Abandoned by the Gods and fueled by rage

Jonathan Maberry is a magician. He is the author of over 60 books in a wide variety of genres. While his name is not as recognizable as Steven King, John Grisham, or Margaret Atwood, I can’t think of another author who has accomplished so much. I first stumbled upon the Maberry name online. Day after day, I found myself confronted by zombies. And as any human would do, I ran. But he persisted, and I finally was bitten. There was no better place for me to start than Patient Zero. The virus was hot and ran through me as quickly as I read through the entire ten novel arc of one of his most beloved characters, Joe Ledger. Think Jack Reacher meets The X-Files. I read or listened to most of them in my mother’s days in her battle with dementia. I spent many nights in the hospital in an uncomfortable chair in the dark, listening to Ray Porter bring Jonathan Maberry’s creations to life. The stories, while fast-paced and terrifying, distracted from the buzz of the fluorescent lights seeping in from the hallway and the beeping of the monitors and machines that were often the only things that confirmed that my mother was still here. Ten books, then done. As I age, the memories of my mother are sometimes difficult to hold on to, but she lives on. And so does Joe Ledger. The first ten-book run completed an arc, but Maberry is keeping him alive in a second series. The next, his third, is Cave 13, and will be out soon.

So, there you have it. The origin story of my literary relationship with Jonathan Maberry. Or, possibly a more apt description, my Bore-igin Story. This is a weird way to ease into a review of his latest novel, The Son of the Poison Rose. 

The Son of the Poison Rose is the second book of a proposed trilogy and continues the story of Kagen the Damned. Sword and sorcery is a new genre for Maberry—at least for the reader. Getting blurbed by Michael Moorcock should be a clue that he has long been a fan. I won’t go into the plot of the story. There are plenty of places you can find that. Maberry’s writing is rich and pointed, his characters colorful and unique, especially for a sword and sorcery tale. Kagen is a very damaged character who wields his daggers with skill and bloodlust, especially when dealing with those from the Silver Empire. The story itself is a boiling cauldron—part sword and sorcery, part cosmic horror. Maberry’s world-building is fresh and engaging. I’m hoping we get a little more of Vespia in the next book. The author barely touched the cannibal-infested rainforest. Then there are the Hollow Monks, a Razor Knight, the royal twins are coming along nicely. Or horribly. Whichever you prefer. They’re you and impressionable, but have a mind of their own. My bet is that we’ll see much more of them and be off to the frozen wastelands known as the Winterwilds as the third book, A Dragon in Winter, teases. Maberry has a lot of threads and stories all moving toward a blood-soaked conclusion. And Kagen has a score of scores to settle with the Witch-king. 

If the book has a weak link, it is in its pacing. While the plot and sub-plots were all engaging, there were a few times I found myself wanting the author to speed things up, but there were also times I wanted more, and that’s with almost 700 pages of story.

Reading Kagen the Damned, the first in the series, is not 100% required reading. Maberry weaves this tale so you can jump right in, but I recommend doing so as there is so much world-building. His next novel in the series is supposed to wrap things up, and on some level, I’m sure he will, but I have a feeling that we will be seeing a lot more from Kagen. 

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Griffin, and the author for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I’d encourage you to buy this book from your favorite indy bookseller or you could buy it from one of Jonathan Maberry’s favorite booksellers, Mysterious Galaxy, where you should be able to request an autographed edition. I have purchased a number of books from them. They are great people. Or buy from the big A. Whatever you do, buy the book. 

Well, I'll Be Damned!

This is just the beginning of Jonathan Maberry’s foray into epic dark fantasy. It started in the middle of an all-out invasion where things were happening fast. The Silver Empire was being overrun in the most unbelievable of ways. There is viciousness and brutality against pretty much anything that lives. The invasion itself was over in a flash of banefire, then the story slowed to a trickle or a few dozen mugs of wine and ale. Things can slow in epic fantasy because of world-building and character development. The story follows multiple storylines, along with more than a few flashbacks. But then? Then all the snares and webs and traps had been set, and the tale took off.

Kagen is our unlikely hero. Of course, he is the main character and should be the hero, but as the aftermath of the invasion sets in, it looks less and less likely that he has any hero left in him. He is haunted and, because of the circumstances at the beginning of this book, damned with no hope of salvation. I could have done with a little less of Kagen the Drunkard, but it reveals to what depths our hero has sunk. If that bothers you, don’t let it put you off. Stick with the story, it grows and twists and is full of rich characters, male and female alike. The Witch-King of Hakkia and his cronies make for some great villains. And there are the side stories with nuns, the undead, and the minions of Cthulhu. Those threads will keep you guessing right up to the end. This story has it all. Interesting, complicated, and mysterious characters? Epic battles and sharp cutty things? Check. Sorcery, enchantment, and creatures? Check. Thieving? Yup. Blood? Gore? Magic? Political intrigue? Check, check, check, and oh, yes! 

From the outset, we were told that Kagen the Damned is "the first installment of an exciting new series of dark epic fantasy," so don’t be disappointed when this tale ends on a maddening cliffhanger. It will leave you wanting more. I cannot wait for book two, Son of the Poison Rose! 

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

RELENTLESS by Jonathan Maberry

I’m a Marvel guy. You probably wonder what that has to do with the latest Joe Ledger tale, RELENTLESS, from Jonathan Maberry. Stick with me, I will get there. Over the years, I have stretched and twisted and turned to many other comic book publishers, but I always came back to my favorite hero—Spider-Man. Even in his darkest days, there was humor and hope, and an overwhelming desire to do what was right—at least in the end. But I have a dark secret. It is the yang to my yin. The shadow that follows that optimism of Peter or Miles or whoever was wearing the webbing. The Dark Knight—Batman. Vengeance, pain, and the noirish sensibilities that bleed from the Dark Knight as he fought, in his own way, for what was right—often at significant cost. I think there is this duality in all of us—warring sides that fight for control. At least that is the way of my life. Batman—the ultimate anti-superhero. Yes, he wears spandex and a mask. And there’s that cape. It makes for great visuals and has saved his life more than a time or two, but in reality, it must cause more problems than it’s worth. And there’s the kernel. Reality. Batman is just a guy. Albeit an extremely rich guy, but he has no superpowers. He must rely upon his training and his tech and a lot of other people despite his innate ability to go it on his own. He is a detective and a vigilante. Over the many years, the writers have brutalized our poor hero in so many ways that I’m sure we have all lost count. He has been beaten, broken, and had to watch so many of his loved ones die horrible deaths. And THAT leads me back to Joe Ledger. He has been on a similar path.

Unlike Batman and his deontological convictions about means, Ledger has no problem killing. In fact, he has made an art of it. Just as we have certainly lost count of the ways the many writers have tortured Batman over the eighty-plus years he has lived (and died), keeping a ledger of all Joe’s kills would be impossible. This is the enormous difference between these two icons of pop culture, but they have much more in common than not. In RELENTLESS, Ledger’s reputation is more than enough to put a bowel-loosing scare into all but the scariest of Joe’s adversaries.

For those of you who are new to this series, you don’t have to have read RAGE, or even the first 10 Ledger books before reading this one. The author always skillfully gives the reader just enough so they are not lost. That said, I would highly recommend busting your piggy bank open and hitting your favorite indy bookstore to purchase all of them—including the anthologies. And if you want a signed copy, I think the good folks at one of Maberry’s favorite haunts, Mysterious Galaxy, might be able to coerce him into signing the whole shebang for you. If you really want a treat, buy the books AND the audiobooks. Ray Porter makes any Joe Ledger book a special treat. The series is a weird science, military thriller that brings to life many of the ghoulies and horrors of your most current nightmares. Be warned. There is a LOT of killing.

RELENTLESS smartly kicks off months after the heart-breaking, soul-crushing events of RAGE. It is dark. It is messy. And it is thrilling. If I had one complaint, it was that this book almost felt too big. At times, reading this one overwhelmed me. There was so much happening with so many characters out of Ledger’s past, present, and do I dare say, the future, that my head was reeling. It was like Maberry took everything bad that ever happened to Joe and everyone left that has done him wrong and told Bug to run them through his super-tech shredder and then did a Dr. Frankenstein on them all for poor Joe. Maberry has a knack for nearly destroying the world and somehow pulling us back from the edge, if only for a few more pages. And he always leaves us wondering dread is next, just as he always leaves us wanting more. This book is RELENTLESS.

Come October, this Writer becomes an Author

 I can only share a little. That's the way of the publishing world. I have an announcement.

My work has finally found a home. I have a piece of flash fiction (a short, short story) that a literary journal will publish in October. More details as I can share. 

What I can share is that I will have achieved one of my biggest goals this year—a dream, to be sure. Since 2019, when I started writing much more seriously, I hired a writing coach, Max Gorlov from across the pond, I have taken several classes to strengthen my writing skills, and I have been in a constant cycle of submissions and rejections—short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. Max helped me see through quite a few errors and problems that I had with my novel—a work of 13 years. I was over 85,000 words in when I hired him to help me write my first novel. I think that the hardest part was to have to ditch that first, uncompleted draft and rework it. I should break 100,000 words in the rewrite within the month and finish this year for certain. I was a 'pantser' with no structure or plan. A 'pantser' is someone who writes from the seat of his pants. The alternative would be to be a 'plotter.' That is someone who outlines and methodically maps out where almost everything goes. While I live my life so much more like a 'pantser,' I have come to the realization that I NEED to be a 'plantser.' That will satisfy my nature and the reality of life. 

I have many people to thank for their support and inspiration as I transition into retirement to add this skill/art to my repertoire. They don't let you add an acknowledgment section in a literary journal for a piece of flash fiction. Of course, I owe almost everything to my wife, Linda​, for her support, love, and belief in me and my dream. My daughter, Lian, has also been there for me. They have both been beta readers, critics, and cheerleaders. I would not have made it this far without them. My lifelong friends, Ray​ and Skip​, the horror/writing community on social media (Jonathan Maberry, Gabino Iglesias, Cina Pelayo, Stephen Graham Jones,  Cat Cavendish, Victor LaValle, and so many others) who have been more than generous. My mother, Jean, for an undying love that ALWAYS supported me and kept me on my path. And that guy in the CBS Sunday Morning story that I posted below, our Uncle Stevie. He has thrown more scares into me and shared so much on the art of writing that it would be a horror not to mention him.

My Favorite Reads of the Last Year

I started 2020 by finishing off Mallory O’Meara’s Lady from the Black Lagoon. I don’t often read non-fiction, but this one caught my attention. The book is part biography and part memoir. One shouldn’t expect a tell-all biography of Millicent Patrick. Part of this tale is the writer’s own journey. I have always held a particular fondness for the Creature. Perhaps, that is because they filmed part of the second film, Revenge of the Creature, in my hometown. A couple of my other favorite pieces of old Florida, Wakulla Springs, and Silver Springs were used as sets for the original. O’Meara tells the tale of one of Hollywood’s often over-looked legends, Milicent Patrick. She was the Creature’s actual designer, and like so many other stories from our lives, her work was claimed by a man as his own. This book sets the record straight and does Ms. Patrick some justice. It is an excellent read for anyone who loves classic horror films, Hollywood, and digging into the murky waters of someone’s past.

I finished off Don Winslow’s The Cartel Trilogy. I read The Power of the Dog (2005) the year before and thoroughly enjoyed it. While the follow-ups, The Cartel (2015) and The Border (2019), were written more than ten years later, they seamlessly fit together. The series has great characters, a lot of violence, and wonderful cinematic quality—fitting since the FX Network now has the trilogy in development. There is still time to read these before the series airs as there is no date for production. Fingers crossed on this one as Ridley Scott is also attached. I will certainly be reading more of Winslow’s work. I love short stories, so I think I’ll dig into Broken next. I wonder, though, if I should read Savages and The Kings of Cool first? Any recommendations?

Rounding out my favorite non-horror read of the year is Jonathan Maberry’s Rage. It is the first of the second Joe Ledger series, Rogue Team International, and what a thrill ride! This action/military thriller has it all—terror, terrorism, horror, guns, blood, science, tech, and so much more. And none of it feels forced. Maberry’s skillful storytelling makes it so you could jump in here without having read the first series. However, I’d still recommend starting at the beginning—way back at the first book, Patient Zero (2009) because I would not want to miss one minute of the adventures of anyone in Ledger’s breakneck life. I am still digging through the anthologies for the many short stories that Maberry has shared. If action/military thrillers aren’t your thing and horror is, I also FINALLY got around to reading Ghost Road Blues. This one was pure horror, with a nice dose of small-town quirkiness to give this the feeling of an old story told at a campfire’s edge in the middle of nowhere.

I read a lot of new-to-me writers this year. The Only Good Indians by Steven Graham Jones was probably my favorite read. That’s the book I would name if some vengeance-wracked elk-headed woman were after me. I read Mongrels first because it is all about werewolves, and I have this idea for a story. And I am currently reading Night of the Mannequins. What a twisted and very different story that one is. This guy is a prolific writer, like a few others I’m reading. I’m talking about you, Jonathan Maberry. It’s almost too much for a slow reader like me to digest.

The ‘Rona hit at the end of the first quarter. We started wearing masks and social distancing, so I thought it only fitting to do a little distancing myself with Toni Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone. It was a magical fantasy that transported me away for a little while. The audiobook was magic. 

I made a conscious effort to read horror, and other books, by women this year. I could and will do better in 2021. I read The View From Flyover Country. Sarah Kendzior gives us a look at how we ended up in 2020 from a political and social standpoint. We still have so much to do for equality in this country. I’m always up for something from Zora Neal Hurston. She was one of this country’s greatest treasures, so when a new or new to me book by her is published, I’m all in. Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is a newly packaged telling of eight of her short stories. Wickedly funny and socially poignant. I got a little scifi fix from Charlie Jane Anders’s The City in the Middle of the Night—imaginative, inventive, and great characters. And I finally did make it back around to Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. I know. I know. What took me so long? I enjoyed it and was glad I finally got to it, but I hate to admit that it didn’t transport me to another world. The other slap to the wrist that I so rightfully deserve is for reading Octavia E Butler’s Kindred. That one did move me—right back to the days of slavery. It left me a bit hollow and wanting more. I will be picking up more of her work. 

So, where are the tales of terror? Well, I did get my hands on two of Paul Tremblay’s masterful books, Disappearance At Devil Rock and the short story compilation Growing Things and Other Stories. I wanted to read Survivor Song, but my TBR pile was so large this year. I will read it in 2021, as well as anything else the man chooses to write. I also managed to get in both of Josh Malerman’s Bird Box books. Malorie was a nice addition, although her kids… I’ll chalk that up to teenagers being teenagers. Another writer that I spent time with more than once this past year was Chuck Wendig. Wanderers might not have been the one to read during a pandemic, but I did and do not regret it. I also read his book on writing, Damn Fine Story. This one should be on every writer’s reading list. I did get one of Stephen King’s books in this year—Revival. It is a nice addition to his kingdom of horror, but like Wanderers, maybe a little too realistic in light of the times. I’ll be reading The Outsider this year. I’m looking forward to reading that one as well as watching the series simultaneously on HBO as I did with 11/22/63 and found it quite enjoyable. I had heard so much about Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic. It was entertaining with well-crafted characters and setting but a bit of a letdown considering all the hype. I would have liked less set up and more gloomy horror. Laurel Hightower delivered the goods with Crossroads. It had the very creepy Pet Semetary vibe. How far would you go to bring back one of your children from the dead? 

I have been in the process of writing my own Southern gothic horror tale for far longer than I had hoped but am making good progress. I’m revising much of it with the help of a writing coach. That was why I jumped off the horror ride and dove into a few classics in the genre. I read Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Is it wrong of me to say that I wished that I lay dying myself on many occasions while reading this one? I liked his others much better. For a more sordid tale, I treated myself to Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God. I love this man’s style and way with words. Let’s just say that I was delighted to see Lester Ballard get what Lester Ballard got. It is said that a good Southern gothic has grotesques. This dark tale had that and more. Before I returned to horror land, I took a spin with S.A. Cosby. Blacktop Wasteland is one worthy addition to anyone’s shelf of crime novels. The characters were frustratingly good; the action was adrenaline-inducing.

I finished up the year with The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. I would have liked to give this one five stars and would have if it had been a story without ANY men. The women in this tale were marvelous. The horror was chilling. I will read Grady Hendryx again as I have Horrorstör sitting on my bedside table. I am still reading two books that I started in 2020. I already mentioned Night of the Mannequins. The other is The Hollow Ones by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I plan to kick off the year with The Hollow Places, adhering to the #LadiesFirst meme. Perhaps I am feeling a little hollowed out after the last four years.

I’ll follow this post up with some of the novels that I am most looking forward to reading in 2021. 

Deep Silence: A Joe Ledger Novel

It’s hard to believe that the ride is over. Ten books! Every one of them is a thrill ride, and Deep Silence is no exception. This one has it all—alien tech, terrarists, terrorists, Russians, Lovecraftian horrors, Washington politics, and a lot of strings stretched back to the many previous Ledger novels. As with all of the Ledger novels, you don’t HAVE to read the previous ones to enjoy this one, as Jonathan Maberry is crafty enough to weave in just enough detail without being tiresome, but it does add a little bit of comfort in another pulse-pounding read.