A review of Donald Michael Platt's A Gathering of Vultures

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee (Monday, 12 November 2012 10:52 am)

Category: Articles

Donald Michael Platt's A Gathering of Vultures was published by DarkHart Press (an imprint of Briona Glen Publishing LLC) in 2012. This novel was originally published in 2007.

Donald Michael Platt is an American author. Click here to visit his official website.

Here's a description of A Gathering of Vultures:

MURDER, MUTILATION, CARRION... IN PARADISE?

"There shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate." – ISAIAH 34:15

Professional ballroom dancers Terri and Rick Hamilton aspire to be world champions. Unfortunately, Terri's recurring back and health problems place that goal well out of reach.

They travel to Terri's birthplace, Florianópolis, on the scenic island of Santa Catarina off the coast of Brazil to vacation and visit their best friends and mentors.

Along the picturesque beaches, dead penguins and eviscerated bodies wash up on the shores of paradise, and Antarctic blasts play counterpoint to the tropical storms that rock the island. The scenic wonder is home not only to urubús, a unique sub-species of the black vulture, but also to a clique of mysterious women who offer Terri perfect health and the promise of fame – at a terrible price.

Rick fears Terri is being drawn into a cult and that his own life may be in danger. Will it be too late when he discovers something even more terrifying lives beneath the tranquil, tropical veneer of the island?

Idyllic one moment and nightmarish the next, you never know what you'll encounter in the city of Florianópolis – murder, mutilations, carrion, or the lure of eternal youth.

A REVIEW OF DONALD MICHAEL PLATT'S A GATHERING OF VULTURES

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A review of Larry Ivkovich's The Sixth Precept

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee (Saturday, 10 November 2012 12:28 pm)

Category: Articles

Larry Ivkovich's The Sixth Precept was published by IFWG Publishing in 2011.

Here's information about the author:

IT professional Larry Ivkovich is the author of several science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories and novellas, published online and in various print publications and anthologies including M-Brane SF, Afterburn SF, Penumbra Magazine, Twisted Cat Tales, Abaculus III, Raw Terror, Triangulations and Aoife's Kiss Shelter of Daylight. He has also been a finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future contest and was the 2010 recipient of the CZP/Rannu Fund Award for fiction. His fantasy adventure novella, Reunion at Olan, will be published in 2012 by Wolfsinger Publications. Larry is a member of two local writing/critique groups, the Pittsburgh Southwrites and the Pittsburgh Worldrights and lives in Coraopolis, PA with his wife Martha and cats Trixie and Milo.

Here's a description of The Sixth Precept:

In 16th century medieval Japan, Yoshima Mitsu, who is gifted with psychic powers, uses her prescient abilities to send her young attendant, Shioko, into the future. There, Mitsu belives Shioko will be safe from the purges of the maniacal warlord Omori Kadanamora, his warrior monks, and his half-human, half-bestial Shadow Trackers.

In present-day Pittsburgh, police lieutenant Kim Yoshima is attacked by a creature out of someone's twisted nightmare. In the aftermath of the terrifying struggle, Kin finds a young Japanese girl named Shioko, lost, confused, and calling Kim "Mitsu" and her monstrous attacker a "Shadow Tracker."

Wayne Brewster dreams of a costumed hero, ArcNight. But more than that, he feels bizarrely connected to the fictional crime fighter as if ArcNight and his comic book world are real. And in all of his dreams, Wayne sees one constant, one face repeated over and over - the face of Kim Yoshima.

Using her powers, Kim, accompanied by Shioko and Wayne, travels by means of a temporal rift to feudal Japan. There they must assume different personas to fight Omori and creatures of Japan's mythological world to fulfill ancient prophesy and modern historical fact.

If they fail, history will be altered and the world will be forever changed.

A REVIEW OF LARRY IVKOVICH'S THE SIXTH PRECEPT

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A review of Sanem Ozdural's LiGa TM

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee (Monday, 05 November 2012 11:57 pm)

Category: Articles

Sanem Ozdural's LiGa^TM was published by Elsewhen Press as an e-book in July 2012. The paperback edition will be published in December 2012.

Here's information about the author:

Sanem Ozdural was born in Ankara, Turkey in the 70s, and spent her childhood from age seven onwards in England. Happy days at a quintessentially British boarding school in Surrey helped forge her character and tastes, not to mention lasting friendships. Making her way to the U.S. she studied economics at Princeton University. After graduating from Boston University School of Law, she moved to New Orleans where she practiced as a prosecutor and civil litigator, and spent seven wonderful years living in the French Quarter.

In 2004 she migrated from New Orleans via Washington, D.C., reaching New York City in 2006, where she still lives and practices law. Sanem was an avid bridge player until the tenth round of revisions to her debut novel. She is now thoroughly enjoying an indefinite bridge sabbatical, and imagining all sorts of stories that feature absolutely no bridge or chess.

Here's a description of LiGa^TM:

Welcome.

You are hereby invited to compete in a tournament of LifeGame™ Bridge ("LiGa™ Bridge").

LiGa™ Bridge is a tournament of duplicate individual bridge in which eight players gamble with, and for, a portion of their lives.

Yes, it is possible to gamble with life! We have the technology. Life-gambling is enabled by a process we call "hand imprinting". The physical manifestation of this is a network of cranberry-hued lines on the palms of the players' left hands. These lines track the natural print of the palm and the effect is akin to a fortune-teller's hand map. For further information on LiGa™ technology, please review Appendix I.

You will be gambling with a portion of your remaining life to win a portion of the other players’ lives. To be precise, each player will wager one third of his/her remaining life per game, as measured by Life Points, to win one quarter of the total Life Points deposited by the losing four players. The losers' remaining lives will be shortened by one third.

The tournament ends when one – or more – of the players reaches 100 Life Points. This is the point at which the age-related degeneration of the human body ceases completely, irreversibly, and indefinitely. A somewhat misleading term that is applied to this state is 'immortality'. Reaching 100 Life Points does not mean you cannot be killed, only that you will not age. In other words, immortal does not mean invincible.

During the tournament – after the first transfer of Life Points has taken place – your body will be in a constant state of flux as it adjusts to markedly increased or decreased rates of degeneration on a weekly basis. For detailed information on the impact of life-absorption on your body, please see Appendix II.

If you wish to enter the tournament you must submit a non-refundable entrance fee of $10,000,000.00.

Xavier Redd (Imm.)

Have YOU had your invitation yet?

Literary science fiction, LiGa™ tells of a game in which the players are, literally, gambling with their lives. Sanem Ozdural's debut novel is set in a near-future where a secretive organisation has developed technology to transfer the regenerative power of a body's cells from one person to another, conferring extended or even indefinite life expectancy. As a means of controlling who benefits from the technology, access is obtained by winning a tournament of chess or bridge to which only a select few are invited. At its core, the game is a test of a person's integrity, ability and resilience.

The fantastic nature of the game's technology is made credible by the familiarity of the contemporary setting, giving the story a definite slipstream feel. Sanem's novel provides a fascinating insight into the motivation both of those characters who win and thus have the possibility of virtual immortality and of those who will effectively lose some of their life expectancy.

A REVIEW OF SANEM OZDURAL'S LIGA^TM

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A review of Morgan Keyes' Darkbeast

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee (Sunday, 28 October 2012 4:19 pm)

Category: Articles

Morgan Keyes' Darkbeast was published by Margaret K. McElderry Books in August 2012.

Click here to visit Morgan Keyes' official website.

Here's a description of Darkbeast:

In Keara's world, every child has a darkbeast - a creature that takes dark deeds and emotions like anger, pride, and rebellion. Keara's darkbeast is Caw, a raven. Caw is her constant companion, and they are magically bound to each other until Keara's 12th birthday. For on that day Keara must kill her darkbeast - that is the law. Refusing to kill a darkbeast is an offense to the gods, and such heresy is harshly punished by the feared Inquisitors.

Though Keara struggles to follow the rules, she cannot imagine life without Caw. And she finds herself drawn to the Travelers, actors who tour the country performing revels. Keara is fascinated by the Travelers' mysterious plays, with their hints of a grand life beyond her tiny village. As her birthday approaches, Keara readies herself to leave childhood - and Caw - behind forever. But when the time comes for the sacrifice, will she be able to kill the creature that is so close to her? And if she cannot, where will she turn, how can she hide from the Inquisitors?

A single decision could ripple outward and change Keara's life - and perhaps her world - forever in this gripping story that comes straight from the heart.

A REVIEW OF MORGAN KEYES' DARKBEAST

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A review of Mike French's Blue Friday

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee (Wednesday, 17 October 2012 11:25 am)

Category: Articles

Mike French's Blue Friday was published as e-book by Elsewhen Press in September 2012. It will be published as a paperback edition in November 2012.

Here's information about the author:

Mike French is the owner and senior editor of the prestigious literary magazine, The View From Here which has been called many fine things since it started in 2007 including, "Attractive, informative, sparkling and useful" by Iain M. Banks and for having a "great passion and drive" by Booker shortlisted Tom McCarthy. Mike's debut novel, The Ascent of Isaac Steward came out in 2011 with Cauliay Publishing and was nominated for The Galaxy National Book Awards which due to an unfortunate clerical error was awarded to Dawn French.

Born in Cornwall in 1967, Mike spent his childhood flipping between England and Scotland with a few years in between in Singapore. Splitting his time between his own writing, editing the magazine, running author workshops and working with atp media in Luton, Mike is married with three children and a growing number of pets. He currently lives in Luton in the UK and when not working watches Formula 1, eats Ben & Jerry's Phish Food and listens to Noah and the Whale.

Here's a description of Blue Friday:

In the Britain of 2034 overtime for married couples is banned, there is enforced viewing of family television (much of it repeats of old shows from the sixties and seventies), monitored family meal-times and a coming of age where twenty-five year-olds are automatically assigned a spouse by the state computer if they have failed to marry. Only the Overtime Underground network resists.

Dystopian science fiction, Blue Friday tells of a future where many live in fear of the Family Protection Agency, a special police division enforcing the strict legislation that has been introduced to protect the family unit. Combining dark humour with a vision of the future that inverts the classic dystopian nightmare, this latest novel from Mike French follows in the tradition of great Speculative Fiction satirists such as Jonathan Swift. Thoughtful, while at the same time prompting a wry smile in the reader, it reverses the usual perception of a future regime driven by productivity and industrial output at the expense of family, demonstrating that the converse may be no better.

A REVIEW OF MIKE FRENCH'S BLUE FRIDAY

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