Month: June 2024

Review, “The House on Constantinople.”

/ jlambright / 2 Comments

BLUF: Five flippin’ stars. Go get “The House on Constantinople” if you like time travel books with a hint of romance.

I’ve had a lot of problems reading lately, I’m not sure why. I’ve been a life-long voracious reader, and for some reason my old crutch has failed me as of late. It could be I have too many commitments, it could be the old gnawing low-grade stress, it could be the siren call of Apple News. In any case, it’s a thing, and it’s annoying.

So, when I got word of Howard Wetsman’s new time-travel book on John Birmingham’s website, I was interested and I bought it with the forlorn hope of ever getting it off my pile of shame in my Kindle.

I’ve loved time travel books since I was a kid. I remember getting a dog-eared copy of “A Wrinkle in Time” from my middle school library. If you haven’t read it, it’s a classic.

So is Mr. Wetsman’s book. It’s that good. I’m not going to put any spoilers in here, but let’s just say the book is a partial examination of a historical figure in an obscure but important piece of human history. He did a great job of research into this person, but not at the expense of ever coming across as pedantic or mired in exposition.

His characters were great—realistic, likable, and relatable. He provided just enough depth to them to move the narrative forward and see the world through their eyes. There was one section with a slightly confusing POV shift, this is an easy pitfall for a new author. However, I cut him slack over this because I know from experience how easy this is to do with a multi-arc story. Going forward, I’d recommend adding fleurons or spacing if a POV shift is intended. This is an easy visual clue for the reader. But let me emphasize that this was a minor bug, not a persistent problem. In no way did this minor flaw detract from the reader experience, which in my case was very positive.

The narrative itself was compelling, driving, and addictive. This is the first time in a very long time that I blew off my normal bedtime to blaze through to the (satisfying) end. I started after dinner and finished around midnight. It was weird—I couldn’t stop. The phrase “I couldn’t put it down” is frequently overused, but in this case applicable.

I took a few breaks to walk my dog, but that was about it.

So, there you go. Your experience may differ from mine, but Doc Wetsman’s book has earned placement in the select few books that I know I’ll re-read.

Other authors I’ve read and re-read- Haldeman, Stirling, Turtledove, Birmingham, and Scalzi.

Wetsman—in his debut novel, no less, has earned a place for me amongst the authors above.

This is impressive.

Recommend.

The Best I Can Do

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Hey, all. So far, the launch of “Light’s End,” my take on the alien invasion trope, has gone OK. Have I sold bone-crushing amounts of books to fund my very own hovercraft? No. However, by my standards, it’s been good so far. I even broke (briefly) into the top 100 of one of my categories (Sci-Fi, Colonization) on the Beast US. If you know anything about indie publishing, that’s not actively terrible.

Right now, I’m preparing several inexpensive violins for the local flea market in hopes of attracting aspiring musicians to my wares. We’ll see how that goes. They are priced to sell, with just a tad of profit to pay me for the time I have in each. Some were tougher than others, and all are a light-year better than what you’ll get in the mail from sellers on Amazon. In any case, it’s enjoyable, precision work.

But—and this is the reason for today’s post—I’ve discovered a reasonably tasty US analog to the Aussie Short Black. See the image above.

This is an easy thing. Buy a pot of Nescafe Gold Expresso at Wally World. Ensure you have a teaspoon and a means of heating water. Dip teaspoon into pot, dump it into a waiting cup. Pour about one finger of boiling water onto powder. Mix.

The resulting drink is pretty close to the Short Black, and it’s the first decent coffee I’ve had since my return. I even ordered an expensive coffee at Starbucks and paid the big bucks for an extra shot, and it was pretty lame for six USD. This concoction is pretty good and a LOT cheaper than Starbucks!

Recommend.

Latest Novel, “Light’s End.”

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Morning, all, from the pleasant late-spring weather of the Upper Ohio Valley.

2024 is shaping into an interesting year in regard to my writing adventures. First, I busted out the bridge novel in my STORYTELLER trilogy, The Storyteller’s World. Now, I’ve put the wraps on Book One of the End series—“Light’s End.” This is my take on the alien invasion trope. Because it is my take, there are no glamorous fighter pilots or a chiseled-chin President who save us.

No, none of that. My book focuses on regular people caught up in an unimaginable calamity, described in my style. It’s a mess. See below for the back-cover copy.

“An alien horde, subjects of the Queen, arrive in the Solar System without warning and launch a devastating attack on Earth, killing billions. Amid the apocalypse, a diverse group of survivors from around the globe struggles to navigate this new, hostile world. John, a father desperate to reunite with his daughter, teams up with unlikely allies. Others fight for power, seek revenge, or simply strive to survive.

In this chaotic landscape, trust is scarce and danger lurks at every turn. Meanwhile, the aliens, led by their Chief Decider, pursue a mysterious, holy mission on Earth, indifferent to human suffering. As humanity faces annihilation, the survivors must find a way to endure and perhaps, defeat and kill their extraterrestrial invaders.

Will they find safety, seek revenge, or succumb to the Queen’s deadly decree?”

The book is my longest novel to date, with about 113k words at the end-state. I think it took six months to write, and I am curious, as always, as to the reader reception.

It is available worldwide right now in two formats, ebook and audio. The paperback is done and approved, but it’s not available now. However, it should be soon for those among you who must hold dead trees (EDIT: Paperback available like ten minutes after I wrote this post).

This is just the beginning of this year. Another book, a co-authored deal that should be released next month, is waiting in the wings. This is the culmination of a seven-year effort, a book based on John Birmingham’s Cruel Stars series. I did some tinkering on this while in Australia, a very productive working trip where I capped off “Light’s End” and filled in the blanks on said co-authored novel. In addition, I came up with a premise for another alt-history series. I mean to begin in earnest on that immediately.

I have to start on that right away because I need to feed content to my crew over on my Patreon paywall page. By the way, this page is loaded with content. For three bucks a month, there’s a lot to be had. But I digress.

For now, suffice it to say that my latest has been quietly launched, and if you dig my writing, you can pick it up worldwide on the Beast.

In many ways 2024 looks to be ruinous writ large, but in terms of writing, it looks good. A paradox, I know. But at least I’ll keep you entertained while Rome burns.

Cheers,

J

Last Breakfast in Australia

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Well guys, I’m back in the land of mediocre food. After my sojurn in Oz, I’ve come to realize that I live in a food desert- you have to drive about 25-30 minutes to get anything to eat or to do grocery shopping. If you do eat in town, your choices are mostly limited to chains. Whether fast food or sit-down places, your food comes from massive industrial farms a thousand miles away, and it’s usually frozen and then plopped onto your plate by a line cook with three weeks experience working from a script.

The food scene in Australia isn’t anything like that, and the coffee is world-class. Right now I’m feeling a tad cheated as I drink my drip coffee—a quick cup of tea bag coffee in Oz was better, I’m afraid.

It is what it is. Now, a post-mortem on my working vacation in Australia.

Much happened. Did I see kangaroos and other cool stuff? Yes, including the last existing WW1 German tank, captured by Queensland troops in 1918. Observe.

Strange to think that an ungainly beast like this heralded a new age in warfare, but it did. The Kaiser only fielded twenty of these in the Great War, and this is the sole remaining example, preserved at the Queensland Museum. If you look closely, it is scarred by shot and shell, and apparently sat in no-man’s-land until recovered by some really brave Aussie troops. Somehow they hauled it to a ship and sent it on the long voyage south, where it sat outside for decades.

Pretty cool. This was but one of dozens of interesting things I saw there. The wildlife was super interesting, as was Brisbane, probably the nicest city I’ve ever visited. My hosts were gracious, and they were fantastic guides and friends. Every time I looked into their garden it was like a trip to the zoo! One day, while writing, a scrub turkey climbed onto the tree branch outside my window.

Observe.

The neighbors had raucous kookaburras. Their cries must be heard to be believed. They sound like maniacs.

There’s a lot I could write here- it was a fantastic trip. But now it’s done.

Regarding writing, much happened. I polished off my end of the Javan War, an upcoming co-authored deal with JB. It’s the origin story of Lucinda Hardy, the chief protagonist of the Cruel Stars universe. Also, I finished the preps for Light’s End, my upcoming alien invasion novel. I’m looking at a fifteen June launch. In addition, helped a little with moving around blocks on an upcoming JB thing, and dreamed up a new series and wrote the premise while brainstorming with John and Elana.

It was a totally cool trip, even if the trip is beyond hellish. It’s worth it. I even became a fan of vegemite, something that I had not foreseen. It is pretty awesome combined with eggs!

It was only fitting that I smeared it on my toast while enjoying my last breakfast, brekkie, in Oz. Delicious eggs benedict and good coffee, sigh. When I grabbed a coffee in Vancouver on the trip back it tasted like ditch water.

Nice country you’ve got down there, Aussie readers. I’d imagine I’ll visit again.