Joel Kirkpatrick

When not reading, he is writing. When not writing, he is reading. Author Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick lives with his lovely wife and their two boys in Southwest Colorado.

A novelist with five published works—only four of his books are available as e-books.

Being a fierce supporter of independent and self-publishing, Joel straddles the fence quite well in the industry. He is the current Managing Acquisitions Editor for JournalStone Publishing, and is the first contact for authors wishing to be published in the traditional modes. (joel@journalstone.com) (www.journalstone.com)

His motto, which he freely shares as terribly good advice--Authors should write for themselves, then share their work.

Website: http://www.brownbrushbooks.com
Twitter: @joelkirkpatrick
Facebook: Facebook profile
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joel-blaine-kirkpatrick/20/7bb/420
Blog: http://www.thetaleisthething.blogspot.com

http://stores.lulu.com/kirkpat1212

amsterdam    angel    angels    apuan alps    archbishop    basilica    black hole    bodies    breathing into stone    caraliza    cassini    church    demon    demons    devon england    doctor    dutch    esa    faints    fountains    frequency    ghost    god    grave    gravity    gravity wave    harmonys passing    haunting    hawking    holland    incest    ion particles    ion waves    joel blaine kirkpatrick    jpl    lower east side    lust    magic    mana    maori    marble    massa italy    metaphysical    modena italy    murder    nasa    new york city    opotiki new zealand    paranormal    plate photography    pope    priest    quarries    radiation    resceto italy    rogue priest    rome italy    sculptor    shared    sin    slums    soho    solar science    solar system    sound waves    spirits    st peters    tangi    tangihanga    tapu    vandelli road    waterbury    wool   

...and 22 more

• Dandelions In The Garden on Sep. 22, 2010
  
  Style: Charlie Courtland's 'Dandelions in the garden' is presented in such clarity the text sparkles. Closer to documentary than memoir, her character, Amara is given superhuman powers of recall, which this narrative cannot exist without. Yet, the viewpoint is focused only through her eyes; nothing exists that she did not see, hear, or feel. There is no chance to hear another character’s thoughts until they speak them. This is not detachment, as the modern voice might leave one feeling – it is clarity. In a romantic, Victorian voice, this story would have lost the ability to stand at Amara's shoulder and observe as it does. ‘Dandelions’ is written as a crime novel. It is stark, and gritty during the bloodletting, and the reader expects the flash of crime-scene cameras. How it maintains the obvious feeling in the romances; the shattering of hearts with dejection and rejection - the longings that last so insufferably long (for the characters) - that is a clever skill, in that voice. The author is cunning, and never only fills space with details, she fills the tale with emotions. What Charlie Courtland has done, with this two-book tale, is reduce the massive scope of her imagination to the core of what it is: a story that can be rich in texture and place, and yet lay bare what was done. Done to Elizabeth Báthory and Amara, and what was done by them. The tale has a vicious bite, and the characters remain in place – to watch if you will die. Content: Charlie Courtland gives us a story so imaginative, its power cannot be resisted. Grand enough to be divided, thoughtful enough to bring only a taste of the horrors into the first book, as a reader, one can believe every word as truth. One can imagine just how the two main characters felt, living the life they were forced to live, and understand where the murderous tendencies were seeded into Elizabeth Báthory’s heart. Told to us in the simple voice of Lady Amara, who recalls every moment in stunning detail, we hear longing for something peaceful and lovely, which has no string of obligation. We feel just as trapped as she; a sly trick of the narrative voice, nothing exists in the story that Amara did not see, hear or feel. But, that was how the two young girls lived, even into adulthood – they did not exist, unless someone with power chose to acknowledge them. That life, of only shadow and servitude, twisted Elizabeth. How could Amara escape such madness?…it may be true she did not. The period and the setting, late sixteenth century Hungary and Transylvania, wears all the pomp of royalty, the privilege of station and rank, the power of noble blood. But, in every moment of these two joined lives, there is corruption within the beauty. The beauty is only a façade, and they never will be blessed to enjoy it; it is filled with weeds and decay – the dandelions in the garden. Charlie Courtland has opened her imagination for us, and provided something stunning. One must wonder; did she live it in a previous life? Which was she then…Elizabeth, or Amara?
  
• Nexus Point on Oct. 04, 2010
  
  'Nexus Point' from Jaleta Clegg is an inventive romp, worthy of many follow up tales; all on the strength of the marvelous Capt. Dace. In my youth, I would carry a lingering crush on such a character - hoping someday to see her in person. Dace is not an accidental success: she is an accident - waiting to happen! What a joy to follow her as she bumbles and mumbles in this little drama/opera. Ms. Clegg must have howled with glee at her inventive predicaments. The buckles swash! The blasters blast! And the horses run away in fright, until you whistle for them. Dace would have been the constant captive when we played cowboys and indians as children. There is much in this story to love unashamedly. There are many familiar elements in the plot, beautifully realized. There are broad strokes of mayhem, the conclusion sizzles. There are enough human moments that you wish you could point out the correct direction to run. Dace needs to know when to hush, at a few predicaments, and you can't help but try and shush her. In short, 'Nexus Point' is a true gem in the genre of space fantasy. Yes, Dace is in space, for just a bit, and yes....she messes that up! Ms. Clegg has my attention now, and a promise to follow where she is going.
  
• Enemies and Playmates on Oct. 07, 2010
  
  ‘Enemies and Playmates’ is not a read that lets me escape. I imagine it too vividly. Darcia Helle seems to know where my fright and flight buttons are. But, she also generates a need to keep reading, so, I tremble as she pulls me further along. Darcia writes in a style that is very approachable. This book, lacking only the stage and camera directions, is a screenplay. A good one at that. It carries all the emotion necessary to put you on edge, just as she intends – even with the barest of detail. Darcia’s realistic dialogue does all the work here. Lauren and Jesse don’t plod through this crime novel, spouting clichéd TV speak; it’s natural discourse. And, she has created a blisteringly real bad guy. I’ve dealt with his ilk in my past. While I can’t claim to be a fan of the crime genre, Darcia has won me as an admiring reader, first, with her outstanding ‘The Cutting Edge” now this tale. I only pray she doesn’t write a ghost story next - that would quite undo me!
  
• The Hidden Will of the Dragon on Oct. 19, 2010
  
  Charlie Courtland completes the terrible dance into madness, of Elizabeth Bathory and her sister- prisoner, Amara Lorant, in the stunning book ‘Hidden Will of the Dragon’. This in no more a sequel than Amara was only a ‘friend’. It shares the same longing, desire, and deceptions that are found in the first half of the tale: ‘Dandelions in the Garden’. The two women shared the same torments and lusts, and…cravings. Elizabeth, to feel forever young; Amara, to feel something of love. They could not be separated, would not be parted, even as death lay all around - Death they invited into the walls and cellar recesses of their fortress home. Charlie devoted three years to her obsession with this story; her intense passion flows in the text. If Charlie dreamed this as she wrote it, the nightmares must have been exquisite. This second book is immersed in a plague of constant danger, more vividly realized. It is not a gentle experience, being so close to those two women. It is instead, a dark, damp unhinging of spirits. They dwelt in continual terror of being forgotten, being ignored, being betrayed. Both books are written in piercing detail, with luxurious strokes. Elizabeth was royalty; it was necessary to display her. We can smell the candle wax and perfumes in the crowded ballrooms; the mold in the stones and the decay in the hidden corners. To torment us, we are no more allowed to enjoy the gentleness of society than either woman; those moments are only meant to lull us into deeper submission. Ms. Courtland will not let us linger in the clearer air; Elizabeth was never allowed more than a breath of it either. All of us are sent, unwilling, back into the waiting earth, where the dead have many more things to tell. Elizabeth and Amara could not survive that life, without the other; it is impossible to have only one of these books. The scope of the narrative is massive, epic. The whole is entirely brilliant.
  
• The Legend of Sasquatch on Oct. 26, 2010
  
  William T. Prince wrote 'The Legend of Sasquatch'. He included every womanizing-foul mouthed-whiskey-swilling-gun-toting-help-me-jesus moment he could cram into it. It must have been frantic sometimes; this is over-the-top crime writing done very well, and slows only at the page turns. He also transparently splatters it with so many of his own opinions, you could toss the book and it would land open to a page with three of 'em. How William T. does all that hell-bent writing, without making his character a cartoon...well, that's just how it's done in Texas. Clint sticks out everywhere he goes. He also sticks out in this text. He is not a hulk, looking for trouble. Clint is a kid, and a good one. That trouble following him is all too real. W.T. Prince keeps Clint so real, you would swear you went to high school with him. Read over any of the next four things that are garishly written and you will have pages of honesty. Clint is worth reading about. When you get to the chapter titled Absolution...you will know exactly what I mean. If someone real inspired this story for Mr. Prince, I bet he misses that kid.
  
• The First Kill on Oct. 31, 2010
  
  Darcia proves, whether short form or novel, she writes with a ferocious talent.
  
• The Last Gift on Nov. 03, 2010
  
  The setting for this story is Paris, in the hours before the Terror. This Paris is not merely a vile, stinking, dangerous place – it is a sprawling corpse, the people within have killed it, and are devouring it. Into this filthy jumble of darkened streets, Susan Brassfield Cogan places a lonely American woman-child, and gives her the unlikely name of Jubilee. Published originally under that name, this is nearly ‘Alice’ - fallen into the putrid Seine. Jubilee tumbles down, not because she was careless; Death has pulled her in. This is a farce of horrors. In Paris, with the coming Terror, only a little bit of money could purchase anything desired, and make many horrible things seem birthday presents. To stay alive here, now, Jubilee must act as the Revolution-mad Parisians act. Death loved to follow the Parisians about, for that new fun. ‘The Last Gift’ is flawless. This is a true place painted with horror. Every character is perfectly placed, perfectly balanced against the others. Every villain exposed nearly the instant they appear. The plot needs no twists; the dangers make sense and make you nervous. Every moment that Jubilee is trapped there, you hope to help her escape. At the same time being very ‘small’, and very ’large’, she is being sought – she is being helped, but, all around her in the distance, the city itself has caught up the manic cry, “Off with their heads!”.
  
• On The Gathering Storm on Dec. 10, 2010
  
  Few things in life cannot be labeled; called by some alternate name, pasted to the thing with lazy affection. Guys name their cars – and rarely share them – women name each other as quietly, depending on what was being worn in public that day when the namee passed. We do it for fun. Jason McIntyre has turned it into an art form. Everything in ‘On the Gathering Storm’ is labeled. You realize when you get your mind around it; it is how his MC – Hannah - experiences her world. Right away we meet Mr. Mean Man, Unwashed Hair Girl, Bumper-Grinder – who soon becomes just Bumper. This text seems so new to me, it’s like I’ve read nothing like it before, and I know I have. Bright, descriptive text is taught…everywhere. Readers hope and pray the next book they select will contain it. But, Jason is writing with neon colors, and they flicker at first, as neon does when it resists life with halts and blasts. When it settles, and you’ve really begun to hear the energy, the whole damned thing glows like nothing nearby. This book doesn’t pulse like the one, weak sign on the beer joint you pass each day, and never sit inside. Jason’s book glows like the entire flashing city strip you travel. Everywhere your eyes wander, your brain tells you to stop and go in. He uses single words as these lit things; capitalized as he desires, words as punctuation. A standout sentence: ‘In. Out. In. Out.’ Even when Jason quotes (sings) lines of a familiar tune, the prose is changed to light, and shows you something more of where you are… Billy Boy. When others speak to Hannah, as if they’d become her own conscience, they are only trying to pierce all the other colors to reach her. These oddly illuminated words are flashes in Hannah’s mind, and she must soon grab at each neon-defined flash of sanity. While you were reading within the bursts of her thoughts, seeing and sensing her life in posed vignettes that only spring singly out of all the color when she passes…she has been drawn by one laser-like color, into hell. You could see it reflected out of her eyes, but you didn’t want to look directly at it. She had no choice, compelled by its Grasp. But, you are numb now, as Hannah is, drugged by light, and trapped. What was in those words? What was in those pills? “Remember. The light was - ” The dead numbness in your fingers, the overload of sensations in your thoughts, are not the veils of a heavily sweetened generic text; the sort of which you buy in the market paperbacks, or the cigarette-style shelves of your mall bookstore, but with labels that tell you nothing of the substances. You remember - this is something altogether too different- dispensed by the white lab coat, under light that hurts your eyes, and lab coat’s words were muted when lab coat seemed to wonder if you understood whether this mixture is right for you. The container he offered you seemed small, but he smiled; there is only one ingredient in this text and you are still experiencing the hyper-reality he, and it, caused. You’ve taken a full dose of undiluted Hipsoloquia Narrateglamorex. It shines so bright in your mind - Hannah’s mind - that it hurts, and every searing page will become a photograph in your memory.
  
• Trevor's Song on Feb. 20, 2011
  
  Susan Helene Gottfried has created a character so strong and complete, he can be viewed from any angle, any perspective. If you want him to shock you, Trevor Wolff has already started. If you want him to endear himself to you, he will. Don’t tell him he did; he won’t like that. He does love attention. ‘Trevor’s Song’ is more than his moment of fame; he realizes that and appears as expected in every scene. Even the scenes without him are about him. When you begin to define this story, and struggle to do it without spoilers, you begin to wonder who created it. Trevor is the reason every word of it exists, I believe. He assembled the band, somewhat by accident and experiment, Susan tells us. She doesn’t admit that he demanded the book, yet it feels like it. He must have insisted she write it all down. Staying away from setups that feel like hastily created TV shows which attempt to explain why we all still love that one, tired song, Susan Gottfried takes us where it is forbidden to go - into the living part of that life. We get a limited number of naked, groping tag-alongs, and instead get some enlightening conversation about how difficult it may be to realize your dream is rolling right over you. Trevor wanted to be famous, and it has happened, almost while he pranced around to avoid it. Was he really trying to get into trouble the whole time? We also learn what binds him to Mitchell Voss, and what Trevor-tremors that bond can endure. The author lived this life. She accurately, honestly, shows the moments that flip Rock Stars into monsters or burn-outs. But she won’t let her characters lose all their dimensions to go there. She would have to remove so much to make this fit the late-night clichés. ‘Less is more’ would not work here. Perhaps that explains why there are three books about this band, ‘ShapeShifter’, and why this author cannot stop writing this character. Trevor Wolff is very demanding.
  
• The Secret of A Spicy Jalapeno on March 09, 2011
  
  Charlie Courtland fans will be thrilled to have this new story. Altogether different from her Elizabeth Bathory series in style and tone, there are still precious Charlie moments within it. If you’ve never read her tales, The Secret of a Spicy Jalapeno is a spectacular place to begin to know her. She is wickedly inventive, and this new book is delicious. So skilled at nuancing her characters, Charlie makes you desperate to figure them out. Some of us already love her most wicked character, the Blood Countess, but Joe Parker is a close second for being many things at once, some of them impossibly opposite. Charlie also understands the need to balance horror with humor, and she can dance the thinnest of lines between the two. She knows how to be overtly macabre and still keep you reading. I’ve read the first draft, and this final release. I thought the first draft flawless, but she is passionate about what she’s put on the page. Charlie’s skill is so evident; her edits are seamless, and spare. It is a rare treat, to witness an author’s craft as closely as I’ve been able to do here. This earned five stars from me long ago; now you get to experience Joe Parker and Vera Cruz for yourself and see why I like them so much.
  
• Barefoot Heroine: A Mayne Attraction Short Story on April 16, 2011
  
  Ann has given me a character I want to follow. This short is a perfect tease, and a delightful vignette; Ann has earned another fan.
  
• BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology on May 30, 2011
  
  There is a staggering talent to be found, among the members of BestsellerBound.com. This collection is only a glimpse - excellent stories from so many points of view. Within these ten short stories are wishes and longings, pain and suffering, humour and horror. It is a fun read, and hopefully an experience which will urge you to seek out more from the wealth of outstanding Indie authors at BsB.
  
• What Was Lost on May 31, 2011
  
  A wonderful, wonderful short story. James easily captures us with crisp and stirring images, of a startling moment in time.
  
• The Dream on July 18, 2011
  
  Maria Savva engages me on so many levels. I love how she observes her characters, and sometimes even makes them seem annoying. 'The Dream' is an excellent example of following a character almost too closely. Lynne is forever dwelling on the same emotions and doubts - but that is a clever key to the entire tale. When I found what all the repetition meant, I was elated; to complete Lynne's journey it was vital to understand her - and I believe I did. 'The Dream' is an expertly crafted 'What if?' and not every choice will lead in a different direction at all. Sometimes we arrive at a place, as Lynne did, because it was just meant to be.
  
• BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology Volume 2 on Aug. 02, 2011
  
  The wonderfully talented group of authors at BestsellerBound have created another gem-filled anthology. It is great fun to read these outstanding stories, and a tremendous honor to be sharing pages with them. This book is filled with Stars.
  
• Street of Lost Gods (Tales of the Thief-City) on Jan. 22, 2012
  
  'Street of Lost Gods' by Gareth Lewis, is nothing short of magnificent. From his imagination, Mr. Lewis has cobbled together beings that will populate my nightmares. This is a vision of the dimensions left when heavens fail and hells are revealed. This was a beautiful, terrifying, riveting hour of reading.