Christopher Kellen
Biography
Christopher Kellen has been working on weaving words for as long as he can remember. While in school he dreamed of being a published author, and spent lots of time reading and re-reading publisher submission guides, just wishing that he could finish something, certain that it would be better than most of the other stuff that was out there.
Of course, at the time, he had no idea just how difficult it actually is to get published by the big guys - and not only that, he'd never finished anything!
Fast-forward to today, when he can now finish work and it's good, but the publishing industry is no longer the way to connect with fans. Chris is a storyteller at heart, someone who wants to share his stories, not sit behind the wall of a massive publisher and be told what he can and cannot say.
Having decided to go independent with his first completed, revised and edited work, Chris is now pursuing his writing as an indie author... and he couldn't be more excited!
His current project is the sequel to his newly-released dark swords & sorcery novel, Elegy. For more information, visit his blog (below!)
Where to find Christopher Kellen online
Books
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Smashwords book reviews by Christopher Kellen
- The Traveler's Companion
on Aug. 16, 2011
This was a very interesting novel; an exploration of the themes of love and loss via string theory and quantum physics.
At its core, this is a story about loss. Ryan Iverson's wife died of sudden brain cancer, and he has spent the following decades believing that love makes people stupid, enough that he can actually 'weaponize' it (per the book's description) via his "daughter" - a hybrid clone/AI named Angela.
The book really explores what it means to lose someone via the main plot device - an alternate dimension called the Zone, where human creativity becomes the path to godlike power, via the 'magic' of quantum physics. It is realized and described well enough that it is easy to suspend one's disbelief and accept the existence of the Zone for the course of the story.
The characters are well-defined and individual - Dr. Iverson, Angela, Director Gibbons and C.C. Go all have distinct personalities which shine through very clearly.
It has a powerful story at its heart. There is a bit too much exposition at times, when characters trade long-winded scientific theories framed by "You already know all this" or "As we all know"; a few minor editing mistakes and one odd formatting error (in the ePub version) where a quote from the titular "Traveler's Companion" starts with "Chapter One", which turned into its own chapter, complete with page breaks, immediately following the regular Chapter 3, slightly mar what is otherwise an enjoyable read.
All in all, a very strong entry by Mr. Chater. I sincerely hope he has more stories to share.
- Symphony of Blood, A Hank Mondale Supernatural Case
on Aug. 24, 2011
Symphony of Blood is, without a doubt, a hard-boiled detective novel of a very high caliber. Hank Mondale is a private-eye with major issues that are actually consistent throughout the entire novel – props to Pepper on that. It’s easy to let those problems slide out of the way as the plot picks up, but they haunt Hank thoroughly and completely.
The plot picks up steam rapidly after a short introduction into Hank’s life that feels neither forced nor awkward. Something very weird is going on, and it quickly spirals out of his control. The first section of this book was like riding a freight train on a one-way trip to hell, and it was awesome. My favorite hard-boiled detective is actually Harry Dresden, so I’m totally down with the whole supernatural-unknown-forces-and-a-detective novel thing.
Hank Mondale is a great character and his voice is very strong. He’s got problems but he’s not sleazy, and he definitely fulfills the hard-boiled “never give up” mentality. The prose is spare but powerful; it packs a real punch when things get messy.
Just as Hank’s story builds to a stunning climax, everything comes to a screeching halt as we’re suddenly transferred to a different point of view (and just whose point of view that is, I’ll leave out so as to avoid spoilers). This is perhaps my one quibble with the structure; I might have alternated the points of view earlier, although it would have spoiled some of the surprise. I understand why Pepper chose to do it this way, but it was a quick turnaround from exciting plot to build-up again, and it took me a few pages to readjust.
When we again return to Hank’s POV for the conclusion, it picks up right where we left off, and drives us home to an ultimately satisfying but still-mysterious conclusion. In an attempt to not give anything away, I will say that the center of the supernatural mystery in this case is exceptional for its originality and stark creepiness.
Toward the end of the novel I did encounter a few minor typos/conversion errors that got missed, but they were not pervasive by any means. Overall, the copy editing was very good.
If you’re a fan of the hard-boiled detective, or of original supernatural fiction that doesn’t involve no stinkin’ vampires or werewolves or other standard tropes, I definitely recommend checking out Symphony of Blood.
Overall Score: 4 out of 5 stars. Recommended.
