Revenge is a dish best served cold, Klingons say, but in her lengthy short story “She Who Laughs Last,” Jacki King serves it up spicy hot. Paired withRevenge is a dish best served cold, Klingons say, but in her lengthy short story “She Who Laughs Last,” Jacki King serves it up spicy hot. Paired with rollicking humor, incisive writing, and solid characterization, it’s a ribald lesson in sales management not likely to be taught at Harvard Business School, except perhaps in the dorms.
Leslie Stetler sells sex toys at home parties (“Think of me as your Naughty Tupperware Lady”) and she’s a hot rising sales star within the company. So hot, in fact, that she catches the eye of Rick Miller, the luscious regional sales manager. He invites her to attend a special training session, but the lesson he’s teaching isn’t one Leslie intends to learn. Let the games begin.
King’s tight, closely edited prose is great for short fiction, with not a word wasted and a reason for every sentence. The fun’s in the details here, with the plot twists signaled in advance with such subtlety, it required two readings for this reviewer to catch them all. The humor isn’t only sexual, although there’s that, too, and it’s both original and witty. Realistic characters round out an enjoyable story that’s given a professional presentation, cover, editing, and typesetting, by Amber Quill Press.
Sexuality rating: four jalapeño peppers out of a possible five. There are reasonably detailed depictions of sexual acts, but the language isn’t overly graphic nor sensational, nor are “fantasy” elements such as bondage or spanking involved....more
**spoiler alert** After spending more than a decade immersed in another science fiction show’s fan universe, I very carefully steered clear of Stargat**spoiler alert** After spending more than a decade immersed in another science fiction show’s fan universe, I very carefully steered clear of Stargate, even after the original movie rocked my blocks off. But honestly, if any related novel was going to drag me into the Stargate crew, it would be Four Dragons. The action is non-stop, the characters (even the non-human ones) come across as vividly real, and the situations painted by Diana Dru Botsford’s workmanlike writing are compelling.
So readers of this review understand the situation, I revisited the original movie and watched several episodes suggested by Botsford prior to reading this novel. I certainly wasn’t at a total loss while reading, but the intricacies that she doubtless crafted into this work very likely escaped me. More importantly, I never felt lost. The characters, particularly Sam’s blissful technobabble, guided me through the plotline’s scientific and philosophical depths without missteps. Casual viewers of the series should not consider themselves underqualified to enjoy Four Dragons.
In the early days of the seventh season, Daniel has just returned from his ascended state and is determined to resume his place on the SG1 team. But Jack isn’t so certain, and he’s just as determined to sort out his teammember’s status on his own terms. At the site of a new archeological dig, where Ancient writing and early Imperial Chinese artifacts are swirled into a mystifying (and for Daniel, a fascinating) hodgepodge, Jack forces Daniel to train rather than dig. But Daniel rebels and escapes to an isolated corner of the site, where transportation rings activate and sweep him away to System Lord Yu’s mothership, just as enemy gliders attack the archaeologists and the SG teams evacuating them.
As the search-and-rescue mission for Daniel is organized, obstacle after obstacle is thrown in the SG team’s path. A mysterious Chinese ambassador refuses to allow the team to carry lethal weapons and endanger the life of China’s most famous emperor. The ambassador also insists the team carry a Goa’uld communications device, so that he can monitor the mission and ensure his demands are followed from the safety of headquarters. (Jack’s irritation and subsequent mounting rebellion and sarcasm add to the story’s background humor, again and again.) But little by little, the command staff at SG headquarters and the team in the field snuff out the complex layers of mystery surrounding the kidnapping, until the final, surprisingly philosophical answer is revealed.
All too often, the problem with fan fiction is an enthusiastic but sorrowfully incompetent writer. Botsford blows that stereotype across the galaxy. The characters aren’t cardboard cutouts but three-dimensional, with the actors’ voices saying their lines in my absorbed mind. There are a few errant typos, common now in all published works, but they aren’t intrusive as the crisp writing style invites the reader to the next word.
The plot is sound, deep, and robust, with a considered and logically satisfying ending that thankfully screams “SEQUEL!” Not all mysteries are solved, with just enough left dangling to entice the reader to continue playing Botsford’s game. And for those Stargate fans salivating at this review, be comforted: she’s currently researching that sequel . . . in Antarctica. ...more
**spoiler alert** Passing Whispers, a sweet and soulful romance by Lisa Anne Vance, has a lot going for it—a great set-up, some excellent images and s**spoiler alert** Passing Whispers, a sweet and soulful romance by Lisa Anne Vance, has a lot going for it—a great set-up, some excellent images and symbols, and a touching introduction. Partway through, however, the plotline seems to lose its path, and while the detour is interesting, this reviewer can’t help but believe the story would have been stronger without it.
In the last days before Christmas, Detective Endel Sorra stops by the corner store to pick up some cream for his wife, Kate. As he enters, he’s tired and happy, not expecting trouble, when the hoodie-wearing teenager holding a pistol on the sales clerk swivels and fires once, killing Endel instantly. The robber, Jake Conway, hadn’t meant to hurt anyone. He’s desperate for cash to support his girlfriend, who’s seven months into a difficult pregnancy that’s eaten all their funds. But before he escapes with what little cash is in the register, he also shoots Hector Ramos, the clerk. Before the bloody night is over, Jake also kills himself.
Twelve months pass and another Christmas approaches. With Endel dead, Kate is now a widow and unable to find any meaning in her lonely life, even as she continues her career as a nurse practitioner at a women’s shelter. She’s withdrawn from her remaining family and friends, and refuses all social invitations, although she can’t help but notice how attractive she finds the shelter’s social worker, Brian Morris. After nearly suffering a nervous breakdown, Kate steels herself to sort through the holiday decorations she and Endel collected through their married years. She intends to give the decorations away, but then she comes across a little music box snow globe he gave her their first Christmas together. As she listens to it play “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” she feels a remembered touch on her hand.
It’s a Christmas miracle, and it’s romantic and warm. Together Kate and her miracle sort through the remains of the lives shattered by that one horrific night—not only Kate, but also Hector Ramos, confined to a wheelchair for life, and Jake’s infant son, the only survivor of that little family. In the process, she learns to appreciate Brian, not as a replacement for Endel but as another partner for her life, giving her not one Christmas miracle, but two.
Although additional polish would not go amiss, Lisa Anne Vance has a crisp writing style that’s capable of handling tricky emotional subjects, and she’s not afraid to tackle them. While the concentration is on Kate’s story and her interactions with the characters of that night, Passing Whispers remains a rollicking good tale, firmly grounded in realism. (Her portrayal of the Christmas miracle scene is subtle and haunting, and so accepting it isn’t even a stretch for the reader.) But little conflict is interwoven into that portion of the plotline, allowing Kate to solve what should have been heart-deep issues too easily.
To keep the story moving after that, Vance must bring in additional issues, ones unrelated to the original shooting—Kate’s relationships with her mother and deceased father, and a rather bizarre family intrigue for Brian. It’s handled with warmth and Vance never allows the Christmas miracle to be forgotten, but that miracle is where the reader’s interest is invested, not the Morris family. The story would have been stronger with a tighter focus and a deepening of the original conflict would have given Kate more serious issues to unravel and made the plot extension unnecessary.
All books published now have some measure of typos and Passing Whispers is no exception. The production itself is well executed, with a professional cover and design, and readers new to e-books should have no fear of purchasing a second-rate product here. Despite the plot extension, Passing Whispers is a lovely Christmas tale, deserving a place alongside other warm fuzzy holiday novels, and Vance is a writer worth following. ...more
**spoiler alert** If an award is ever given for the most action-packed book of the year, Days of Reckoning should be among the nominees. The story bla**spoiler alert** If an award is ever given for the most action-packed book of the year, Days of Reckoning should be among the nominees. The story blasts from beginning to end, leaving this reader afraid to put it aside for fear it might keep going without her. The body count is high and the violence level not for the faint-hearted, but it’s neither graphic nor gratuitous, and the hint of a romance between the two main characters adds a bittersweet undertone to what could have been just another anti-hero thriller.
Miranda Leider is tougher than her little brother, Justin, and fiercely protective. When he’s bullied and abused at summer camp, she sees him safely off the premises then exacts a ferocious revenge, carefully arranged to leave her blameless. But the two children know what really happened, and the ugly bond formed between them is one they can never outgrow nor leave behind.
Fifteen years later, Miranda’s a junior police officer in Sparta, Ohio, and Justin’s hanging out with an Appalachian militia company. When his month-dead body is found in a fallow field, an apparent suicide, she knows something’s wrong. Justin had problems, but he’d never kill himself. The police chief gives Miranda time away from the office for grieving, but she spends it investigating her brother’s final days, locating the militiamen who last saw him alive, exercising her penchant for violence, and repeating her protective sins of the past.
Sam Connor is a Sparta PD detective, smarting from a vindictive divorce and hiding his attraction for the Charlie’s Angel Miranda. With her on compassionate leave, he’s holding the office when bodies start falling in the small college town. As the count rises and the whirlwind investigation draws closer to the brutal serial killer, Sam must face the reality of who he’s hunting before the target falls on him.
Chris Stout’s writing is bare and crisp, almost minimalist. The sparse description sometimes leaves the reader adrift in time and space, depending upon plotline and pacing to propel the story through such vacuums. Technical details are Clancy perfect, but the absence of background description extends here, as well, leaving the reader wondering how a MAC-11 feels against the shooter’s hands as it’s fired on full automatic. An added sentence or even a phrase in places could have deepened the reader’s experience, but might also have interfered with the overwhelming rush of the story. Stout’s decision to keep the writing lean might have been the proper one.
Editing is a dying art and all books produced these days have some level of typos. Days of Reckoning is no exception, and there are also a few continuity issues that have no significant bearing upon the story. One unfortunately distracting feature of this early e-pub manuscript, however, are formatting errors, where misplaced paragraph indentations sometimes slow the story’s flow (Kindle version, can’t answer for the Nook). Hopefully as the technology advances, such issues will vanish, leaving the story as compelling as the writer designed it....more
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