Category: Reviews

This hot little number has been sitting in my to-read pile for far too long.  Having written The Bouncer’s Tale, the third chapter in a crime not-quite-serial, I skipped straight to Jason Restrick’s  Beyond the Temple of Bak-Taar.  The sequel to an impressive story presented in Issue 1 (iirc), this...

Go buy this book. David V. Stewart dares to tread the line between the age of the blade and the age of black powder in this light fantasy novel. I’m glad that David has turned his pen to more traditional western fare.  I’ve been anticipating reading his works ever...

Season One of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan barely held itself together long enough to cross the finish line.  They flirted with modern day espionage, but couldn’t put aside the fakeness of woke culture long enough to create a show that felt real.  The action pieces were impressive given thier...

Nope. There’s a small cadre of writers plugging away in the dank belly of the indy scene that are well worth a look.  Schantz’ Hidden Truth series of conspiraciana led me to Neovictorian’s Sanity, an excellent spy thriller, which introduced me to the civilizational collapse tales of Abraham Lopez’ Going Gone. ...

Regular readers know that I’m a big fan of the ‘buy local’ movement. It helps shovel money away from Dinosaur publishers and towards the next generation of independent creators. Me and my lil Bender hit up a small kine geek fest a few weeks ago, and one of the...

Yeah, I saw Joker. Didn’t use a gift certificate either, but that’s only because I mistook my “Rewards Card” for the gift cert I have and went to the wrong theater. Given how rare sneaking away from the kids is for a grown-up movie, there was no chance of...

Always on the lookout for a new cover artist, this past weeked I dragged the family down to check out a free geekfest and almost got suckered.  A couple of brothers had a booth at the Indy Comics corner, so I snagged Tales of the SS Junky Star from...

If there’s a movie that comes closer to the Shadowrun vibe than Netflix’s Bright, let me know, wouldja? Released last year, this Will Smith vehicle starring Will Smith playing Will Smith in a Will Smith movie takes place in an alt-earth version of LA where magic exists and the...

Gag stories.  They’re a lot harder than most writers realize, particularly when the joke at the core of the story has to sustain several thousand words.  Not joke stories that amount to one long setup for a snappy punchline, but full blown shaggy dog stories that revolve around an...

This might be my favorite story in this issue of Cirsova.  Xavier Lastra, the author of The Elephant Idol, is a good friend of mine.  He has edited a few of my short stories, and his blog has played a vital role in improving my writing.  Reading this story reminds...