I won't tell you what color we painted the house yesterday, but I may take to calling the place Grey Havens, and change my name to Cirdan. It has been a lengthy project -- and it's not yet complete as we still have all the trim to do. I am entirely responsible for the great color which the neighbors admire because I let my wife and daughter make the color selection. Lacking both freakish height (which is anything over 5'8") and scaffolding, there were stretches when I spent more time moving the ladder than spraying paint. Let me recommend spraying as opposed to brushes and rollers. We still use brushes and rollers for certain spots, but spraying is about 20 times faster for me. The great plan to leave the windows covered until after we had completed the trim came to an end last night with the terrific windstorm that rattled the paper all night long which created a sound like that of 40 snare drummers practicing outside the house.

In addition to the painting, and the weekly slaughter of the green horde about the estate, I had an interview with E.G. Stone on Thursday morning (which won't post until December 14), and an interview Thursday afternoon at the Fantasy/Sci-Fi facebook group, and a reading at the same page on Friday afternoon. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't have time to read from Power to Hurt. I had selected a few pages depicting a confrontation between Alex and the dragon hunters which were a consequence of his choices in Threading the Rude Eye. Oh well.

***

I mentioned last week that I would have a few more words about Nick Cole. Let me spit them out without further ado.

This book

is the cause of my return to the bitter subject of Mr. Cole. The book came up on my Prime reading list--meaning I got to read it for free, and astute readers of this blog (if there are such folks) will note that I have a penchant for reading for free. I finished it within a couple days. It has been a long time since a book demanded my attention in such a manner.

Reading Legionnaire by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole is like freebasing candy-coated crack cocaine, or mainlining bacon. Legionnaire reminds me of H. Piper Beams' Uller Uprising with the "Koobs" standing in for the "Geeks" in the same way that an Olympic luge run reminds me of a toboggan outing. It's Iran, Somalia, Afghanistan, the Sepoy Mutiny, and the Battle of Rorke's Drift where the ragged edge of present history mingles with the fringe of deep space and a republic of the future that may have crossed into the territory of corrupt empire, and which certainly has allowed even its elite forces to be weakened by political nepotism and influence. Regardless of the setting, it always comes down to the men on the ground. They're hopelessly outnumbered, and crippled by bureaucratic impediments.

My disdain for novels written in the present tense is second only to the feeling for those involving sparkly vampire romance. I've cast aside books written in the present tense because the technique strikes me like an ice-pick jabbing into my gums. Very few writers do the present tense well. Anspach and Cole used the present tense throughout this book--and I didn't even notice until I had read nearly half of it! That's how one should do the present tense! The story seizes the reader with the subtlety of a pirate boarding party and never lets go. It's a rapidly paced yarn adorned with futuristic weapons, armor, and vehicles, but founded on human foibles and determination as exacerbated by dealings with alien peoples and unfamiliar customs.

If you read only one book in the coming month--and it's not one of mine--make it Legionnaire by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole--but, of course, that's only if you can't get one of mine.

It's official - I'm now a YouTube sensation, internet influencer, and author of renown -- or perhaps I exaggerate. Probably the latter. The facts are these: Saturday at 2:pm MDT I went live on Facebook and You Tube in an interview with A.F. Stewart on her program Between the Pages author interview. She fed me a few questions that allowed me to ramble on for about twenty minutes about myself and my books. Mostly we talked about the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series -- And I forgot to give the names of all three books in the first trilogy, and I only had a copy of the second book, Power to Hurt, with me to show for the interview. I also got to mention the other genres in which I write, and I had a copy of my 1940s detective novel Smoke to show.

At the conclusion, after we were no longer on the air, Ms. Stewart, who is also an author, assured me that I didn't look too stupid, but I'll let you judge for yourselves. I hope to post Ms. Stewart's answers to my written interview questions for her next week or shortly thereafter.

***

Last week I mentioned that I was reading The House of the Wolfings by William Morris. I finished it this week. I would sum it up as follows: Imagine Tolkien's The Two Towers without hobbits or Helms Deep, or Saruman, and replace the Uruk-Hai with Romans with most of the fighting taking place in Fanghorn Forest (without ents), and Goldberry in love with Theoden or Eomer and gave her love a cursed hauberk rather than a mithril shirt. I can only say that my enjoyment of the story wained before the story reached the end. Once the inevitable happened--in battle and fire with the mighty Roman commander--I rushed along, only skimming the last couple chapters. I believe there is a sequel. I may or may not get to it at some future date. I give it 3 spears out of 5.

***

A couple weeks ago I read Tim Powers book On Stranger Tides.

As you might expect from the title, pirates feature prominently in this alternate history novel. Jack Shandagnac, a young puppeteer from France, goes to the Caribbean to reclaim his inheritance but is taken by pirates. Blackbeard and some other famous pirates are featured. Blackbeard has an important role. Jack falls in love with a girl whose life is in danger, and he must deal with pirates, magic, and the British navy to save her. I won't elaborate upon the precise danger--but being captured by pirates is rarely a picnic. Tim Powers is a terrific writer but this book didn't mesh with my tastes. The central fantasy element, the particular magic, rubbed me the wrong way--it wasn't something that I could enjoy. The rest of the story bounced along like an old Chevy on a mountain road with plenty of fighting and some pirating. I give it 3 and 1/2 cutlasses out of 5.

***

Next time I have a few more words to say about Nick Cole.

Someone posted this rating (but no written review) for my new book Clamorous Harbingers:

A written review would have been nice, but I'll gladly take every 5 star rating that comes my way. I only need about a thousand more of these.

In related news, someone else, a young man of 15, got a paperback copy of Clamorous Harbinger's last night, and had read all three hundred pages by this morning. He said he stayed up reading until after 2:00 a.m. -- That's the kind of dedication I like from fans. The power of interesting characters and exciting action in a compelling story has captured his imagination.  He has of course read the whole trilogy and now wants the second trilogy. He has good taste. That kind of dedication is what every author craves.

***

I'm not sure whether it was Tracy, Chris, Danny, Laurie, or Keith - but I saw one of the members of the partridge family die yesterday.

When I opened the garage door, I heard some chicks chirping outside, but I couldn't see the birds. When I walked out to get the gas for the mower, I saw the momma partridge in the grass by the front door. The youngsters, sans instruments, came scurrying from somewhere and she led them into a long ornamental bush we had. We've had partridges here ever since we moved here a number of years ago. They're not uncommon in the countryside. We also get pheasants, deer and other wildlife on the property.

A short time later, after I had gassed up the mower and was getting ready to coil a hose, I heard the momma partridge clucking with all the understated drama one finds at the community theater. She came bursting from beneath the bush with one of the growing kittens on her tail. The kitten, the one I call Shadow, had one of the partridge family seized in its jaws. Momma turned to face the cat, but the cat broke for another bush. Momma gave chase, but Shadow disappeared. Momma turned away, her feathers all ruffled, and that little feather on the top of her head hanging sideways like the up swept bangs on a frazzled dame. When Shadow raced to another bush, letting the chick go to catch it once more, momma veered back toward her brood member, but quickly realized the futility of the matter and returned to watch over the remaining band members.

Later, I thought I heard Shadow meowing, "I think I love you."

***

Finally, not really a book review, because I'm not even half way through it yet. I picked up The House of the Wolfings by William Morris--a free ebook. It predates the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, being published in 1889--that's just 8 years after the Earps and Clantons had a wee disagreement in the Arizona Territory, and the same year as the Russian Flu Pandemic, or the Tyler Grippe. The fumes of Tolkien-inspiration waft from the work so strongly that if one were to strike a match the ensuing explosion of hobbits, Dunedain, orcs, and Riders of Rohan would "big bang" a trilogy into existence. It seems to be a tale told from the point of view of the Goths, against the invading evil empire of Rome. Most of the dialog is written in verse, and the pattern of the prose rings with a pleasant ping. That's all I got to say about that--for now.

Some movies, the best movies, demand an investment not only of time and attention, but of something more, a unique sort of currency, a shaving planed from the heart--all thin, translucent, and curling like a Christmas ribbon--but still attached at one end. If one dips the end of the heart-shaving into the emotional waters of the movie, it becomes a fleshy conduit connecting the viewer with the characters.

I'm not sure I like that analogy (or whatever it is) above, but I am sure that I liked the movie I saw on Saturday about the inspirational tale of three broken men and a broken horse.

Broken by loss and mistreatment, the three men and the horse rally together to overcome long odds to triumph on the track and in life. Seabiscuit came out in 2003, so I'm not very quick on getting a review out, but I wasn't doing the blog back then. When I saw that it was on, I was't going to watch it. I had seen it a few times before. I knew the story. I knew how it ended. I knew that it was a bit of a long gallop from start to end. I image that you know the story, but, just in case, the nutshell version, rendered as blandly as possible, goes like this: Wealthy family loses everything and dumps boy off with a horse racing man. Old horse trainer gets picked up by rich man who has lost his son and whose wife has left him. A small horse with a promising pedigree is mistreated and lives down to expectations, losing races and becoming a cantankerous mess. Men and horse coalesce to form a winning team--with many obstacles along the way. After establishing a winning record out west, they hound the owner of War Admiral until they get a race. There are more complications, but the little underdog prevails. Finally, additional complications arise. Horse and jockey convalesce together and, as underdogs once again, make a miracle comeback.

The overall story is greater than the sum of the parts, and yet, the parts are fabulous. David McCullough's narration and the short, black and white "era" pieces really add to the the atmosphere and illustrate the larger milieu in which the story takes place. The story of Seabiscuit becomes a fanfare for the common man, the triumph of the every man who has had failures and bad breaks in unremitting succession, but who rises to success, to meaning beyond his status. The story will touch you--if you let it. It's like getting smoke in your eyes, but its in the heart.

As for the actors, it is the best thing I've seen Tobey Maguire do. He makes the beaten, angry jockey-mirroring the horse he rides a credible creation. He gets a few nice Shakespearean quotes. Chris Cooper as the trainer Tom Smith oozes patient understanding, long-suffering, and wisdom with occasional wit. He has a number of great lines like, "It's better to break man's leg than to break his heart." Jeff Bridges slips into the role of the owner Charles Howard to give my favorite performance by the actor.

I think the movie works because the writing is superb, and the acting and directing reflect that. I don't think I've ever read the book of the same name upon which the movie is based, but I will read it if I get the chance.

***

Speaking of superb writing. I had some nice experiences with the first book in the sequel trilogy which follows the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire trilogy. First, let me share a couple reviews from two of the books in the trilogy which came in this week:

About Threading the Rude Eye

 Independence Intrigue August 5, 2020

I read this book to my daughters. We loved it. It is a great swashbuckling story of mystery, action and fantasy with a little romance and American revolution thrown in as well. Ready for the continuing saga.

About the second book, Power to Hurt

 Page Turner! (Not to be confused with Will Turner) August 8, 2020

Power to Hurt is book two in an excellent series by the author Stanley Wheeler. Wonderful character and story development that makes you anxious for the next page/chapter/book. The author is a master at historical fiction. Highly recommend!

Back to my points about writing experiences this week. Writing is often a revelatory process. The author is supposed to know what's going to happen -- and I usually do. While the process for me involves roughly mapping out the story in advance, and picturing the ending, most of the stuff that happens between beginning and end springs into being during the actual writing rather than during the planning. Until the words hit the page, I merely see through a glass but darkly.

This week I was faced with a decision about what course a character would take; her decision would be critical to the events of two separate story lines, and she could be in only one of them. Which way would she go? I couldn't decide -- until I reread her actions from an earlier chapter that had not been planned, but which created some interesting possibilities. After reading that, I saw that she had already made the decision. I merely had to write it. The characters know what they need to do. I just have to stay out of their way. Likewise, when a villain made another appearance this week, I had planned for his dramatic and surprising entrance, but when I started writing it the Rule of Awesome suddenly reared its grinning face and rocketed the scene from a 5 to a 9 on the awesome surprise scale. I couldn't believe that that hadn't occurred to me when I had first envisioned it, but it hadn't. Only in the very act of hurling words at the page did the obscuring stone fall away to reveal the true nature of the sculpture beneath.*

Also, daughter's favorite scenes from Clamorous Harbingers: A possible drowning, and an unfortunate brush with cannibalism.

*That's how you mix a metaphor, shaken, not stirred.

Best Flintlock Fantasy

What makes a book a flintlock fantasy? How is it different from gunpowder fantasy?

Flintlock fantasy, as I understand it, designates a genre defined by a certain level of technological advancement in the mundane weaponry, as opposed to ancient or medieval weapons as seen in classic, or high fantasy. The flintlock saw roughly two centuries of use, from the early to mid 17th century to the early to mid 19th century. The flintlock replaced the matchlock and wheel lock firearms. A flintlock fantasy novel would typically employ technology, including flintlock muskets, from this two-hundred year time span. Specifics may vary among authors. As for gunpowder fantasy, I believe it could span a greater technological period to coincide with the first wide use of gunpowder weapons, making flintlock fantasy a sub-genre of gunpowder fantasy. Flintlock fantasy may cover alternate history of the relevant time period, or complete fantasy worlds at the flintlock technology level.

The two centuries dominated historically by flintlock weapons were characterized by conquest, colonization, empire, and revolution. How much of that was the result of the technology and industrial revolution, and how much sprang from ideology would make for an interesting debate.

I think the most well-known flintlock fantasy would be Brian McClellan's Powder Mage Trilogy. It takes place in a fantasy world, similar to France and Europe at the time of the French revolution. There are various magic systems in the novels, with two especially at odds with one another. I reviewed the first book in the trilogy, here.

Django Wexler has also written the Shadow Campaigns series. I've read the first book, which takes place in a fantasy world which made me envision Europe and North Africa. I suppose it has a Napoleon-in-Egypt flavor to it. I particularly liked the small unit action descriptions. My review of The Thousand Names is here.

David Drake's Old Nathan was set in early America--Tennessee, maybe--but the flintlock technology was not crucial to the tale. I enjoyed the book and posted my review of it here.

William King's Tetrarch Chronicles don't get mentioned much, but they definitely qualify as flintlock fantasy. King writes well and creates an interesting world where the magic seems to come from conquerors from space. My review of Death's Angels is here.

Will Wright's The Elder Empire series is set in a flintlock fantasy world with sailing ships and Cthulhu Mythos. The early chapters of the first book, Of Sea and Shadow piqued my interest, and there were elements that I quite enjoyed. My review of Of Sea and Shadow is posted here.

Most people may not think of Eric Flint and his 1632 and sequels as flintlock fantasy, but I think they qualify in the alternate history category. A West Virgina mining town (from the 1980s?) is whisked away into Thuringia in 1632. It's a good read. I've posted a review here
.

Michael Bolan's Devil's Bible Series is at least a gunpowder fantasy, if not a flintlock fantasy. I can't remember the exact weapons used in The Sons of Brabant which I read but didn't post enough of a review to bother giving a link.

Christina Ochs also writes gunpowder fantasy -- my interview with her, and pictures of some of her books are posted here.


I don't think I've reviewed Manly Wade Wellman's The Curse of Fearful Rock, and it's probably not technically a flintlock fantasy as those involved are from the American Civil War and used percussion firearms, if I remember correctly. The book is also more of a horror or ghost story than a fantasy.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Brent Weeks, Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, and Naomi Novik have also written flintlock fantasy novel's or series, but I have not read any of them in the genre. I think DJ Butler's Witchy Eye series may fit into the flintlock fantasy genre; I haven't read it yet, but I plan to do so. I'm also currently reading Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides, which is a pirate themed flintlock fantasy. I may post a review next week.

Each of the books I've listed had qualities that I liked. For me, it's important that a flintlock fantasy emphasize the flintlock and other period weapons in small unit actions. Large battles are a bonus that I enjoy, but I haven't seen that aspect of it well done. Wexler's The Thousand Names came close, but stumbled when it came to the important main battle, practically skipping over it entirely. In my own flintlock fantasy series, Bunker Hill has been the only large battle, the rest of the conflicts are mere skirmishes and personal battles--but some of them involve dragons or other interesting creatures. Of course, my Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series is my personal favorite - but I've found something to like in every flintlock fantasy that I've read. I advocate reading the genre in its entirety.

Know of a flintlock fantasy I missed? -- Suggest it in the comments.