Off the Bookshelf: STARFIRE: The Mending

Confession time: I had planned to read through all my books published by Marcher Lord Press before going to the Realm Makers Conference in St. Louis this week ... but time ran out!

This novel by Stuart Vaughn Stockton is the first book in a series -- evidenced by labeling it Book 1.

How many books in the series? Not sure, but considering the vast amount of world-building the author put into it ... I'm guessing the war between saurian races and the prophecies to be fulfilled and all the complicated politics and soul-searching and military maneuvers to come ... decades, generations will be covered in the coming books. It could go on forever!

I have to admire the world-building and all the thought and effort and organization expended on this book. I lost count of all the different species, the colors, the sizes, the personality types involved in the many saurian races who inhabit this world and this book. It almost makes my head hurt.

What's that? Saurian? Yeah -- the characters in the book are all different species of sentient dinosaurs. And they're at war. If I was a dinosaur fan I would probably have devoured this book in 1/10 the time it took me to read it, even discounting editorial deadlines and making a living and Vacation Bible School and other things. But I'm not a dinosaur "person," so that slowed me down -- but here's the thing: I was able to ignore the things I wasn't "into" quite often with this book, caught up in the action, the conflict, the problems that the hero, Rathe, faces. Which tells you just how good this writer is. If you're into military, dinosaurs, massive world-spanning conflicts and heroes who just can't seem to win ... any combination of these factors or all of them together -- Read this book!

Off the Bookshelf: OXYGEN

Ever feel like you're jumping on the bandwagon so late, you almost missed and ended up face-down in the dust?

People have been talking about OXYGEN by John B. Olson and Randy Ingermanson on various Christian writing loops for what seems like YEARS. When the book was re-packaged and re-released by Marcher Lord  some time ago (don't ask me how long, but it was near the bottom of the list on my iPad Kindle reader, meaning it was one of the first books I got) I decided to get it.

Wish I had read it sooner! Yeah, I sometimes had a hard time with all the astronaut lingo and acronyms (occupational hazard when dealing with the government/military/sciences) and wondered when the promised romance would gain speed (the tagline proclaims it a science fiction romantic suspense), but the book kept me reading. Even when I should have been doing something else, like meeting deadlines for my own publishers!

The story: A manned mission to Mars (say that ten times fast!), all the prep work, personalities involved, politics, paranoia, and all the soul-searching and struggle for survival that takes place when things go very, very wrong with life support, when there's no chance of turning back or help reaching them in time.

What can I say? Wow. Thoroughly thought through, grabbing at your emotions, and threatening to give you a sore throat from holding back vocal arguments with or warnings to the main characters while reading in public. I'm just not into the space program -- I prefer my stories where we're already "out there" -- but this held my attention and interest. Good job, guys.

Interesting side note: At the back of the book is lots of bonus material, talking about how the book was written and sold, the collaboration between the two authors, and how they came up with the sequel. I haven't read all that material, but from everything I've heard about Ingermanson and Olson, definitely something a serious writer should read, just to learn from them.

Should you read OXYGEN? You better believe it.

Off the Book Shelf: BUT WHO WOULD BE DUMB ENOUGH TO EVEN TRY IT?

Last night, I stayed up until nearly midnight to finish this book. Because the other book I read this week ... well, to paraphrase a friend of mine, my reaction was "meh." Meaning I wouldn't waste my time talking about it, much less boring you with it. I mean, yeah, I like the author, but this was an early work of hers and not up to par with her recent stuff.

'Nuff said.

This week's book is a group-authored novella (80 pages), BUT WHO WOULD BE DUMB ENOUGH TO EVEN TRY IT?, offered by Marcher Lord Press. What makes it interesting is that it is a "shared universe" book. Meaning literature by committee. But don't run in fear -- that made the book interesting, not a gray, soggy cardboard landscape that so much else of "art by committee" offers.

As the intrepid publisher, Jeff Gerke, explains in the introduction, it all started with a picture. A picture he wanted to create. One of those enlightenment moments where people are puzzling over a problem and someone walking by makes a comment that turns the floodlights on, so to speak, and everyone's faces say, "Oh, yeah, of course." Well, that's my paraphrase of his explanation, anyway.

So after he created this image -- you gotta at least look for the story so you can see the picture -- he realized that it needed a story to go with it. So he turned to his stable of equally intrepid Marcher Lord Press authors. They must have had a fun old time coming up with maps and histories, magical rules, characters and backgrounds and the plot, because only when you have fun with all the prep work can a story hang together so well. And it works. Although I do have a couple questions that I'm really, really, really hoping will be answered by another story to follow up on our band of heroes. (Oh, Jeff .... hint, hint!)

The story? Your basic evil despot condemned to an eternity in a magical fortress, who is working his way around the spells and guardians and getting ready to break out of his prison. Then along comes our band of heroes -- they don't realize they're heroes yet, because all they see is the magical talisman inside the fortress that will make them incredibly rich. If they can get it out of the fortress without having their souls and bodies destroyed ala the opening-the-ark scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Because guess what? The talisman is what keeps the evil despot IN the fortress.

Like they say, the journey is everything, so I'm not going to tell you who and how. Get the story and read it. Like me, you'll have some questions, and a hankering for the next adventure.