The Night Birds

 The premise hooked me before I started reading. A decrepit, ancient freighter stuck off the coast of Houston in the Gulf of Mexico during a tropical storm. Witches. And night birds. Scientists. And Christopher Golden?! What follows may be a little spoilery. 

The protagonist, Charlie Book? Hmmm. I liked his character but wonder about him. Is he that gullible and accepting of WHATEVER life throws at him? Or that in love that nothing matters. The love of his life ditched him without explanation, then returns, with her sister’s lover and a baby and needs a safe place to hide—again with very little explanation? He either needed to be the indifferent or skeptical scientist or not. I liked the secondary characters and would have liked a little more from all of them. Perhaps that is a good thing. The storm itself had me thinking Golden had never been through a tropical storm. Being from Florida, the storm scenes seemed far too tamed, especially if this one was also had supernatural enhancement. The night birds came and went much too easily as the storm raged on. While they, too, were not entirely of this world, I would imagine that they would have been splattering against the ship as they desperately tried to keep an eye on things. Then, there are the mangroves. Again, I don’t believe the author has ever really looked closely at one of those trees, let alone climbed through a tangled mangrove forest. They are beautiful but muddy, claustrophobic messes. Their organized chaos is actually a great metaphor for the story. 

Who else has read it? What did you think?

 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Night Birds

by Christopher Golden

Published by St. Martin's Press/McMillan Publishers

May 6, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250285911

304 pages

#TheNightBirds #NetGalley

As always. I encourage you to buy from independent bookstores. 

A Palace Near the Wind

There was much to like but some to dislike in this one for me. It is imaginative to be sure. I wanted to know more about the Feng, the part plant?/tree?, humanoid race to which the main character, Liu Lufeng, belongs. They are certainly an exotic and unique race, as are the others in the story, but it felt like something was missing. 

Worldbuilding can be quite difficult, especially creating something totally new. The author has succeeded in crafting a compelling new world and interesting races, however, some of A Palace Near the Wind could have benefited from less exposition. For instance, I found myself rushing past the description of the embroidery. The characters themselves were not developed as much as I would have liked. Granted, this is a novella, but most of the characters felt too one dimensional.

Crazy, right? On one hand I'm asking for more, and with the other I want less. So which is it? I'd challenge you to pick it up and make up your own mind. It is a quick read and the author, Ai Jiang, id wildly talented.

I did finally settle in and began to enjoy this story of family loyalty, subjugation, and rebellion, but then it was over. The ending was abrupt without any closure. It’s hard to say without reading the concluding novella, but I think it would have been better to publish this a a novel. A Palace Near the Wind is the first book of the Natural Engines series. 

#APalaceNeartheWind #NetGalley

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

A Palace Near the Wind

by Ai Jiang

Published by Titan Books

April 15, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9781668075081

192 pages

#BHH #NetGalley

As always. I encourage you to buy from independent bookstores. 

Some Family Secrets Are Better Left Buried

Luckily for us, this one wasn’t. The last time I was held captive like this was reading The Only Good Indians. Stephen Graham Jones has a way with words and an even better way at stringing them all together. Here with his latest, Buffalo Hunter Hunter, he teases us with a found diary then transports us back to the all too true horror of the Marias Massacre in 1870s Montana, then paints the history that follows with one of the most unique and creepy vampires the West has ever seen. The story itself is amazing. So why not five stars? It is a little slow in places. Perhaps that’s from the epistolary form of the novel. But don't let that stop you. It also adds much making it one of the most creative and interesting tales I've read this year. 

Who else has read it? What did you think?

#BHH #NetGalley

 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Buffalo Hunter Hunter

by Stephen Graham Jones

Published by Simon & Schuster/Saga Press

March 18, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9781668075081

448 pages

#BHH #NetGalley

As always. I encourage you to buy from independent bookstores. 

Goals are not Resolutions

 When I first started writing, I was completely clueless. The last time I got anywhere near a proper English class was high school way back in the 1970s and I had no experience of any kind with creative writing classes. As I neared my seventh decade and got a hankering for doing something more than writing the odd poem, I enrolled in a creative writing workshop back in 2018. I also devoured all the amazing information that is available these days—from books to blog posts and magazines to social media. I learned about heroes and cats and all kinds of dos and don’ts. 

That was almost six years ago. In 2024, I FINALLY completed my first and long-languishing novel, YOUR PAL AL. It is currently with beta readers and an editor. I plan to query in a few months. I also completed a much shorter MG horror that is also with a beta reader/editor. Once I edit and revise the words, I plan extensive illustration work. Fingers-crossed, that, too, will be ready to query in 2025, but that one will take a back seat to the illustration work ahead of me for a number of projects—primarily, my wife’s children’s book. First in the queue are the cover illustration/design for a friend’s novel and a couple of Drabble Zines. Those need to be finished before June as I hope to unveil them for DCAZ this year. 

I launched the Drabble Zine project last year with writing and illustration from a couple of flash writing projects I had previously published. One is a zombie tale, Enda Things. It appeared on the site, Free Flash Fiction, in 2023. The other is called Gryll the Invincible. That one was published in the anthology, Wyrms II in 2024 and is available on Amazon. It is an episode between a grizzled knight and a wise old dragon. If you are interested, you can get your own at my Etsy shop. A drabble, if you aren’t familiar with the term, is a piece of flash fiction that tell a complete story in exactly 100 words. 

For 2025, I planned to continue what I started in 2024, and finish things. Last year, I focused on the two aforementioned writing projects—Your Pal Al and Grave New World. This year, I am moving more toward wrapping up a couple of illustration projects. I do plan to write, but mostly short stories and poetry.

And this brings me back full circle. While I pay much less attention to writing advice from others, I do still read some articles and follow the writing community on the socials. I hope I can rid myself of Xitter, once and for all, this year. I think I have settled on Bluesky for writing and Instagram for my art. Facebook, I generally keep for family and friends, but I mix the others in as well, but a bit more judiciously. To kick off 2025, Writer’s Digest is doing a ten day Get Started Right Writing Challenge. Day one, yesterday, was listing my writing goals. However, mine aren’t isolated to writing.

Here’s my list of CREATIVE goals for 2025:

1. Finish layout, artwork, and design for Mrs. Shiny
2. Finish layout, artwork, and design for secret cyberpunk novel
3. Finish layout, artwork, and design for two Drabble Zines
4. Finish revisions and edits for Your Pal Al and query.
5. Finish revisions and edits for Grave New World.
6. Write more poetry.
7. Write at least 4 short stories.
8. Finish a first draft of the novella.
9. Start work on a collection of poems.
10. Attend at least four in-person literary events during the year.

This is probably far too ambitious BUT I WILL complete the first 5. The rest are aspirational. 

What are your goals?