The women sighed, slid off her stool, and shuffled into a back room. A few minutes later, she lumbered back, carrying a small stack of letters, glossy ads, and magazines. She scooted the mail across the counter.

Lyra stuffed it all into a tote bag, then scurried to her silver Subaru sport wagon and tossed it into the passenger seat. Driving Cullen to the Tampa International airport and this stop barely left enough time to make it to the university in time to teach her ten o’clock class. But the memory of those lingering goodbye kisses made it worth the consequences.

She stopped for a red light at a twelve-lane interchange, tapping the wheel impatiently. The edges of the mail peeked out of the sack, tempting her. She pulled it into her lap and riffled through the letters. The usual bills. The signal remained red.

Thumbing quickly through familiar envelopes, one unusual return address caught her eye, William T. Betts, M.D., Washaw, Michigan—the island village location of Aunt Jean’s cottage on Lake Huron. Although addressed to Lyra, it had been sent to where her aunt lived prior to passing away. She couldn’t place his name as one of Jean’s doctors. Multiple postmarks revealed a path of forwarding, the oldest dated last August, a few weeks after the funeral. She checked the traffic light—still red.

She ripped open the envelope and yanked out the letter.

Dear Ms. McCauley:

I am writing this correspondence in my capacity of Birch County coroner. Please accept my condolences for the recent loss of your aunt, Jean Perkins. Prior to delivery of her remains to the Michigan State crematorium, her attending physician, Dr. Everett Schultz, requested an autopsy. Dr. Schultz and I wish to meet with you to discuss my findings at your earliest convenience.

                                                     Respectfully,

                                                     William T. Betts, M.D.

A horn honked from behind and jolted Lyra into a panic. Her limbs froze and her eyes returned for another glimpse of the letter. She wildly scanned the page, searching for additional information. Aunt Jean had died of cancer. What more could they tell her than that?

At the time of Jean’s death, the abrupt change in her symptoms puzzled Lyra and made her question the visiting nurse. Hours before, her aunt’s mind had been lucid. Her eyes were clear and her breathing soft and steady, not a raspy death rattle. Now those initial concerns seemed grounded.

The driver behind her laid on the horn.

The noise jarred Lyra to the present. She exhaled an arrested breath. To brace her shaking arms, her free hand clamped the steering wheel. Unable to coordinate, her foot slid off the clutch and stalled the car.

A chorus of horns blared.

After fumbling with the ignition, she restarted and herded her Subaru into the stream of traffic. She locked her eyes squarely ahead to avoid angry road-rage stares from passing motorists.

One car pulled alongside and tooted. Her eyes shifted onto the driver who flipped her off before speeding away.

Shaking, she gave up rushing to be on time. Keeping her car safely on the road was challenge enough. She hung back to allow other cars to pass.

Plodding in the slow lane, her thoughts drifted to the letter. What had the coroner found? In September, the funeral home wrote, indicating they stored her aunt’s ashes, as Lyra directed, until she returned to collect them. The director never mentioned any question about the cause of death.

Lyra shifted before engaging the clutch. Grinding gears vibrated the car. White-knuckling the wheel, she gratefully turned at the sign for Southern University. Finally in her assigned parking spot, she slumped into the seat.

Before getting out, she reread the letter to search for clues between the phrases. She found none, but the words “earliest convenience” loomed. The doctor wrote the letter three months ago. Would that lost time make a difference?

Was it possible someone harmed Jean? Hundreds in the village visited the funeral and expressed sorrow. What about that strange man, Revelin? He came to Jean’s home, supposedly working as an aide from the home care division of the local clinic. He acted suspicious, trying to read Lyra’s computer screen, open to her draft of the new version of the Book of Dragonspeir. Maybe a person from Dragonspeir? A few supporters of the evil Black Dragon could enter her world. But who? His alchemist, Tarom, possessed enough power and talent. A chill ran down her spine, thinking of his glowing red eyes and crimson cloak with moving tentacles at its hem. She sighed. No obvious evidence linked either man.

Sun rays reflected light through her windshield from the modern glass and concrete English building. This alerted her to pull herself together and go inside. After sucking in a deep breath to steady her nerves, she opened the car door and stepped out. Her legs shook under her weight. Her shoulders sagged under the load of the briefcase and bags. With an awkward gait, she ambled toward her building.

She stopped cold. Students raced around her to make their classes. What about Eburscon? Alchemist for the Imperial Dragon’s Alliance. She clenched a fist, recalling his haughty, antagonistic manner. He openly disapproved of Lyra’s influence on anyone in Dragonspeir.

Opening a side door off the parking lot, she checked her watch. Five minutes past the start of class time. She braced herself, rearranged her bags, and climbed two flights—a short cut to the classroom which avoided the department offices.

Three minutes later, she arrived in the room, out-of-breath and shaking, in no shape to teach. But, the chairman kept careful tabs on all his non-tenured professors, including Lyra.

Thankfully, the lesson was an easy one, reviewing short story reading assignments. The students in her American Lit course, just returned from a long Thanksgiving weekend, didn’t want to hear a rigorous talk about Emerson and Thoreau. Most eyed her with groggy stares, heads propped on elbows. A handful of alert and prepared students vied to contribute, snapping out responses to Lyra’s discussion questions. Usually she enjoyed pitting them against each other, but today she merely appreciated their participation.

Her mind wandered two thousand miles away. She watched the clock, counting the minutes until she could talk with Cullen during his layover in Detroit. 

Interview with D.B Jackson (Author of the upcoming historical Fantasy Book:Thieftaker)

1.FF:Within the fantasy genre, there seems to be a dearth of historical fantasy books. A fantasy book that is set during the time of the American Revolution is especially difficult to find. There are myriad number of fantasy books that are based off Arthurian legend or completely focused on elements of European History exclusively. Why did you  ultimately choose the "American Revolution" as the setting for the novel?

D.B Jackson:Well, part of my reasoning followed exactly the same lines as your question.  I had actually written this book first as an alternate world fantasy, and then, after discussions with my editor, decided to change it to a historical.  The original idea for the series came from something I had read about thieftakers operating in London, and so my editor suggested that I set the book there.  But my feeling was that there were already plenty of books set in England, and I wasn’t interested in writing yet another one.  So in a way, I was looking to be a bit different.

But I was also interested in, for want of a better phrase, writing what I know.  I have a Ph.D. in U.S. history, and though my dissertation was on the New Deal, I was always fascinated by the Colonial period.  And since that period was at least somewhat consistent with the time that saw the rise of thieftakers in England, the setting seemed to work well with the concept of the book.  I chose Boston because it was at the center of so much that happened in the lead-up to the Revolution, and because it had fallen a bit from its position earlier in the 18th century as North America’s leading city.  It had been surpassed by New York and Philadelphia; it was a bit seedy, a bit past its prime.  In that way, it was just like my lead character, and I liked that parallel.

2.FF: One of the fascinating parts of this novel was the historical details that supply the reader with a rich sense of realism. Whenever I have the desire to someday write a historical fiction/fantasy story, I am daunted by the prospect of doing thorough research for the novel. How were you able to strike the delicate balance between history and fantasy? Also, are there any tips that you have for aspiring historical fiction writers about the best way to make the research process not seem so overwhelming?

DB Jackson:Finding that balance you mention is absolutely crucial to the success of any work of historical fiction, be it fantasy, mystery, romance -- whatever.  And, of course, there is no formula for it.  Every book is different; every story demands a different blend of historical detail and narrative to make the tale work.  I spent a great deal of time doing research on everything from British/American politics, to city life in 1760s Boston, to the workings of flint-lock pistols, to the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s (in my book, conjurers like my lead character are often accused of being “witches.”)  But even as I did the research I knew that ultimately my problem would not be having too little information, but rather having too much.  I couldn’t possibly include every relevant detail without drowning my narrative in “facts” and making it boring for my readers.  In the end, I chose to use only those details that did (at least) one of three things:  1) Directly influenced my plotting or character work; 2) enhanced my readers’ understanding of something crucial to the story; or 3) contributed materially to making my setting come alive WITHOUT detracting from the pacing of the book.

Now, that last one is pretty vague, but it’s one of those things where you know it when you see it.  Finding a detail that just makes the setting sparkle is actually tons of fun, and if I could slip in such a detail without having to take the time to explain it, then it stayed.  If I had to explain it to make it work, I cut it.

As to what advice I would give to other writers, I would start by saying don’t be overwhelmed by the research.  Chances are, if you’re interested in writing historical fiction, the stuff you find as you do research is going to fascinate you.  I would also say, don’t take what I said before about having too much information to mean that you should skimp on research.  Having more information than I needed made the history that I do include read as that much more authoritative.  In other words, knowing too much is a good thing.  Readers can tell when research is done on the cheap; do the extra work -- it will pay off in the writing.  And finally, have fun with it.  Look for creative ways to accomplish those three goals I mention above.  Seriously, you’re going to enjoy doing the research and making your setting come to life.

3.FF:In grade school, we were always reeducated about the American Revolution, but smaller, quirkier details about history were often still overlooked. I never learned about "thieftakers" for that very reason. How did you manage to find something about thieftakers? Also, are there any other unusual facts about the American Revolution that people commonly do not know?

DB Jackson:Okay, well the first thing I have to say, is that THIEFTAKER, while historically accurate in most respects, begins with two pretty huge historical fallacies.  First, my protagonist is a conjurer, and there were no conjurers in Boston in 1765.  Shocking, I know.  And second, there were no thieftakers in North America in the 18th century.  There were thieftakers in England at this time, and thieftakers made a very brief appearance in a few North American cities in the early 19th century, but there were no thieftakers in pre-Revolutionary Boston.  That is a fiction of my own invention.  It works for a couple of reasons.  First, as I say, thieftakers were common in British life, if not in the colonies.  And second, Boston had basically no law enforcement infrastructure at all at this time.  British troops had not yet come to the city (they began to occupy Boston in September 1768).  The Sheriff of Suffolk County was a man named Stephen Greenleaf, but he had no officers, no support staff of any sort.  And the night watch of Boston was made up of men who were incompetent, corrupt, or both.  So while there were no thieftakers, conditions were such that there COULD have been.  So I was able to fit my historical fallacy into circumstances that make it seem perfectly reasonable.

As for facts that people don’t usually know.  Well, most people don’t know that Samuel Adams was afflicted all his life with a mild palsy that made his head and hands tremble.  That’s kind of a cool tidbit.  And actually I find the stuff about Greenleaf and his essentially powerless position kind of interesting.  Also, there is a lot in THIEFTAKER about a guy named Ebenezer MacKintosh (real name) who was one of the street captains who led protests against the Stamp Act.  He is largely ignored in history books,  mostly because he was a working class guy whose influence was mostly over other working class guys, but he was an important figure.

4. FF:One of my favorite historical series was HBO's Rome, though I know many of the characters were fictitious. Another challenging element of historical fiction has to be creating minor characters, who still preserve some shred of historical accuracy. Are many of your characters in this story inspired by real historical figures, or are they intelligent fabrications that could easily have lived during this time?

DB Jackson:Um . . . Yes.  There are many characters who show up in the book who are real and who played some role, large or small, in historical events of the time.  Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Thomas Hutchinson are some of the better known historical figures who have a role in the book.  I’ve already mentioned Stephen Greenleaf and Ebenezer MacKintosh.  But then there are several minor characters -- Benjamin Church shows up at one point, as do a pair of ministers:  Henry Caner and John Troutbeck.  With these characters, I read as much as I could about them and then took a creative license or two when I needed to.  For instance, I found next to nothing about Reverend Troutbeck, except that he was the curate -- the second-in-command -- at King’s Chapel for many years and was passed over for promotion to rector a couple of times.  So I assumed that he might be a slightly difficult personality and drew him as such.

In creating my fictional characters, from my lead character Ethan Kaille, down to the most minor of characters, I tried to draw upon everything my research had told me about the city and its people in order to make them as realistic and of their time and place as possible -- as you say:  intelligent fabrications.

5.FF:After your novel skillfully made me curious about historical fantasy books, do you have any recommendations? Are there any other historical fantasy novels that have a good balance of fantasy and history?

DB Jackson:Definitely!  If you’re interested in more fantasies set in the Revolutionary period, I strongly recomment C.C. Finlay’s Traitor to the Crown series (THE PATRIOT WITCH, A SPELL FOR THE REVOLUTION, THE DEMON REDCOAT) does a marvelous job of weaving magic with actual events during the Revolutionary War.  Guy Gavriel Kay, another of my favorite authors, writes a lot of what I would call hybrid historical fantasy, in that he bases his books on historical circumstances, but then places them in alternate world settings.  I can recommend, among other titles, the Sarantine Mosaic (SAILING TO SARANTIUM and LORD OF EMPERORS) and THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN.  Of course there is Harry Turtledove’s classic THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH, an alternate history that imagines what would have happened if the the Confederacy had been given access to automatic weapons.  There are many other titles as well; I couldn’t possibly list them all.  But historical fantasy is a growing and vibrant field -- THIEFTAKER is just one of many titles that are worth looking at.

FF:Thanks again DB Jackson for this interview opportunity.

DB Jackson:Thank you for the interesting questions.  I enjoyed it.

*****
D.B. Jackson is also David B. Coe, the award-winning author of a dozen fantasy novels. His first book as D.B. Jackson, Thieftaker, volume I of the Thieftaker Chronicles, will be released by Tor Books on July 3. D.B. lives on the Cumberland Plateau with his wife and two teenaged daughters. They’re all smarter and prettier than he is, but they keep him around because he makes a mean vegetarian fajita. When he’s not writing he likes to hike, play guitar, and stalk the perfect image with his camera.


http://www.dbjackson-author.com
http://www.dbjackson-author.com/blog
http://www.facebook.com/dbjacksonAuthor
http://twitter.com/dbjacksonauthor
http://www.goodreads.com/dbjackson
http://amazon.com/author/dbjackson


My Review of DB Jackson Thieftaker will be posted July 3rd, coinciding with the book's release date.

Comic Thursdays: Within Temptation's "The Unforgiving"

  
WITHIN TEMPTATION'S THE UNFORGIVING COMIC REVIEW
(Comic Adapted by Steven O'Connell, Romano Molenaar, Martin Montiel, Marco Galli, and Joel Seguin)
(Ideas for comic created by Within Temptation-A Highly talented Dutch Symphonic Rock/Metal Band)
















 Who here are both huge fans of both comics and well-produced metal music? I'm definitely one of those avid fans of both genres that really are not polar opposites at all.  To my  surprise, Within Temptation's newest album last year was based off of a premise for a comic book that was planned to be simultaneously released. Excitingly, the comics have been released every several months because the story is certainly expansive and fascinating enough to warrant more than one volume. Knowing how terrible films based off video games are, I actually had very dim expectations of the comics. I presupposed that the terrible relationship between films and video games would be shared by a very different bond that is formed between music and comic books. Since Within Temptation mentioned that they were huge fans of eighties rock music and the comic books that they often read whilst listening to this music, wouldn't it be a grand idea to fuse both those loves and pay homage to it in their newest album?. I absolutely love their newest album,The Unforgiving, which does have very heavy eighties rock influences pervading the sound. What about the comics themselves? Are they on par with the album in terms of quality?

One of the songs featured on "The Unforgiving" focuses on the moral paradox of "righteous murder"

     To my surprise, the comic book itself was not at all bad, it was not necessarily a colossal masterpiece either. Throughout the first three volumes, there is special focus placed on a female cop named Janyce, who is ridden with grief over certain unfortunate circumstances in her life. Her character reminds me of the male version of Angel from Joss Whedon's infamous spin-off of his popular series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Janyce seems to be a very brooding character, as she is facing perpetual mental warfare over some grief in her life that underlies all her actions. She is often "a woman of very few words," and carries a stolid stare much like Angel. She is the rogue character that is not completely involved with the proceedings of her mundane life, rather her grief causes her to be detached because she cannot entirely deal with it.

     In the early pages of the comic, the dialogue sometimes feels a little stilted, as though the writers were still trying to seek out the right pace and correct way of allowing the plot to proceed towards the larger revelation that loomed over the reader throughout the first three volumes. Until the fourth volume, we are left wading through a lot of necessary exposition, while the main plot is still left out in the shadows. It was the fourth volume that really helped redeem the comic in my eyes. It was at that point when the entire comic started to make much more sense, and the early volumes had a bit more purpose because you can see how the first three volumes slowly developed towards the "big reveal." Normally, I find pilot episodes of television series to be laborious because we are not yet in the thick of the plot's substance. Within these comics, the first three volumes act as that slow pilot episode that does nothing but create impatience for a much more intriguing plot that the creators are purposely forestalling for suspense purposes.

   In terms of the art, it is not anything particularly special. If anything, it was adequate enough to help flesh out certain dynamics within the story.  There was a great range of darker and lighter colors used, which was meant to evoke the dichotomy between the mundane world where nothing beyond our comprehension happens or the criminal nighttime where the world is flooded with the undetectable supernatural or immoral forces. Wonderfully, the main plot surrounding a league of crime fighters that are "remorseful killers" prevents the plot from becoming simply "a moral tale of good versus evil." Ironically, there are still evil forces though within this comic; they are the killers who supposedly are not remorseful for what they've done. It is the aforementioned characters who are part of this league of ambiguously moral characters that the comic focuses mostly on; these characters reflect our own unfocused moral senses. They are what drives both our emotions and captivation with the comic.

   This dynamic is not something new for comic book heroes; Spiderman and Batman often struggle over their sense of morality all throughout their lives as heroes. Within Anne Rice's recent novel "The Wolf Gift," Reuben is constantly plagued with the question of whether or not his murderous actions are underpinned with good intentions; is there really a form of murder that is not definitively "good" or "evil?" Sinead, within the Unforgiving Comics, grapples with this very important philosophical question throughout Within Temptation's accompanying album, and in the comics themselves. Then again, Sinead does not come into the equation of the story till much later, so we are left lingering the first three volumes without fully delving into this metaphysical formula that has proved to be a very exceptional formula in any stories involving vigilantes that work outside any mode of governmental authority.


    Interestingly, this very magnetic theme of the harsh struggle of feeling like the rogue or outsider within society that has the pretense of being "completely pluralistic," is still very recurrent. While this equation has always been relevant, it has become more even more popular as society supposedly works to become less conformist. Perhaps, these comics or stories, featuring vigilantes, are trying to show us that we can never fully evolve ourselves past the confines of certain mainstay features of our humanity. Surprisingly, one of the songs by Delain,from their forthcoming album:We are the Others, must have been a bit inspired by some of the themes presented in Within Temptation's "The Unforgiving," though this song focuses less on superheroes and more upon the misunderstood social groups within our society that often identify themselves as "outsiders." While superheroes or violent moral crusaders might be a different type of outsider, there is still a certain element of their struggle that keeps reappearing in all types of various songs by metal or rock groups. It is an impermeable theme that I highly doubt that we'll ever overcome.

   Final Thoughts:   Anyways, I was really quite surprised that the comic based off Within Temptation's album was able to plumb such interesting philosophical topics,even if the first three volumes seem to stray a bit from entirely delving into the substance of the plot. If you remain patient though, the fourth volume truly rewards the reader who remains steadfast. I still have not yet read the fifth volume or sixth volume (Has that even be released yet???).  Eventually though, Ill have to purchase them from Within Temptation's online store, which for now seems like the only vendor that sells these comics.

       Links of Interest:http://www.within-temptation.com/-Within Temptation's Official Site
http://www.atmoapparel.co.uk/stores/withintemptation/ -Within Temptation's Official Store (Trustworthy vendor for the comics)
https://www.facebook.com/wtofficial - Within Temptation's Facebook Page
https://twitter.com/WTofficial - Within Temptation's Twitter Page
             
If you like the Delain song below, I highly reccomend these links:
Delain's Official Page-http://www.delain.nl/
A Very Good Delain Fan Page-https://www.facebook.com/delaininternational
Place to Order new Delain Album (Released in NA on July 3rd,2012)
http://www.amazon.com/We-Are-The-Others-Delain/dp/B007Y1JGOY/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1340899609&sr=1-1&keywords=delain+we+are+the+others
Delain's Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/delainmusic




Here is the Delain song that was mentioned above towards the end of my review!
     

Upcoming Blog Features

Comic Wednesdays Becoming Comic Thursdays
*The formerly titled feature "Comic Wednesday," will not become "Comic Thursdays." If you have been wondering why there has been a peculiar lack of comic reviews, I have a lot of books to read through at the moment and review, thus its very hard to keep up with the weekly comic feature.


Upcoming Book Review For Next Week:


July 3,2012




Next week, I'm pleased to feature DB Jackson's Thieftakers  on this blog. I'm thrilled to review this book because it might be one of my favorite surprises thus far. Who would believe that we'd be getting a fantasy novel set during the American Revolution? It is very relevant, since the Fourth of July occurs during the week  this very exciting book is slated to be released.






On July 5th, I'll be hosting Sasha Summer's Medusa,  which has filled the Greek mythology void that has existed in my reading pile for far too long.