JP Wilder

I make my home with my beautiful wife and family in a suburb of Los Angeles, among a cluttered collection of too-big, cookie-cutter structures.
Here I rest each night after a long (and somewhat miserable) commute from the glass monoliths of West Los Angeles through the lowlands, cloistered away from the multi-hued grid of American culture, pretending that I am above it all.

Currently, I run this little blog, ply a trade as an executive in a financial services firm and muddle along as a wannabe author. I’m just having fun!!!!

Yet, in my life I have donned many uniforms. I have been:

A farmer (or son of a farmer — unwilling [and unable] to claim the expertise of my father in the ways of farming and ranching)
A dishwasher
A projectionist
A paratrooper
An Army scout
A student
A frat guy (of sorts)
A roofer
A plumber (but not a very good one)
A grad student (twice-cooked)
A professor (Adjunct really)
An accountant
A husband
An executive
An author
A father
And as I have changed and adapted to the world around me, I have maintained a connection to fantasy fiction and the macabre.

Twitter: @JPWAuthor

crusade    crusader    dark    dark fantasy    epic    fantasy fiction    knight    sorcery   

• Roc Isle: The Descent on May 13, 2014
  
  This book is an epic fantasy yarn, with a tried and true structure that I found comfortably jamiliar yet original in its own right. I have always had a love for this kind of fiction, whether Tolkien, Tad Williams, Terry Goodkind or Terry Brooks. It is where I started my love for fantasy fiction and is always welcome on my bookshelf. This book fits right in. I have always found world-building difficult and full of landmines and quagmires. This book is set in a fully and well researched world. It is deep and full of great histories that drive the current conflicts. And, although it bears some resemblance to other stories, it is unique enough that it feels quite different. The characters in this book are easy to relate to. I especially like the character, Ankah, and his early feelings toward a certain girl and home town--feelings that make this guy human and that continue to change and grow throughout. This character’s personal evolution and character arch are pretty compelling and filled with competing feelings of empathy and sometimes even dislike. But, I always found myself rooting for him. Overall, I thought that this was a good book, and a fun read. If you like heroic fantasy, or sword & sorcery fiction, I think you will like this book.
  
• The Antpod Faction on May 13, 2014
  
  The Antpod Faction is a highly detailed spy thriller disguised as science fiction—or, if you prefer, a spy thriller set in a highly-detailed science fiction setting. Either way it had significant components of both spy thrillers and traditional science fiction. I am not usually a sci-fi reader, preferring usually to stick with fantasy, or contemporary thrillers. But, I had read this author before and enjoyed his work. So, I wanted to try another of his books. I am not disappointed that I did. I found the characters to be deep enough to draw me in and make me care for them, which can make reading portions of this story somewhat emotional (that is a good thing). The main character in particular was a whole person, full of sufficient contradictions and internal conflict as to be definitely “real”. I enjoyed getting to know her very much. Although I did not think that this story was as good as the author’s other fiction, the story itself was full of conflict and the plotline pulled me along, without too much effort. There was never really a moment that I wanted to put the book down. I think, the deeper I got into the book, the more that the detail of the setting and the depth of the characters made me want to go on. The plot is interesting and demanding enough that it keeps the reader wondering what is around the next corner. I won’t give any spoilers except to say that the climax and the build up to it was excellent. If you like thrillers or sci-fi, I think you will like this book. I did. Please take a read.