Category: Genre-bender

+Blog Book Tour+ Hero’s Best Friend: an Anthology of Animal Companions {edited by} Scott M. Sandridge, featuring an Editor Guest Post!

Posted Sunday, 22 June, 2014 by jorielov , , 6 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Heros Best Friend Anthology Blog Tour with Tomorrow Comes Media

Published By: Seventh Star Press (@7thStarPress), 12 February, 2014
Official Author WebsitesBlog | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads
Available Formats: Softcover Page Count: 472
Genres: Short Story | Fantasy  | Animals in Fiction

Converse on Twitter: #HerosBestFriendAntho & #7thStar

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There are books which enter our lives and conscience heart well ahead of their actual publication date, and this particular anthology came into my view in late 2013. It was around the time of the first-ever Twitter party for the debut writerly convention Imaginarium in Louisville, Kentucky this coming September! I was quite charmed by the premise of the stories which would be lit alive inside its covers and I was quite eager to learn more about the collection as it came time to review it for a blog tour! Clearly confident in my ability to secure a tour spot, as sometimes when you believe in a book, you just have to go the extra mile! (as I have for Uncovering Cobbogoth and Portals, Passages, and Pathways!)

Imagine my gobsmacked horror to realise that the complimentary copy of Hero’s Best Friend went plumb amiss in the Post! Yes, dear hearts, somewhere out there between Kentucky and here, there is a copy floating through the mail system! You see, I had planned to compose my observational thoughts on the stories today! Never one to throw in the towel if life throws me lemons, I quickly contacted the editor Mr. Sandridge and conferred with him about an impromptu Guest Post in lieu of the planned review!

Sandridge came through for me and provided me with lovely insight into how animal companions and animals inside stories have enchanted him as much as they have myself! I am always delighted finding others who appreciate the same interests I have but to have such a stellar essay whipped up as quickly as he threw this one together is a blessing to a book blogger! I cannot thank him enough for giving me a way ‘back on the tour!’

Please take a moment to look over the information on the anthology’s contents before proceeding into his essay about the genre-bending inclusion of ‘animal companions!’

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Heroes Best Friend : Anthology by Seventh Star Press
Artwork Credit: Enggar Adirasa

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May I take a moment to express my gratitude for the artwork by Enggar Adirasa! The front cover’s image simply draws you into wanting to seek the stories out inside this collection of shorts! Especially if you are an appreciator of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe motion picture! (I did not get as enraptured with the books!) I would love to hear your take on what alights in your mind as you look a bit at the cover and compose your thoughts in the comment threads below! I look forward to seeing what you share! It is still a bit of a mystery for me to know of which story this illustrative piece is referencing! And, I cannot wait to find out!

Anthology Synopsis: Hero’s Best Friend: an Anthology of Animal Companions

Scott M. Sandridge

How far would Gandalf have gotten without Shadowfax? Where would the Vault Dweller be without Dogmeat? And could the Beastmaster been the Beastmaster without his fuzzy allies? Animal companions are more than just sidekicks. Animals can be heroes, too!
Found within are twenty stories of heroic action that focuses on the furries and scalies who have long been the unsung heroes pulling their foolish human buddies out of the fire, and often at great sacrifice-from authors both established and new, including Frank Creed, S. H. Roddey, and Steven S. Long.

Whether you’re a fan of Epic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Science Fiction, or just animal stories in general, this is the anthology for you!

So sit back, kick your feet up, and find out what it truly means to be the Hero’s Best Friend.

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Scott M. Sandridge is a writer, editor, freedom fighter, and all-around trouble-maker. His latest works as an editor include the Seventh Star Press anthologies Hero’s Best Friend: An Anthology of Animal Companions, and the two volumes of A Chimerical World, Tales of the Seelie Court and Tales of the Unseelie Court.

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Stories inside: Hero’s Best Friend:

Joy Ward: “Toby and Steve Save the World”

Frank Creed: “Dusk”

Cassie Schau: “The Hunter’s Boy”

Steven Donahue: “Grit”

Jason Cordova: “Hill 142”

Herika R. Raymer: “Dook”

Essel Pratt: “Brothers”

Lisa Hawkridge: “Ezra’s Girl”

S. H. Roddey: “Look What the Cat Dragged In.”

Steven S. Long: “The Wolf Sentinel”

Laura Anne Ewald: “Memorandum”

Cindy Koepp: “The Hat”

Ian Hunter: “Scarheid in the Glisting”

Steven Grassie: “The Masterless”

David Wright: “Wind of Change”

Renee Carter Hall: “The Emerald Mage”

Nick Bryan: “The Violet Curse”

Lillian Csernica & Kevin Andrew Murphy: “The Restless Armadillo”

Douglas J. Ogurek: “Stuck on the Squigglybounce”

Sheila Deeth: “Passage”

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Animal Stories Span Genres

By Scott M. Sandridge

Growing up, I watched all the classic films of Lassie and Benji. Reading White Fang showed me that the best animal stories are the ones done from the animal’s point of view, and I later realized that they can be some of the most difficult stories to write. Cujo showed me that animals can make for great characters in Horror, and Lord of the Rings introduced me to Shadowfax. And who hasn’t seen Mad Max or The Beast Master?

The post-apocalyptic video game series, Fallout, expanded my view of the different genres that animal companions can be in. Fallout and Fallout 3 introduced me to the roughest, toughest, and most loyal companion you can have on your team: Dogmeat, a dog so tough he can take down a super mutant with his bare teeth (and can survive my very bad aim with grenades). Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas introduced me to robot dogs and cyborg dogs. They were pretty tough, too (but could never survive my bad aim with grenades, alas).

When I pitched my idea for an anthology about animal companions to Seventh Star Press, I knew the Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery genres would be well represented. Animal companions have been a classic mainstay in those genres for a long time. But by allowing the anthology to be open to all genres, I became pleasantly surprised at the submissions that arrived. In Hero’s Best Friend: An Anthology of Animal Companions, not only will you find Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, and Contemporary, but also Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, and Bizarro. If Hero’s Best Friend proves anything, it’s that animal companion stories can span all genres and subgenres.

And why not? Our relationship to animals, and their relationship to us, tells us as much about the human condition as human-to-human relationships. Just as we see our real life pets as extended family members, in fiction (when the writer does it right) the animals we read about become just as real to us as the human characters. They make us laugh, make us cheer, and make us cry: just as much as, if not more than, the human characters do.

I’m honored to have been the editor of such an anthology, with a theme so dear to my heart. And I’m thankful that Seventh Star Press gave me the opportunity to have such an anthology available for all of you to enjoy.

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What I appreciate the most about this particular collection of stories is having each of them capture the essence of a genre-bending sphere of literary delight! They are representative of their actual genres, but they sound as though they give a bit more than what those branches of literature might usually encompass at the very same time! I love fiction that takes on new meanings and new depths, whether I am soaking into a book, a short story, or even whilst immersed into the latest Doctor Who episode I am discovering for the very first time! I find that the series is the epitome of ‘genre-bending’ and brilliance of execution on captivating a person’s attention at the jump-start beginning!

Sandridge and I share a common ground for appreciating animal companions, as his top three choices match my own, as I quite literally rented “Benji: the Hunted” from the rental shoppes so often they nearly gave me the VHS tapes for free! I say ‘nearly!’ as they never could seem to get permission from corporate to do so! Oy! I was simply captivated by Benji, for the same reasons I loved “The Adventures of Natty Gann” in which Natty’s companion is a wolf; “The Neverending Story” who as the wickedest dragon on the planet! (another film in common, he mentions this elsewhere on the tour!); the Mountain Family Robinson trilogy where Crest protected the family; previously I have mentioned my affection for “Pete’s Dragon”; and many others I am failing to draw to memory today! What I appreciate about Jack London is his ability to get your heart attached to a wolf in a way that is different than Natty Gann but is a bit similar to “Due South”; a tv series which features a deaf wolf who takes interest in protecting a Mountie!

From our beginnings of noting animal companions and animals in fiction, we differ a bit on our paths after childhood because I am suspecting the video games are not the ones I’d personally play myself! I’m always going to have half a step and foot on the family and children side of the ledger, not only because I’m a future foster-adoptive Mum, nor even because I’m an Auntie at present, but because I tend to like the innocence in stories for younger generations. I’d wrap myself into a family film far quicker than I would an intense video game! I am a gamer, a title I apparently acquired at three, as I’ve been playing games on the computer since I first started using one! Wayy back when Atari was all the rage and long before Nintendo or the ability to borrow my neighbourhood friend’s Sega Genesis so I could play with Sonic, the quirky hedgehog!

You’ll even note a new ‘tag’ on my Twitter profile which sums me up quite well: Vintage Gamer! By board, card, or video, I like a bit of a unique ‘vintage’ or ‘yesteryear’ spin to what I game! Not to say I don’t like an action-based game either, as let’s face it, I cannot deny I helped beat “Street Fighter” in sixth grade! I digress!

The best news of all, no matter how we gather our passions for animal companions, nor where we wander to find the companions that mean the world to their masters, we each have our own ‘coveted niche’ in the genres we appreciate reading and watching! And, I for one will always celebrate the uniqueness of our individual passions if we can sometimes draw a common thread towards each other and celebrate the love of story-telling which ignites a fever pitch passion for our imaginations!

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Blog Book Tour Stop, courtesy of Tomorrow Comes Media

Heros Best Friend Anthology Blog Tour with Tomorrow Comes Media

Virtual Road Map of the “Hero’s Best Friend” Blog Tour:

16 June: Guest Post of Scott M. Sandridge “Writers Are Born, Then Made” @ Beagle Book Space

16 June: Interview: S.H. Roddey (author of a short) @ Deal Sharing Aunt

17 June: Guest Post of Essel PrattSheila Deeth

18 June: Guest Post of Henrik R. Raymer @ Come Selahway With Me

18 June: Guest Post of Scott M. Sandridge “Animals & the Hero Archetype” @ On Cloud Eight-and-a-Half

19 June: Guest Post of Sheila Deeth @ Sapphyria’s Book Reviews

20 June: Guest Post of S.H. Roddey @ Beauty in Ruins

21 June: Guest Post of Scott M. Sandridge “Animal Stories Span Genres” @ Jorie Loves a Story

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comCheck out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Tomorrow Comes Media Tour Host

and mark your calendars!

I am going to be reading & reviewing “Hero’s Best Friend” 

as soon as I receive a copy of the anthology!

Stay tuned!

Watch my tweets!

And return back to this blog!

What draws you into reading anthologies in the fantasy realms?! What are some of your favourite fantasy-centered anthologies of short stories!? Are there any authors you were ‘introduced to’ via an anthology that you regularly read now!? Who are some of your favourite ‘animal companions’ in fiction and motion picture?! And, don’t forget to share your thoughts about the book cover art!

{SOURCES: Editor photograph, Editor Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and TCM Tour Host badge were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and were used by permission. Jorie requested an Author Guest Post from Scott M. Sandridge by way of Mr. Sandridge, of which she received a reply. She wanted to remain on the tour when the book went amiss in the post, and he obliged her with this wicked post topic! Guest Post badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Sunday, 22 June, 2014 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, An Editor Point of View, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Anthology Collection of Stories, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Convention, Bookish Discussions, Fantasy Fiction, Genre-bender, Imaginarium, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, Science Fiction, Seventh Star Press, Short Stories or Essays, Speculative Fiction, The Writers Life, Tomorrow Comes Media, Twitterland & Twitterverse Event, Writing Style & Voice

+Blog Book Tour+ Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan, the writer who took genre-bending to a new level!

Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan

Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan

Published By: Seventh Star Press (@7thStarPress) 10 March, 2014
Official Author Websites Site | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads
Available Formats: Softcover, E-book
Page Count: 456

Converse via: #AwesomeJones, #AshleyRoseSullivan, #superherofairytale & #7thStar

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Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the “Awesome Jones” genre-bending fantasy-comic release tour from Seventh Star Press. The tour is hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media who does the publicity and blog tours for Seventh Star Press and other Indie and/or Self Published authors. I am a regular blog tour host with Tomorrow Comes Media and was thrilled to bits to see this novel being offered for review. I received a complimentary copy of “Awesome Jones” direct from the publisher Seventh Star Press in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Interest in Reading Awesome Jones:

When I see a writer like AshleyRose Sullivan who not only dared to embrace a genre-bender story as it alighted inside her heart but dared to have the confidence to find a publisher who recognised her vision is not only awe-inspiring it is the foundation of how each of us needs to remember to ‘own our muse, own our work, and carry-on forward’ until our stories reach the hands of the readers who believe in us too.

– quoted from the Author’s Guest Post on writing Genre-Bending Stories

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  Book Synopsis: 

The only thing Awesome Jones wants is to be a super hero. Until he falls in love.

Despite his colorful name, Awesome Jones is a painfully average man who dreams of being a super hero, just like the ones who patrol his city. It’s been that way since he was a little boy, raised by his grandfather after his parents’ death.AshleyRose Sullivan

The day Jones starts his new job as a file clerk at Akai Printing Company he meets secretary Lona Chang and everything changes. Lona sees something in Jones that no one ever has and the two quickly become inseparable. But when the perfect pair’s domestic bliss is threatened by a super-powered secret from the past, Awesome Jones has to make a choice. He must decide whether he should play it safe or find the strength to live up to his name and risk everything he’s come to love to save the day like he always dreamed.

  Author Biography:

Born and raised in Appalachia, AshleyRose Sullivan has a BS in Anthropology and an MFA in Creative Writing. She lives, writes and paints in Los Angeles with her husband and their many imaginary friends.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comOn analog technology & the heart of the story:

An appreciator of the hidden world of typewriters via the typosphere (yes, there is such a thing! it runs counter-current to our regular blogosphere where typecasters post their typewritten blog posts!), I cannot even fully explain how wicked happy I was to see there were ‘typewriters’ clacking about in ‘Awesome Jones‘! Long live analog! I will always grow a smile of a whisper towards the joy in finding old world tech knitted into the stories I love to read! And, the blessing here is that this isn’t a historical fiction novel! This is a modern alternative world in which ordinary people are attempting to determine if their ancestral roots are strong enough to transcend their present lives. That in of itself is an accomplishment worth reading!

What I truly was unsure about what to expect when I read this novel, is how I would feel about being connected to a story whose heart was hinged to the stories of my youth. I always am quite eager to re-examine my past, especially when it comes to books and the bookish culture which are attached to certain volumes, authors, and stories. The fact that this particular novel gave me back my joy of comic superheroes and the style in which comic stories are told is pure bliss. The heart of the story harkened me back to remembering why I loved The New Adventures of Super-Man as much as I had! Lona and Awesome remind me so very much of Clark and Lois! Their connective spirits give you something to chew on rather than running on presumption. Nothing is cliché nor is anything predictable. Honest choices are threaded through the narrative, and I appreciate the choices the author made whilst creating it!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comMy Review of Awesome Jones:

You are immediately drawn to Awesome Jones as a character because of his introverted confidence in understanding his place in the world and how his everyday life is lived as a bachelor. He has a particular way of attending to each of his needs as well as his wants. From the order he reads the newsprint to the manner in which he eats the takeaway food he orders! He is a man of prediction not contradiction, of sincerity and of genuine curiosity for the bits of the everyday world that is not readily known to him; as he has more or less led a bit of a sheltered life. Not that he would be one to feel sorry for what he lacked in experience (such as having a pet; a dog perhaps?) but artfully steered his mind towards self-awareness and self-education practices which gained him the knowledge of what was absent. He’s the type of bloke you might overlook if you had not taken a keen interest to want to know him. He’s a bit understated, but that is part of his charm!

He’s the type of bloke who purchases flowers to know when they have arrived into their own full essence of splendor. One sniff of their delicate petals and the aroma which follows their mirth, and he knows how long it will take the bloom to reach its maturity. His knowledge for canines through the adverts he reads about their change of ownership lends him an eagle eye viewing of his sidewalk companions as he walksabout his business. He denotes which dog matched to which owner is either most akin to its nature or a reflection of its owner’s personality and thus, rendered differently than most.

Lona Chang took Awesome by surprise, not only for her growing affection and respect of his character, but for being endeared to him as a companion. The two took to each other quite readily, but it was how they fit into each other’s pocket that I felt bemused about the most whilst reading the story! You see, they were the near-identical half of the other, and I refer to it being ‘near-identical’ as although they each read the newsprint release of breaking news, they differed on a category or two. Little unbeknownst differences out of a sea of common threads which helped knit Awesome Jones and Lona Chang together in the bliss of conjoined living. She was quite methodical herself, yet Awesome took the cake for exacting out his observations, and for being near computeristically perfect in his actions. Whilst the two were together, they not only complimented each other in synced harmony but they cancelled each other out on their eclecticism.

Lona and Awesome were intricately entwined by their common share of loss, as they respectively never knew their proper origins. They were each raised by loving parents who adopted them as their own when their biological parents had died. They attempted in their own way to resurrect a connection fate did not allow to solidify whilst their parents were alive. In their shared ambiguous loss, they each sought ways in which they could formulate a way to connect themselves through a passion of their parents; even if the only true connection they had were fragmented pieces of their parents personal effects. These tangible reminders were a weight of a burdened yoke which toyed with their emotional well-being.

When Awesome Jones grapples with the choice between the life he’s formed together with Lona and the life he’s dreamt of living, they each have to put to test the strength of their love for each other. I sided with Captain Lightning (one of the main superheroes focused on in the story) on the outdated rules and regulations of The Guild (apparently superheroes are organised more than you realise!). He’s put in a most difficult position because as you can well imagine, he goes from knowing a scant amount about his ancestry and then, in one large dose of revelation he gets far more than he bargained to learn! I would imagine that if you wake up one day and your entire essence of who you are as a person is chucked out for this alternative version; a version you knew nothing of and had no idea of how to accept, there would be a period of adaption to adjust!

This is when I found myself reading at such a lightning clip as to beg my eyes to move faster down the page, as I had my hand at the ready for turning into the next scene! Again, I love the pace of Awesome Jones as you get to the point where you want to see him succeed. You want him to develop self-confidence and believe in his own truth. There are always forces against you in life, and there is always a chance that your going to falter in your confidence on your own behalf, but part of what endeared me to this story is that the main characters believed in each other. It did not matter what the outcome of their lives would be as far as where their place in the world would fit, as if they had each other they could overcome just about anything crossing their path.

This is why I selected this quotation to be the first I quote from a Seventh Star Press novel. You can read their love and their hope for each other inside the words Lona is giving to Awesome.

“I love you, and I’m proud of you, no matter what. I see something inside you, something bright and brilliant. Not like your parents. Not like anyone. Just you. There’s something different about you, Awesome Jones. Just keep training. And if none of this works — if you never develop stronger abilities — it’s ok. Eventually they will catch The Echo and we’ll go back to our house and find new jobs and read the paper. We’ll make a life together no matter what.”

– Lona talks to Awesome, page 276 from “Awesome Jones”

The very foundation of their relationship is trust and honesty. Giving each other the space to grow as individuals but remaining steadfast and strong as a couple. They endeavour to face everything as a unified team and in their choice to remain strong in hope, they are able to conceive of a path that keeps them united in the future. The mystery of how their future knits together holds you right in place with the narrative. Observing their everyday life and world as one incidence after another places their love in jeopardy will keep you up long into the wee hours of the night! And, for that I feel blessed to have stumbled across Sullivan’s writings as they give us all a fairytale to absorb in a day and age that has nearly forgotten how to write one! This is a story full of old-school superheroes with a bit of a modern alternative twist! These are the superheroes you want to read more about and learn more about their history. Sullivan has found a way to tap into their framework of existence and present a palpable story that you will not soon forget.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comOn the uniqueness of AshleyRose Sullivan’s deft hand in giving a reader a bit of bliss:

I had not even realised there was a distinctive difference in the manner in which the typesetting & style layout of Awesome Jones was presented to the reader in the softcover edition, until of course, I re-read the passage in her previously published Guest Post: On Writing Genre-Bending Fiction that I noticed quite readily how unique this particular novel is from the crowd of fantasy offerings! As I had lamented below her essay, I felt that perhaps my experiences in year’s past in reading stories of various mediums might have tipped my hand and arsenal of memory for stream-lining straight into the narrative itself rather than being curiously aware of its ‘format’. Rather instead of noting any outward appearances of nonconformity, I was celebrating the wicked sweet fast pace of dialogue intermixed with reflective streaming conscious thought narrative!

I liked how you could soak into the inner core of what Awesome Jones was thinking whilst seeing what he saw as he moved through his hours. He was a simple bloke, uncomplicated and true to who he was without being gracious on the details when he was around others. He’s the kind of bloke who did not take himself seriously but wanted to make a good impression on the validity of his strengths and on the merits of what he could accomplish.

Even when the narrative turns malicious to acquaint the reader with the villain of the story, such as on page forty-five and forty-six, Sullivan has this ingenious way of giving you the gruesome details of a crime with the deft hand of a writer who wants to hold back just enough bits of his character to keep you hanging in the balance of when his full form is front and center within the action! She doesn’t cross the line for me as far as Crime Fiction analogies are concerned, as I am a cosy mystery reader and the bits she includes fall under that umbrella moreso than Hard-Boiled. Anyone familiar with the Coffeehouse mysteries by Cleo Coyle will be able to handle the suspenseful climbing arc inside Awesome Jones! (either those OR any episode of “Castle”!)

Fly in the Ointment:

I was so excited to read this genre-bending story where comic-fantasy cross-over and layer upon each other to create a wholly new experience for the reader of print books. (or e-books as this is available in that medium as well; I simply only read books in print) Yet. Imagine my disappointment to find only a scarce few illustrations in the opening chapters, than the near-full of the middle part of the novel is nothing but text. Until towards the last half of the novel the illustrations resume! I was most distressed. I was a bit beyond let-down. I wasn’t even sure what could have caused the misunderstanding — as from all counts of what I knew of the novel going in to reading it as much as ahead of even requesting it for review (as I’ve known about this book since late 2013!): bespoke of the combination of illustrations and words which converge into a wicked sweet read!

The illustrations that are included are wicked awesome, don’t think for one minute they’re not! They added to the allure of reading a genre-bending comic-fantasy as I’m about to seriously consider this superhero fairytale truly is by essence of its character. Yet, for me, what began to unravel a bit of its heart is the absence of the illustrations themselves. Perhaps there was a layout issue or a formatting issue when the novel went to be printed, but to be truthful, there must be a way to circumvent this for the next Awesome Jones, right?! Where the illustrations can take ring-side seats to the action of the character’s dialogue and narrative voices?!

Please note at the time of posting the Author’s Guest Post and the commentary I added before and after Sullivan’s essay I had not yet begun to read ‘Awesome Jones’. I picked up reading the novel shortly thereafter and although as you can see I readily absorbed into the world of ‘Awesome Jones’, part of me was hungry for a bit more of its comic-minded essence!

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Blog Book Tour Stop, courtesy of Tomorrow Comes Media

Awesome Jones
by ashleyrose sullivan
Illustrator/Cover Designer: AshleyRose Sullivan
Source: Publisher via Tomorrow Comes Media

Genres: Action & Adventure Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Genre-bender, Superhero Fiction



Places to find the book:

Series: Awesome Jones, No.1


Also in this series: Intangible, Beneath Creek Waters


Published by Seventh Star Press

on 10th March, 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 456

Awesome Jones Virtual Tour via Tomorrow Comes Media

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Check out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Tomorrow Comes Media Tour Host

 and mark your calendars!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Be sure to jump over to my tour stop for “A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court” an Editor Interview as I am hosting a reader poll to determine what is the favourite fantastical character in fantasy! Be sure to leave a comment in those threads on a recommended title and/or author!

Coming up next is my Author Interview for “A Mage of None Magic”,

also a new release of 7th Star!

Stay tuned!

Watch my tweets!

And return back to this blog!

What do you love about genre-bender fiction!? What kinds of stories do you wish were bent together more often?! Which authors and books would you highly recommend reading more than once to get their full effect!? What are your thoughts on Sullivan’s gift and vision for uniting comic superheros & fantasy fiction narrative!?

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and TCM Tour Host badge were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and were used by permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Selected Quotation of the novel “Awesome Jones” was used with permission of Seventh Star Press.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Related Articles:

Superhero Fiction – (en.wikipedia.org)

I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

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Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, Adoption, Alternative History, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Castle, Comic Book Illustrations & Story, Creative Arts, Crime Fiction, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Fairy Tale Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Fly in the Ointment, Genre-bender, Graphic Novel, Illustration for Books & Publishing, Indie Art, Indie Author, Seventh Star Press Week, Superhero Adventure, Superhero Fiction, Tomorrow Comes Media

+Author Guest Post+ Genre-bending stories attract me due to their dexterity to become fully realised in two separate schools of thought. This was the basis of my topic for AshleyRose Sullivan!

Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov , , , 1 Comment

Guest Post by ParajunkeeAshleyRose Sullivan

Proposed Topic: Genre-bender stories are a new favourite discovery of mine as they endear you to purport your mind to jump straight out of the expected and into the realms of where the impossible lives free. How did you conceptually perceive the format of Awesome Jones and how did you take the conception of this unique story into the finished style that it is now? Did you storyboard out ideas for the components of the comic sections before you wrote the narrative? OR did they organically fuse together as you wrote?

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com I originally revealed my intentions to read ‘Awesome Jones’ during my most recent contribution to my Feature: Jorie’s Box of Joy! Whereupon I revealed that I have a particular attachment to a certain ‘kind of superhero’ as much as I have an affinity for wicked comic illustrations; well, perhaps I did not quite go into as much detail in this last regard but it was floating through my mind to disclose! You see, I have always appreciated original art and illustrations when it comes to books, comics, graphic novels, and all formats of story-telling (including the Story Boards for motion picture!) where a sketch artist, a graphic designer, an illustrator, a painter, or digital illustrative artist is needed to bring to life the characters, setting, and world set within a story itself. I cherish original art as much as I cherish original stories — aside from the film adaptations of literary works, of course! There is a particular essence to an original artwork coinciding with that of the fictional world by which it is representing!

I have nodded a keen awareness towards my preferences in today’s flash in the fire world of book covers, where I extoll the virtues of publishers like Seventh Star Press & ChocLitUK who go the extra mile to ensure that their cover-art and/or inside illustrative plates are not only ORIGINAL and EXCLUSIVE to their stories but they create art which is a living representation of the STORY inside their volumes of creative work! You can well imagine how wicked sweet it was to see the cover-art for ‘Awesome Jones’ for the first time! I had this inertia of excitement well up inside me, wondering about the marvels of what was awaiting my eyes to drink in!

Simply look at the cover yourself and tell me what it brings to mind afterwards in the comment threads!

 Awesome Jones by AshleyRose Sullivan

 Book Synopsis: 

The only thing Awesome Jones wants is to be a super hero. Until he falls in love.

Despite his colorful name, Awesome Jones is a painfully average man who dreams of being a super hero, just like the ones who patrol his city. It’s been that way since he was a little boy, raised by his grandfather after his parents’ death.

The day Jones starts his new job as a file clerk at Akai Printing Company he meets secretary Lona Chang and everything changes. Lona sees something in Jones that no one ever has and the two quickly become inseparable. But when the perfect pair’s domestic bliss is threatened by a super-powered secret from the past, Awesome Jones has to make a choice. He must decide whether he should play it safe or find the strength to live up to his name and risk everything he’s come to love to save the day like he always dreamed.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

}: How AshleyRose Sullivan

created her own path as a writer :{

My favorite movies are a little (a lot) weird. Buckaroo Banzai. Big Trouble in Little China. Amelie. The Life Aquatic. Everything Miyazaki. For me, their appeal comes from their endearing characters, their snappy dialogue, and–perhaps most of all–their creative use of genre and trope bending. Buckaroo is all about a super scientist/rock star/martial artist/cowboy and his gang of similarly gifted friends. It’s also a sci-fi adventure love story. And, it’s not in any way ironic. It’s 100% earnest and all I want to do is spend time in that crazy universe. It’s basically the film equivalent to seven layer dip. I can’t get enough of it.

I guess, then, it’s no surprise that when I started writing, I naturally gravitated to twisting and braiding together my favorite genres. With Awesome Jones, I mixed superheroes, fairy tales, alternate history, and art together to form what is essentially a comic book in prose. But, it’s also a love story. It features an alternate version of our history. And it’s full of illustrations. How all this comes together is evident not only in the story but in the format itself.

That formatting seems to be getting a lot of attention with readers so here’s some information about it: The paragraphs are not indented. The dialogue is indented–but it’s not tagged. And then there’s the art. All this stuff came organically as I started writing Awesome Jones. I begin books in 9.5×6” notebooks and this was the novel that started that trend. I hand-wrote the first fifty or so pages and, as I was going, that’s the format that came out. Including the illustrations. Originally they were hand-drawn on notebook paper in the middle of all the text–just as they appear now in the published version.

There have been a few changes. Originally, the dialogue didn’t have quotation marks at all. Just a hyphen preceding the line. Over the years, though, I ended up just changing it to quotation marks. Publishing industry types are incredible sticklers for manuscript format. Double Space. One Inch Margins. Quotation Marks. Indentation. Well, the manuscript I presented to my mentors and professors in my MFA program, my beta readers, potential agents, publishers etc. was single spaced with no indentation and all this weird art and that totally freaked people out. The lack of quotation marks was one point I was willing to concede. It was one less hurdle I was making them jump over. The thing is, once it’s in printed form, it’s single spaced anyway and the lack of indentation feels more subtle than it looks in a Word document or on an 8.5×11 sheet. But, what can I say? People have been typing up manuscripts a certain way for a long time–I shook up the system as much as I could without causing an earthquake of automatic rejection.

(It’s worth noting that when I approached Seventh Star with my crazy formatting, they didn’t bat an eye. They were totally onboard. That’s cool, man.)

The art itself went through several iterations over the seven years that I worked on the book. First, they were hand-drawn. When I started typing up the MS, though, I didn’t have a way to insert the art. So I made text boxes where I could (a lot of the art comes in the form of newspaper articles, postcards, etc.) and because I was doing the art as I was going along, more and more pieces grew into word-based illustrations. Then, a while back, I finally got enough money for a scanner. I started doing art on paper and scanning it in but I didn’t like the look and mostly just left text boxes in as stand-ins. Gradually, I went through a few digital art programs and figured out how to mix my artistic style with the text that needed to go into the art and I did a bunch of rough pieces. That’s where it was when I sent it to Seventh Star. I said, “I can do better versions of all this art but here’s what I’ve got right now.” Or something lame like that. Anyway, I got lucky and my publisher saw the potential in it. So then I spent a few months just re-doing every single piece in the book. And, in case you’re wondering (including the journal entries in the last third of the novel) there are 44 illustrations.

Artwork Credit: AshleyRose Sullivan
Artwork Credit: AshleyRose Sullivan

I’m working on the next Awesome Jones novel now and it’s just as much a braided together genre-bender as the first novel. I’m excited about doing a whole new novel’s art. I went through such a long process before finally settling on the style that’s in Awesome Jones and I’m glad I can skip the learning curve on that this time and concentrate on the art itself. I spent several years on the first novel and I don’t have that luxury now but those years bought me an intimate knowledge of the Awesome Jones world and its characters. So, I’m going into it excited and (mostly) unafraid. My dream is that my weirdo books will land in the hands of the people who will appreciate them the way I appreciated Buckaroo Banzai. Whether that’s five people or five million, my goal is to make someone’s day by saying, “This is the crazy universe where my heart lives. Yours can live here too.”

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Author Connections:

Site | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Converse via: #AwesomeJones, #AshleyRoseSullivan, #superherofairytale

& #7thStarFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comBeing that I had not heard of any of the motion pictures Ms. Sullivan revealed as her absolute top-notch stellar favourites (aside from “Amelie”), I decided it might be best to seek out the Wikipedia pages in case this would be true of my visitors & readers alike! And, can I simply take a moment and reveal that I think its bang-on brilliant that she genre-bent comic superheroes with smashing narrative fiction story arcs!? I was always seeking a wicked good story set around comic superheroes OR a comic which was a bit more bent on story than graphics. I found The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles had run for three editions before going scarce to non-existent when I found my niche. I always fancied the Sunday Comics in the papers, but I always wanted the strips to continue past what was in front of me. This is a bit why I loved Adam West & Burt Ward as Batman & Robin because the entire show was not just slap-stick comedy but it had the air of a comic superhero about it!

I even like when superheroes are re-invented and the genre is bent even more outside its regular scope such as my penchant attachment for “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” which I am *still awaiting!* a sequel which at this point must be a canned idea! Too sad. I love when writers take us on a journey into a new dimension of story craft as much as they heighten how stories can be told as they re-define the art of how a story can be transitioned between dialogue and narrative. IF there were more pulp science fiction films hitting the silver screen like ‘Sky Captain’ I’d be plumb mesmerised more often!

Like Sullivan, I have a quirky side to my motion picture appreciation as I adored Rango” for blending motion-stop action sequences with a clever twist of Weird West(ern) & classic friend-foe set-ups inside of anime characters on the silver screen! The irony is that I had not realised how oft I am in a position to watch a ‘Weird West’ installment as I have over the years grown fond of: The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.; Legend (Richard Dean Anderson & John de Lancie – how could I not watch?); Back to the Future: Part III (my favourite aside the original!); Wild Wild West (although re-watching it lost its appeal); and others I am sure I am forgetting to mention.

My mind automatically started to read the context of the story Sullivan gave inside ‘Awesome Jones’ to the brink that I had to re-read her notation about its quirky style of typeset and layout on the pages! I think perhaps my history of always remaining keenly aware and on the forefront of story as it evolves forward towards new dimensions of immersion for the reader; my mind was able to auto-remember this style from the adventures I had when I was younger and up until now had not yet experienced again. It’s tricky finding your groove,… there is a heap of cover-art illustrations I love in Manga, but as far as the interiors of the graphic novels themselves, I found myself less than agreeable to purchase the books. I am quite curious how to learn to ‘sketch!’ Manga art, as far as monking around and being inky with a medium and range outside of my traditionally classic art training as a child. I want to push the limits of my own artistic skills and wander into new mediums which tie together my past with my present knowledge of how I’ve grown as an artist.

When I see a writer like AshleyRose Sullivan who not only dared to embrace a genre-bender story as it alighted inside her heart but dared to have the confidence to find a publisher who recognised her vision is not only awe-inspiring it is the foundation of how each of us needs to remember to ‘own our muse, own our work, and carry-on forward’ until our stories reach the hands of the readers who believe in us too.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comBlog Book Tour Stop, courtesy of Tomorrow Comes Media

Awesome Jones Virtual Tour via Tomorrow Comes MediaFun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.comCheck out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Tomorrow Comes Media Tour Host

 and mark your calendars!

{NOTE: Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.}

Be sure to jump over to my tour stop for “A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court” an Editor Interview as I am hosting a reader poll to determine what is the favourite fantastical character in fantasy! Be sure to leave a comment in those threads on a recommended title and/or author!

Coming up next is my Book Review for “Awesome Jones”!

Stay tuned!

Watch my tweets!

And return back to this blog!

What do you love about genre-bender fiction!? What kinds of stories do you wish were bent together more often?! Which authors and books would you highly recommend reading more than once to get their full effect!? What are your thoughts on Sullivan’s gift and vision for uniting comic superheros & fantasy fiction narrative!?

{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and TCM Tour Host badge were provided by Tomorrow Comes Media and were used by permission. Jorie requested an Author Guest Post from AshleyRose Sullivan through Tomorrow Comes Media of which she received a reply. Her interest in genre-bending stories grew out of seeing more of the field of offerings being uniquely reflected by today’s Indie Authors. Guest Post badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Wednesday, 21 May, 2014 by jorielov in Action & Adventure Fiction, Alternative History, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Comic Book Illustrations & Story, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Fairy Tale Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Genre-bender, Graphic Novel, Indie Art, Indie Author, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, Seventh Star Press Week, Superhero Adventure, Tomorrow Comes Media

+Blog Book Tour+ Inscription by H.H. Miller

Posted Friday, 18 April, 2014 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

Inscription by H.H. Miller

Self-Published: H.H. Miller () 9 January, 2014
Official Author Websites:  Facebook | Twitter
Converse via: #InscriptionTour
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and E-Book
Page Count: 278

Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Inscription” virtual book tour through Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the author H.H. Miller, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Book Synopsis:

The year is 1851 and the Grand Guard is ravaging Mainland. Arrests. Floggings. Swift executions. Twenty-year-old Caris McKay, the beautiful heiress of Oakside Manor, is sent to live with distant relations until the danger has passed. It’s no refuge, however, as Lady Granville and her scheming son plot to get their hands on Caris’s inheritance with treachery and deceit.

Soon, alarming news arrives that the ruthless Captain James Maldoro has seized Oakside and imprisoned Caris’s beloved uncle. And now he’s after her.

Caris escapes with the help of Tom Granville, the enigmatic silver-eyed heir of Thornbridge. But when a cryptic note about a hidden fortune launches them on a perilous journey across Mainland, Caris and Tom must rely on wits, courage, and their growing love for each other if they hope to survive.

Filled with adventure, intrigue, and romance, Inscription will transport you to a historically fictional world you’ll never want to leave.

                                                                    

Author Biography:

H.H. Miller

H. H. Miller is the author of the novel Inscription, a historically fictional romantic adventure. In real life, she’s content director at Stoke Strategy, a brand strategy firm in Seattle, Washington, where she specializes in transforming what some might call “boring” technology jargon into compelling, readable, memorable stories. Her favorite escape is Manzanita, Oregon – a place of beautiful beaches, wild storms, chilly nights around the bonfire (even in July), and time to enjoy life with her husband and three children.

For more information please visit H.H. Miller’s Facebook Page.


On how I enjoy beginning a novel:

I am not sure the rituals other readers go through when they start to delve into a novel, but for me, I like to take a bit of time coaxing myself into the narrative hidden beneath the pages of the covers! I like to note the subtle definitive descriptions of the story on either the inside flaps of hardcovers or the back-covers of soft-cover editions. I like to take a nod and a pause to read the Acknowledgements, the Dedications, the Author’s Foreword, as well as see if the writer included a Table of Contents. This last habit is a bit remiss these days, but thankfully Inscription is the exception! Quite a lot can be found about a writer and their story prior to consumption, and what I appreciate the most are all the little hidden bits you can wander around a book and find! For instance, Miller likes to leave a bit of a trace of humour and intellectual curiosity for those who like me, are always a bit on a search for interesting words and turns of phrase. To include a scientific word I had not yet seen but knew was a nibbling of a clue of sorts was the kind of folly I cherish! For you see, a quick whirl of the One Look Dictionary Search I came to denote that the word ‘lepidopterist‘ is the particular person of interest who appreciates moths & butterflies!

My Review of Inscription:

The ominous beginning of Inscription left me murmuring about the atmospheric way a novel can transport us into that humming void of forethought and regret once we begin an adventure. Miller has the instinctive nature of writing a level of intrigue into her narrative that propels you forward, whilst yearning to see what shall happen next at the same time. Her deft skill is in giving such a vivid display of well-bodied characters set amongst the backdrop of turmoil. She eludes to the devastatingly brutal eclipse of a military state of fear all the while noting the charm of an Uncle’s love for his niece. Maddox and Caris are two characters you want to stand behind, due to the fullness of their heart and character.

I personally love to see authors knit in a proper dose of moxie into young female leads. To break the barriers and reveal the unique few who lived boldly in the 1800s. Pioneers so to speak who were rebels with the cause towards equality and the freedom to choose your own destiny as a woman. Care and attention was taken to have a flushed out back-story to weave together the in-between bits of Caris’s past. I love the broad and layered strokes Miller etches into the story-line.  She makes reading Inscription a delight for the imagination. I truly celebrated her choice in giving her female lead the advantage over William Granville who is far more rake than gentleman! Even denoting this, Miller envelopes him with a dash of intrigue as he foolishly cannot make the leap as to how any woman can dismiss his advances. And in that bit of self-conceit, I always mirthfully feel a twitching in knowing an electric battle of the wills shall ensue!

Caris blessedly held her head and her carriage to an astute level of calm when facing down an adversary as thick and slick as William Granville. Her disdain for his reckless behaviour and his ill-wont attitude of elite privilege was never lost on her either. In never giving him the upper hand he craved she was slowly and calculating nibbing away at his ego. A trait that served her well as the danger started to heighten and her more immediate concerns turnt to survival.

The extenuating circumstances which led Caris to Thornbridge (relatives by marriage not blood) and away from her Uncle’s estate at Oakside Manor would reappear in her life to lead her back to the starting block. The entirety of her life was properly out of balance and sync with her heart, as she was running from danger from the moment she first left her Uncle. Danger has a cheeky way of catching up with you, as though a mark of its arrival is attached to you and only when you finally unravel the full scope of the deceit can you firmly step outside its reach.

Every inch of detail is set to the rhythm of events as they are unfolding for Caris; Tom William’s long-lost brother who returned home with quite the barrage of ill-justice attached to his heels. A motley crew of two seeking to find redemption and revenge on behalf of their circumstances and situations, they travelled together towards Oakside to see what if anything had become of Caris’s home. Whilst they travelled, I felt Caris was shedding her childhood skin a bit with each click of the horses hooves. She had become aware of her independence at Thornbridge surely, yet on the road back home she started to settle into her skin and realise this for herself. Part of reading her story felt like a woman on the verge of owning her own life, emerging out of a period of respite and entering into her future a bit stronger despite the grief of her adventure.

Inscription is told in three parts, much like a play on the stage. For all the entrances and exits, you find yourself so emerged into the story you struggle to re-adjust your eyes to the reality around you. It is a story enriched by courage, faith, love, and the determined grit to overcome all odds which become stacked against you. It is not for the faint of heart in some passages, as it does ruminate about the floggings (lashings by a cat-o-nine-tails) and the grisly vigilante murder by a lawman consumed by madness; but at the core of Inscription is the plight of one woman (Caris) and one bloke (Tom) finding their true destiny. And, that dear hearts is far worth the anguish of a few passages of turmoil! I devoured this text in one sitting as I could not bear to wait to know the outcome!

On Ms. Miller’s writing style :

Ms. Miller’s writing style reminds me distinctively of Jane Austen & Charlotte Bronté as she takes the best of what I love of both women’s style of the craft. She has picked up on the subtle grace of Austen’s observational narrative and of the beguiling atmosphere of Bronte. She has writ such an alarmingly brilliant drama that each page turn meant digging deeper into the suspense of the Granville family! In this, the joy of reading Inscription truly lay as it was within the layered threads of the Granville tapestry which beheld the best bits of intrigue!

Of course, one of the most startling revelations was in finding that William was a mere apple fallen too close to the tree! His mother Lady Granville was the spitting image of Danielle’s step-mother in Ever After! Where pride fell strong towards marital wealth and how the coffers of a family were paramount towards all other pursuits. As if the notion that wealth would bring true happiness rather than the gift of love providing true joy. Miller lets her readers think hard on the thematic she explores whilst giving a well-written story to be savoured.

I cannot wait to see what Ms. Miller writes next. She is one of the self-published authors who is re-defining the bar of excellence in self-publishing. Even the copy of the final draft was free of errors from my eyes!


This book review is courtesy of:

Inscription Book Tour via HFVBT

Check out my upcoming bookish events to see what I will be hosting next for

Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours - HFVBTand mark your calendars!

Have you ever opened a book and begun to read what was inside its pages completely unaware of the story which would unfold? Only to realise that the story you are reading is writ in such a unique fashion, that your heart doesn’t want the pages to end? You want more of either this story or more titles by the author to consume next? This is how I felt as I read Inscription! It is even hard to describe *exactly* the kind of novel it is as at the heart of the story its a romance between two young twenty-somethings caught up in the middle of events that are beyond their control. Their harrowing journey is both towards each other and away from the danger others seek to see befall them. I could not take my eyes off the pages, as I loved how Miller elected to tell this story. Which book have you recently read which mirrored my own thoughts on this story?

{SOURCES:  Inscription Book Cover, synopsis, tour badge, and HFVBT badge were provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and were used by permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Friday, 18 April, 2014 by jorielov in 19th Century, Action & Adventure Fiction, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Discussions, Clever Turns of Phrase, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Feminine Heroism, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Historical Romance, Indie Author, Life Shift, Passionate Researcher, Psychological Suspense, Romance Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Self-Published Author, Suspense, Treasure Hunt, Unexpected Inheritance, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage

+Book Review+ A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet (a Shakespearean re-telling)

Posted Saturday, 12 April, 2014 by jorielov , , 4 Comments

Parajunkee Designs

A MidSummer Night's Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet
Artwork Credit: Dale Pease (of Walking Stick Books) http://walkingstickbooks.com

Published By: Xchyler Publishing () 18 November, 2013
Official Editor WebsitesSite  | Twitter
Converse via: #AMidSummerNightsSteampunk
Genres: After the Canon | Classic Re-Telling | Shakespearean | Steampunk | Fantasy
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and E-Book
Page Count: 324


Acquired Book By: I contacted Xchyler Publishing about receiving books in exchange for honest reviews and was asked to pick the two books I’d like to request. Moments in Millennia was my second choice, as my first choice was A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk. My interest in this novel is based on a life-long love of William Shakespeare’s writings! I received a complimentary copy of “A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk” in exchange for an honest review direct from the publisher Xchyler Publishing. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On Appreciation of William Shakespeare:

As a participant of the A to Z Challenge this April, whereupon each blogger is undertaking 26 Essays | 26 Days, I elected to focus on my love and appreciation of Classical Literature on Day 3: Letter C. Therein, I discuss my fascination and affinity for William Shakespeare from the very first moment I first read his plays and Sonnets. I knew I had found a writer I would be reading for the rest of my life. He had this classic way of ebbing out the human sphere of emotion, psyche, and our living observations. He was the best at conveying each dynamical evocation of human emotions as well. A champion of wordsmiths, it was through his bar of sophisticated eloquence I tend to seek out in other writers. He always felt to me to give great pause before enduing his characters with action or dialogue. He wanted us to have a legacy of thought left behind and for this I am in his debt.

Imagine my happiness in finding there was an author out there who would not only take his own passion for Shakespeare to a new height of re-telling the magically laced “A MidSummer Night’s Dream” and retrofit it into a Steampunkified re-telling of the classic tale with the bentings of a scientific quality of theory!


Author Biography:

Scott E. TarbetScott Tarbet writes enthusiastically in several genres, sings opera, was married in full Elizabethan regalia, loves Steampunk waltzes, and slow-smokes thousands of pounds of Texas-style barbeque. An avid skier, hiker, golfer, and tandem kayaker, he makes his home in the mountains of Utah.

You can learn more about Mr. Tarbet through the Interview I conducted ahead of this book review! He shares his thoughts on Steampunk as a genre, his appreciation of Shakespeare, and a lot of keen bits for writers & readers alike!

Book Synopsis:

Immerse yourself in this Steampunk retelling of Shakespeare’s classic, replete with the newfound wizardry of alternative Victorian technology, mistaken identities, love triangles, and deadly peril, set against the backdrop of a world bracing itself for war, and Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Pauline Spiegel, a master artificer like her mother before her, wants just one thing: to wed the love of her life, Alexander MacIntyre, a lowly undersecretary of the Royal Household. However, a long-term pact between her parents, and a noble House, stands between her and her happily ever after. When a priceless mechanoid of unfathomable power is stolen, Pauline finds herself entangled in skullduggery and international intrigue, upon which the fate of nations rest. Only with the help of her friends, and a brilliant scientist with a swarm of micromechanical insects, can Pauline survive the dark forces determined to destroy her. But will her betrothed and his rag-tag band of semi-mechanical soldiers reveal Alexander’s secrets as well?

 


To begin with a parting of prose:

A lover of quotations and bits of poetry, I am one reader who appreciated the warming of my reading palette with bobblements of poems greeting me at each interface! A lovely poem reminiscent of the innocence of fairies greets you before you reach the Prologue. And, yet another poem graces the upper corner of Chapter 1. A little nibbling of foreshadow in which I took the most delight! And off from here comes the divergence into a world of mechanisms and the air in which humanity’s door is slightly skewed towards automation. Rehabilitating veterans of war has been turnt on its heels to retrofit survivors into the most efficient entity of their trades. A fantastical yet questioningly haunting insight into how production and quantity can supersede plausibility and ethics.

Each chapter is lit with a piercing thought writ out through the hand of poets to help give heed to the next foray of intrigue!

My Review of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk:

As I nestled into the story of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk, I attempt to recollect if I had read the original play or if perchance, I had seen an adaptation of it instead? The corridors of my memory are a bit foggy at best, which is why I had to shift a bit of my fragmented memories and emerge into the sadistic fever of mechs who were created not necessarily for the well-being of their inhabitors but for the progression of automated industrialism as I aforesaid. The shockingly brutal rebuilding of a sentient being is off-set by the fact that the mechs do not seem to realise their individualistic freedoms have become abandoned on the whim of their creator.

The words in which Tarbet uses to create his universal pace is a pure delight to this wordsmith’s heart! He gives you a felicity of choice as you ease your way forward into the chapters which yield the most foreshadowing to satisfy your appetite for the action yet to transpire. Picking up where Shakespeare had left off is not an easy task, but to knit together a story which honours the canon and gives such a creative spark to Steampunk at the same time is a celebration of his writing style.

The forbearing inertia of caution is under-stitched into the story of the classic tale, giving a new appreciation for the choices humans have made since the Victorian age as each path chosen has turnt out a different avenue of progress. If we had opted instead to keep the heart of what Steampunk gives the reader, the age of steampower and gaslight we might have made deviations in other areas where the Industrial Revolution had yet to enlighten. By keeping Victorian technology in place, we see how devious the experiments can take inventors when their minds are wired for clockwork and automation. A little too much good for their own souls if you ask me!

At first I found it a bit tricky to ascertain how to proportionate the mech characters in my mind’s eye, as I’m quite new to Steampunk & Clockpunk alike. Then, all of a sudden whilst the mech men made their way through to central London, it dawned on me how to visualise them! From that moment forward, I had this envisioning shadow of how they were created and how they would stand out in ordinary streets of London! I think if there were illustrative plates for this particular piece it might have helped me out a bit. Character sketches to off-set the lack of baseline recognition! Except to say, Tarbet expertly gives such a vivid viewing of each of the mech’s mannerisms to purport an honest impression of how they can be perceived! I am such a visual learner that at times, when I step outside a world I’ve previously visited, I must adjust my eyes to a new one! In this, I celebrated my ability to see visually in my mind’s eye what Tarbet was attempting all of us to embrace!

A clever re-telling by far, as he has etched in such a reformed rite of passage for women in the story, where there is an alliance between Lakshmi, Jennie, and Vicky – all women of equal power and without the ambiguity of being able to blend in from behind prying eyes. For them to launch a series of events to forestall a dictator’s diabolical plans to overtake surrounding nations is one of the best moments I was celebrating! It gave way to the expression that ‘behind all good men, is a great woman’; and in this particular story it could not be more true! A separate alliance was forged out of necessity from the mech men, a wickedly fascinating engineer Pauline, her two suitors Alexander & Winston, along with a besotted in love girl named Clementine who only has eyes for Winston!

At the very heart of the story is the searing warmonger Wilhelm who is blinded by carnal rage and a robust ill-fated sense of power. His intentions for his home country is strengthened by his assertion that power and proclivity towards violent rule are his inherit gifts. A madman on the collision course towards altering history whilst utilising another madman’s offering of technology. There are moments of intense fighting and heated battle between human and mechs, and mechs vs mechs with an equaling sense of unease. Each is caught in the cross-hairs of an emerging war neither fully understands. It is only when logic is cast aside and reason is indued by a spark of enlightenment which dances straight into the vortex of human understanding can true change be cast. Free will of man and mech is the turning point towards diplomacy and democracy.

As I was reading the story, I thought this particular book would be a great lesson in ethics for a University class to undertake. There is enough within the chapters to take both sides of the argument and dissect the worth of its message. What foolish folly and provocation can be found in the nettling and maddening proclamations of one man’s dream for supreme rule.

Equality & Diversity : Undertone Components

An undertone component of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk is the inequality of the mechs inside the story. They have become their own race of men as their lives were irrefutably altered when they came home from the battlefield and/or the hospital in which their very life hung in the balance between being medically altered through technology and death. Due to their new status of half man | half machine, they are no longer viewed as individuals outside the scope of what trade they perform based on their ‘upgrades’ towards industry efficiency.  And, therein lies the problem. Rather than being viewed as the people they were prior to the surgeries that were performed without their consent, they are no longer given the compassion of humanity by any person who crosses their path. Rather instead they are refuted from view, a mere glimpse of a hint of the ravages of war and a different age of invention.

Tarbet presents both sides of the argument giving a positive light on how restoration of a person’s self-worth, self-identity, and the living freedoms of liberty each of us is innately inherit to have is plausible if there are still those who agree all sentient life has rights to keep in tact.

Fly in the Ointment:

Although I enjoyed reading this re-telling of William Shakespeare’s “A MidSummer Night’s Dream”, there is a curious attachment in the second half of the story to bring out the full measure of Jack the Ripper’s presence. At first, the subtle nodding towards Hitler’s reign over Germany; the conquest of Napoleon through France; and the merciless tactile militant force of the mechs carved out of the unwilling criminally insane patients was taken for what each representation was given to highlight. However, for me, this stretched a bit too far into the darker shadows of the theories behind why Jack the Ripper killed and what his motivations were to hunt innocents in the streets of London. I was a bit surprised that the wielding of the alternative history components were writ as strong as they were, as the backdrop of the story which illuminated the most joy for me were the clockpunk and automation engineering technologic advances on the side of the good.

There is always a battleground arc for good vs. evil, but there are times where I feel the vile bits to highlighting said evil can inadvertently overtake the good bits. I was pleased to see Tarbet use the eloquence of Shakespeare to empathise the vocalisations of human emotion without falling into the quandary I normally express in Fly in the Ointment. No, it’s not an issue of language but rather of how far pushed the envelope felt to me for the level of violence against the backdrop of where the story was leading. Of course, all stories are open to interpretation of the reader, and I for one, felt the story was guiding me towards one passageway of an ending rather than diverting down another.

A decidedly splendid extra:

Behind the conclusion of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk, the author’s biography & acknowledgements and a bit of a mini catalogue of titles via Xchyler Publishing itself, is a decidedly splendid extra: a preview of On the Isle of Sound and Wonder by Alyson Grauer! A book which is not yet released and an author of whom Mr. Tarbet spoke about in his Author’s Interview!


A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk Book Trailer by Xchyler Publishing

There is something magical afoot at Xchyler Publishing as their music accompaniments inside their book trailers draw your imagination into the narratives of their stories long before you pick up their books!


This book review is courtesy of:

Xchyler Publishing

check out my upcoming bookish events and mark your calendars!

I have been blessed with four spotlights on behalf of Xchyler Publishing:

An Editor Interview with Penny Freeman,

a book review of Moments in Millennia: a Fantasy Anthology,

and my Interview with author Scott E. Tarbet ahead of this book review!

I’d be keen to hear reader responses to my review of A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk, as I was happily settled into the alternative history backing of story against the clockpunk elements of automation before plunging head-first into the Jack the Ripper thread. Have you ever felt ensconced into a story-line which at a certain point in time arched into a different thread of discovery than you forethought? What do you look for within the realm of Steampunk, Clockpunk, and automation stories? What draws you in and what if anything disappoints you?

{SOURCES:  A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk Book Cover, and synopsis were provided by Xchyler Publishing and were used by permission. Author photograph & biography were provided by the author Scott E. Tarbet and used with permission. Book Review badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs.  The book trailer by Xchyler Publishing had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

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Posted Saturday, 12 April, 2014 by jorielov in 19th Century, Action & Adventure Fiction, After the Canon, Airship, Alternative History, Automation, Book for University Study, Book Review (non-blog tour), Book Trailer, Bookish Discussions, Bullies and the Bullied, Classical Literature, Clever Turns of Phrase, Clockmakers & Watchmakers, Clockpunk, Clockwork & Mechanisations, Clogs & Gears, Debut Novel, Dirigible, England, Excessive Violence in Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Fly in the Ointment, Genre-bender, Good vs. Evil, Indie Author, Inspired By Author OR Book, MidSummer's Night Dream, Re-Told Tales, Steampunk, the Victorian era, Warfare & Power Realignment, William Shakespeare, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage, Xchyler Publishing