Get my ebooks for half off!

Over at Smashwords I'm participating in their great summer/winter sale. Whether you're sweltering in the summer of the Northern Hemisphere, or chilling out somewhere south of the Equator, it's always a good time to read an ebook. Through July 31, all my ebooks at Smashwords are 50% off. You can see an entire list on my Smashwords page.

The books include my Trench Raiders World War One action series, each now $1.50; older works such as the short story collection The Night the Nazis came to Dinner and the historical fantasy The Quintessence of Absence, both $1.50; and my Civil War horror novels A Fine Likeness and The River of Desperation.

Use the coupon code SSW50 at checkout to save 50%!

Book Review: The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs

The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up for free from Gollancz at the 2014 Eastercon. Like Barricade, another freebie from the same publisher that I reviewed here earlier, I found it to be a well-written novel that ended up disappointing me.

The setting is an alternative Wild West colonized by the Rumans, an alternative Roman Empire that gets its strength from Hellfire--captured imps and demons that are made to power steamboats, weapons, and other devices. So yeah, you have fantasy, steampunk, and Weird West all wrapped into one. Variants on the Chinese and Spanish are also mentioned.

The action centers around Shoe and Fisk, two scouts employed by a Ruman senator to clear the way for his steamboat as it carries a very important cargo--a captured Spanish princess. Shoe is half dvergar, a dwarf-like race native to the continent. Shoe narrates the plot but does very little, the story mostly being about Fisk, a typical Western hero, a Lone Ranger to Shoe's Tonto.

And this is the first major stumbling block to my enjoyment of the book. The only other dvergar in the book is also in a servile role. The other native race are the vaettir, elf-like savages that scalp, kill babies, carry off women, and burn settlements. Instead of developing some interesting cultures based on, say, the Navajo or Iroquois, Jacobs cops out and reverts to the simplistic Good, Servile Indian vs. Savage, Hostile Indian trope.

This is the 21st century. Do better.

The senatorial family that Shoe and Fisk are guarding are similarly cartoonish. They are so backbiting and clueless as to be unbelievable, and their stupidity extends to putting their captive, upon whom the future of the Ruman Empire rests, into unnecessary danger. This furthers the plot but could have been handled in a more convincing manner. Add a few clichés (black fire, Infernal Combustion Engines) and I was left struggling to finish it.

And that's a real shame. Jacobs is an excellent writer, his prose always flowing well and presenting some beautiful descriptions. His creativity and obvious talent should have resulted in a better novel. I will probably try out one of Jacobs' other works, but I will not be reading the sequel to The Incorruptibles.

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Book Review: Wars to End all Wars

Wars to End All Wars by G.L. Lathian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a student of World War One and love good historical speculative fiction, so I was eager to read this. Also, in the interests of full disclosure, I'm a friend of one of the contributors. I make it a policy not to review friends' work so I won't be mentioning Andrew Leon Hudson's story "The Foundation" in this review. There's enough other material to make an overall assessment.
Things start badly with a poor introduction by editor N.E. White, who informs us "In the summer of 1914, war was declared between Germany and Russia, between Belgium and Italy, and between the Ottoman Empire and England." Not only does this statement leave out some of the major players (France? Austria-Hungary? Hello?) but it contains two historical errors. Italy did not join the war until 1915 and when it did, it was on the side of the Allies, not the Central Powers. Also, it should be "British Empire", not England.
Another editorial gaffe was White's decision to link each story to a related Wikipedia article. Even the most casual search on the Internet will find better source material, the Imperial War Museum's website or Trenches on the Web, for example.
Luckily, the stories are better than the introduction. Things get off to a strong start with an alternate history tale by Igor Ljubuncic called "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair." What if Gavrilo Princip chickened out at the last minute? We follow his life after pulling back from the fateful moment.
Lee Swift's "Wormhole" gives us simpler fare with a simple monster hunt that's good fun and captures the misery of trench life.
Wilson Geiger's "Jawohl" studies the life of a WWI veteran but appears to be set in WWII. I found it a bit disappointing with more than one cliche (like the protagonist's rage being reflected by a thunderstorm) but it was a decent effort nonetheless.
Elizabeth Moon's "Tradition" is the strongest piece in the collection, a straight-up naval adventure that tweaks history without resorting to any paranormal or futuristic elements.
"On the Cheap" by Dan Bieger has famous writers turned fairies turned WWI veterans reminiscing in an Irish pub. I found this to be an uneven effort that failed to live up to its puckish aspirations.
"One Man's War" by G.L. Lathian is a historical switcheroo between a common man and a famous historical figure that is predictable and fails to deliver any real impact.
In sum, this anthology is an uneven offering as most anthologies are. There's enough here to be worth the cover price but too many shots miss the mark for my liking.

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New World War One Speculative Fiction (not mine!)

Fellow Madrid writer Andrew Leon Hudson has a short story in a new anthology about World War One.

Wars to End All Wars – Alternate Tales from the Trenches is a collection of seven short stories inspired by the “Great” War, though not necessarily following exactly where it led. In addition to a piece from the award-winning Elizabeth Moon, it contains original stories by Dan Bieger, Wilson Geiger, G. L. Lathian, Igor Ljubuncic, Lee Swift, and Andrew Leon Hudson.

As with the previous two anthologies put together by SFFWorld.com’s N. E. White, the first year’s proceeds from Wars to End All Wars will be donated to charity: this time to Doctors Without Borders, so every copy represents not just some interesting fiction but a little bit of valuable aid to a worthy cause. Plus, it’s only 99 cents!

It's available at Amazon and Smashwords.