Location: United States
Member Since: March 25, 2010
brainycat
Books
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Edward Lee
Latest book: Witch Water. Published on May 30, 2012.
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Smashwords book reviews by brainycat
- The Second Coming
on May 24, 2010
I'm usually not a big on fantasy books, but I'm always a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories. I am so glad I picked this book up. It's intriguing, well thought out and has better characterization than I've come to expect from Major Published Authors. I sincerely hope there is a sequel in the works. There's more than enough material in this book to flesh out a Robert Jordan-esque epic, but fortunately David is much more judicious with his words and is quite enjoyable to read. I don't have anything to add about the plot, setting etc that hasn't been said already. I must say the setting lends itself to an RPG, and once I'd finished the book I mused upon the idea for a few minutes. I will be incorporating some of the memes into an ongoing modern/horror/alternate history/apocalyptic campaign of mine.
- The Dead
on June 16, 2010
This is a well written story of the christian apocalypse that takes place shortly before rapture and over the next few days. Personally, I like antiheroic points of view so the pro-christian dogma felt a little heavy handed at times, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. The focus is on the interplay behind a handful of friends and family who find themselves together at the family patriarch's funeral when all hell literally breaks loose. The characters each represent a point of view about faith and spirituality; at least the males do. I was very disappointed at the lack of strong female characters; despite being half the cast their entire job is to cry, bandage wounds and die. The characters all blend together in my head. Max stands out as the main protagonist with the most "screen time", and his uncle Buddy stands out because he was such an asshole. All the other characters seem like shades of each other; they only stand out uniquely in one on one conversation but are immediately forgotten again. This may be because they are all white, hetero and middle class. The action was very well paced, but the violence wasn't as gory as I like. The action did keep moving the story along though. There were no steamy scenes, but given the scenario and the pacing sexual encounters would not be appropriate. About half way through the book I realized the main protagonist Max is an allegory for Jesus in the days before his crucifixion, and I was able to wade through the author's sermons because I was looking forward to the next reference. I wasn't disappointed, and the climax wherein Max all but cries "Why hast thou forsaken me??!?" was very well played. Even though I found myself rolling my eyes at the christian point of view, the story is well constructed and the writing solid despite the weak characterization. I made a point of finishing it to claim the moral high ground; I may not agree with the points the author wants to convey, but I'm man enough to listen to all of them.
- Under the Amoral Bridge
on June 16, 2010
This is a solid, but not groundbreaking cyberpunk adventure. Gary doesn't tread too far off the genre's beaten path, and for most of the book the action and dialogue (though not the vocabulary; sed -e "s/cyberpunk/SomeGenre/g") could be set in any noir story from Renaissance Europe to the far distant future. It's a quick read, and it's full of likable characters. It doesn't suffer from the drawbacks typical of episodically published stories. Each installment flows well into the next, with no unnecessary recaps or useless cliffhangers: thankfully, this book reads nothing like Charles Dickens. The denouement feels like it's tacked on; almost like Gary lit a neon sign on a drizzly evening that says, "Second Novel: Here!" with a huge flashing arrow to the only plot point he left unresolved. I like slimy, narcissistic antiheroes and Amoral Bridge delivers. He's not a total douchebag, he operates by his own moral compass that's tuned to a darwinian inspired nihilism I found myself relating to: Everybody wants to do something nasty and vile to somebody else. Everybody! They're all fucking shitheels with disgusting, immoral, vicious desires buried in their tiny, miserable souls just waiting for an excuse to get out. The sooner it gets out and they all burn themselves up in a fiery orgy of self-destructive gluttony, the happier I'll be. Humanity as a whole is a miserable gaggle of self-pleasuring apes ready to crack you over the head and steal your fucking bananas. This book is a great introduction to cyberpunk for people who might not usually read scifi, and for diehard cyberpunk fans it's a great way to spend a couple of nontaxing hours. I read the smashwords edition, and it suffered from the usual deficiencies that all their epubs have, but was generally well rendered on my reader.
- Apex Magazine - March 2010 (Issue 10)
on June 16, 2010
It's been a while since I read this issue, but you cannot go wrong with this magazine IF you like your horror and/or scifi dark, creepy and edgy. The release of a new Apex is something I look forward to every month. I have not been disappointed yet. Sure, some of the content is stronger than some of the rest of the content, but I haven't been disappointed by the selections at all.
- Apex Magazine - April 2010 (Issue 11)
on June 16, 2010
It's been a few weeks read this issue, but you cannot go wrong with this magazine IF you like your horror and/or scifi dark, creepy and edgy. The release of a new Apex is something I look forward to every month. I have not been disappointed yet. Sure, some of the content is stronger than some of the rest of the content, but I haven't been disappointed by the selections at all.
- Apex Magazine - May 2010 (Issue 12)
on June 16, 2010
I finished this issue a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't take any notes so I can't really speak to specific stories. But I will uniquivocally say you cannot go wrong with this magazine IF you like your horror and/or scifi dark, creepy and edgy. The release of a new Apex is something I look forward to every month. I have not been disappointed yet. Sure, some of the content is stronger than some of the rest of the content, but I haven't been disappointed by the selections at all.
- Apexology: Horror
on Sep. 19, 2010
This is the third or fourth collection I've read from Apex, and while not quite the punch in the gut that Dark Faith is, it's still a superior collection that I recommend to any fan of dark fiction and horror. This book is marketed as a survey of authors in Apex's stable, and (like Apex's books) there is a wide variety of themes, tones, characters and voices. There really aren't any especially weak pieces, and there were a few of standouts that I especially liked. It's available for US$2.99 at SmashWords right now and it's worth a lot more than that. I highly recommend picking this up. The first story in the collection held me absolutely captivated. It Tasted Like the Sea by Paul Jessup covers dark fiction's familiar territories of lust, obsession and warped perceptions and boundaries with such verve and vigor and interesting characters I was hoping the story would be longer than it was. The next real standout story for me was Cerbo en Vitra ujo by Mary Robinette Kowal, replete with elements of Frankenstein and Johnny Got His Gun, told in a future setting where all is not as bright as it seems. Making the horror more poignant is the point of view, a lovelorn teenage girl trying to find her boyfriend. Mary did a superior job making me empathize with the protagonist, no mean feat considering I didn't understand teenage girls when I was a teenager, let alone now. The Dark Side by Guy Hasson did an excellent job of balancing competing concurrent realities in the protagonists head, while telling a story of duality, fate and the abuse of power. What starts out as an innocent story about a man with a singularly unusual problem eventually becomes a story about a man with a universal problem, but a unique solution. I'll leave the twist to be discovered by the reader, but I was pleasantly surprised at the sophistication of the way it came about. Lavie Tidhar's contribution Transylvanian Missiontries too hard to create a mood from the setting (Nazi occupied Romania in WW2), but unfortunately it falls a bit flat in that regard. The setting was never developed enough for me to feel like I was there, but the action makes up for it. It's a bit like the videogame Castle Wolfenstein, but tells a story of the power of the land and it's myths to overcome "upstarts" like the Nazis. It's an exciting read, setup more like a thriller than traditional dark fiction or horror. There are several very short stories in the collection, which I appreciate. I like the ultra short story format, probably because of fond memories of reading Aesop's Fable as a very very young lad. Deb Taber's Powered is a very short story that made me giggle and smirk. That may say a lot more about my own macabre sense of humor than the subject matter, but it's a great story either way. Eulogy for Muffin is set in contemporary Seattle, but that's not the only reason I like it so much. I'm always fascinated with the machinations of belief systems amongst groups of people; for me, the interesting question isn't "What do these people believe about the world around them" but rather "When did these people's beliefs change and why". This is the space explored by Jennifer Brozek in a slow spiral that leads from the most charming and innocent to the sad and horrific in such slow increments - while keeping a tense, pageturning pace - I found myself forgetting to guess "the twist". I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of her stories. Taking a turn into straight-up Science Fiction is The Junkyard God by M. Zak Anwar and O.M.R. Anwar. For some reason, the copy I have doesn't have any introduction or author information for this piece, nor am I able to locate any information on google. I wish I could, this dark futuristic take on the Beowulf theme was exceptionally well done and I would like to read more stories set in this world. Sibling rivalry goes to places it probably never should, but thanks to Jennifer Pelland's excellent treatment of the subject , this utterly twisted tale of jealousy and anger is a joy to read, even while people are doing hellishly horrible things to each other. It's the best kind of horror, in my opinion, the kind that makes me ask myself what I would do in that situation and would I be any kinder or humane. Ultimately, I'm not sure I would. Just because I didn't provide a synopsis of each of the 21 stories included in this collection doesn't mean they aren't as good. It just means two things. First, I'm a lazy reviewer and second, at any given time and emotional place in my life certain themes and tones are going to feel more immediate to me than at other times. For three bucks, you can't go wrong with this book, and I'm sure anyone who appreciates dark [fiction, scifi, fantasy] and horror will find something they like in this book.
- Dark Faith
on Sep. 20, 2010
I'm a big fan of Apex Publishers, and this collection of short stories and poetry did not disappoint. I cannot recommend it highly enough to fans of horror and dark fiction. The theme of the collection is faith of all types: having faith or losing faith or finding faith; faith in higher powers, faith in the goodness of people and faith in the ugliness of people; faith in yourself and faith in the cold, uncaring machinations of the world around you. Like the other Apex anthologies I've read, there were a few pieces that were a little too abstract for my unsophisticated brain to wrap around. "The Mad Eyes of the Heron King" by Richard Dansky, "First Communions" by Geoffrey Girard and especially "To the Jerusalem Crater" by Lavie Tidhar were too obtuse and deeply allegorical for me to connect with. I leave it to more educated and widely read readers to extract higher purposes from them. I did enjoy reading them at a purely technical level, the writing is superb even if the greater meaning eludes me. The real standout stories will each sit with me for a long time. I especially liked "Ghosts of New York" by Jennifer Pelland, a story about acceptance, remembrance and the tragedies we relive in our heads every day. "He Who Would Not Bow" by Wrath James White has a protagonist I identify with deeply and expores the space between your own awareness and that of omniscience. The next story in the anthology also hit me deeply, "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnnation" by Douglas F. Warrick, another allegory on acceptance, focuses on humility and the way we create our own hells for ourselves. I related this story to my own relationship to alcohol. "Mother Urban's Booke of Dayes" by Jay Lake covers the same territory as "He Who Would Not Bow", but from an entirely opposite angle. For the first few paragraphs, I thought it was rehashing a lot of common characters and scenes, but Jay brings them all to life and makes the story feel vivrant with a freshness and vigor I truly found inspiring. J. C. Hay's "A Loss for Words" is an excellent study of the classical Calliope tale, set in the modern world. As someone who just decided to be a writer it struck a cord and made me question my own creative process. "The Choir" by Lucien Soulban uses Cthulu-esque imagery and plot to show that the best of humanity can come through in the face of the worst horrors. The final story, and a perfect choice for ending the book, "For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer" by Gary A. Braunbeck is a tale of redemption with strong overtones of "A Christmas Carol" and "It's A Wonderful Life", though it's clearly dark fiction. There are several other stories I didn't mention, please don't thing that because I'm a lazy reviewer that they aren't worthy. There aren't any weak pieces in this book; reading it in order like I did is the heroes journey. It starts out in an unhappy place, goes through hell, fights monsters and finally comes out at the end on a positive note. As a collection of stories, it's one of the best anthologies I've ever read.