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Review of Caleb Moon Lake Wolves #2 by Jade Astor

Rating: 3 stars

Caleb Lyall goes off to college hoping to research his family’s lycanthropy in order to better understand werewolves and perhaps find a cure.  Immediately he meets Desmond Quinn, good looking graduate student and his TA in psychology.  Desmond offers to show Caleb around campus and introduce him to his professor and advisor, Dr. Arden.

Everything seems normal, until it’s not.  Dr. Arden has a reputation for being creepy and interested in the supernatural.  People are reporting weird animal attacks on campus, and Caleb is starting to have blackouts.  Could he be changing and not know it? Desmond just might be his mate but is he involved in the strange things happening around campus? Nothing is as it seems and its up to Caleb to unravel the mysteries before its too late.

Not having read the first book in the series, I was unfamiliar with the characters and their backgrounds. However, the first couple of pages gives you a synopsis more or less so I don’t feel that is a hinderance in reading the book.  There are too many other problems for that to be a concern. The main problems I have with this book are bland, one-note characters, and a plot with more holes in it than swiss cheese.

Caleb is a twenty six year old, so I would expect some measure of maturity from his character but time and again, he behaves like a coed in those Scary Movies.  He has a family that supports him, but he doesn’t call them for help until the end of the book.   Caleb and Desmond spot their professor naked inside a circle of naked students (during a study session) doing naughty, and for one student objectional,  things to each other.  Do they inform campus security?  Or the college president or anyone?  They do nothing.  What not even a YouTube video?

Desmond is a TA but he doesn’t notice anything odd going on?  Why is his professor having all those arguments with his honor students? And when one of those students runs screaming up to him for help? He closes the door on him! Doesn’t even ask questions.  Dorothy Parker had that wonderful remark about a young Katherine Hepburn where she states  “She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B”.  Here they run the gamut of emotions from A to A (with my apologies to Dorothy Parker). Desmond is a mere outline of a person, so why have any expectations of him at all?

Neither Caleb or Desmond do anything other than react to the situations around them.  They are so passive and flat like cardboard cutouts it is hard to care about them. And the villain of the piece is spotted immediately but seems less threatening than Snidely Whiplash. There is nothing remotely plausible about the plot and the characters sleepwalking their way through it.  I finished it and then found it hard to retrieve names and events.  Unremarkable, unbelievable, and finally unreadable.  What a shame.

Cover:  I like the cover and think they did a great job.  The models are in keeping with the characters and the graphics are lovely.

Available from Silver Publishing, Amazon, and ARe

Review of Grade-A-Sex Deal (College Fun and Gays, #2) by Erica Pike

Grade-A-Sex Deal (College Fun and Gays #2)

Rating: 5 stars

Daniel Corrigan hates his life.  He used to have it all.  Affluent lifestyle complete with great paying job, loving wife, two children, great house and even a dog.  Now all gone because he simply couldn’t live a lie any longer.  With two little words “I’m gay”,  he’s lost everything and everyone in his life, with the exception of his brother, a college principal.

Now depressed, penniless and living in a college dorm room, Daniel makes a living teaching macroeconomics at his brother’s university. The only bright spot in his life is Troy Anderson, a sexy student in his class.  The deal they made, exchanging sexual favors for a favorable A in his class, is about to come to an end along with the semester and Daniel is not sure he can handle the loss. What will happen when the Grade-A-Sex deal comes to an end?

I love surprises and this short story is all that and a cupcake with dark chocolate sprinkles on top. From the title, I would never guess at the angst, bitterness, and despair that is emerges from the tale of Daniel’s life after he comes out.   I am always amazed at the courage it takes for someone to come out of the closet, whether they are a teenager or a middle aged adult.  While you hope with all your heart for acceptance and love, the stories you most often hear of those of loss, contempt, and pain.  Daniel is no different.  His expectations of his family’s reaction might have been naive but the actuality of their disgust and rejection was crushing. Erica Pike got this so right, I often had tears in my eyes as I read the story (and this is a short story mind you).

Daniel’s room is littered with the debris of his life, left over food containers, clothes he can’t be bothered washing, all symptoms of a deeply depressed man just going through the motions.  Every detail Erica Pike paints for us is meticulous.  There is not a false word or emotion here.  Troy Anderson has surprises of his own in store for us.  Needless to say, my lips are sealed here.  Just know that Troy is no cardboard figure, he too is fully alive and breathing.  It just takes a little longer to get to know him.  The sex is hot, fast, and overlaid with desperation.

When I first read about the sex for grades issue, it bothered me, but as I got further into the story, it became easier to accept. Daniel had only done it a few times and it fit right in with his poor self esteem and “hitting rock bottom.” If one ignores the depression cycle he is on, his behavior is hard to understand. As it is, he is not a likeable human being at the beginning of the story. However, the deal entered into between the teacher and the student here is a way for the older man to have any type of a relationship with this man he has come to love. It is more a ploy of desperation than something he does with others, and he despises himself for it.

I have not read the first College Fun and Gays story. I really don’t feel its necessary in order to read and appreciate the beauty of this little gem.  But you know that I won’t be able to rest until I go back to the beginning of the series.  I will let you all know what I find.  In the meantime, you will just love this!

Cover:  I don’t know if it is just me but any cover color in the red range is hard on my eyes and this is no exception.  There are some wonderful graphics in the background that really clue you into the story but they are lost with the highlighted image of the college.  I also  prefer a stylistically plainer font. IMO, it’s just easier to read. Grade A story, Grade C cover.

Book available from No Boundaries Press, Amazon, and ARe

Review of Abandoned Galactic Betrayal #1 by Silvia Violet

Review written for JoyfullyJay (4/14/12) and copy of book obtained for that purpose.

Rating:  3 stars (but only because I haven’t laughed this hard in ages)

Lark Zaccaro and his partner Derek Carlson are agents for the Intergalactic Investigations Bureau. While on assignment on a alien planet, their cover is blown and Derek Carlson is caught. Zaccaro flees the planet leaving his partner to be imprisoned and tortured for months.  Upon rescuing Derek, the Bureau informs him that his partner was the one who betrayed them all and left Derek to die.

Lark Zaccaro is deep under cover as the warden on a corrupt prison planet with no way out until a small spacecraft crash lands near the prison site.  When the guards drag the pilot before him, Lark is stunned to see that the pilot is none other than the man he thought he would never see again, Derek Carlson.  Derek has his own mission to accomplish, spring a young man from prison for his sister.  As the sexual heat flares between them once more, the men must put aside recriminations and past betrayals and work together if both men wish to live to get off planet.

Where to start?  Where to start?  I have not run across so many ludicrously unbelievable plot points, absurd alien names and just downright silliness since watching the MST3K’s “Manos: The Hands of Fate”.  I knew we were heading into Monty Python Lane when the Intergalactic Bureau they both work for is called IIB, yes, that’s right “Twobee”.  Immediately I started singing “twobee, twobee two”.

Then lets take the men.  Both are supposed to be hardened field agents and were partners together for years.  We don’t get really any of their back story only that Derek underwent such extreme torture as mere men do not recover from while bitterly blaming his partner for leaving him.  Lark now runs a corrupt prison where he’s had to do things so horrible that he has nightmares, oh and he’s sorry he left Derek on that planet.  But he didn’t mean too.  The Bureau betrayed them. So why is he still working for them?

Lark and Derek have loved each other secretly for years. When Lark spots Derek, he has his prison minions drag him off to Lark’s bedroom for lots of hot, angry, brutal sex (don’t get me started on a badass agent named Lark). Here comes the dubcon from the publisher’s note. And a training collar that zaps you. Always handy to have one around to use on sex slaves or have the slave use on you or whatever. There’s a leash too. It’s all very confusing. Never mind that the minions are close by and hate Lark’s guts, but let’s have lots of sex, and yelling and then the blubbering starts. OMG, that room had enough water in it to float a battleship. It’s sex, talk, cry, sex, talk, cry. Or crying and talking while having sex. And I’m thinking, aren’t you all supposed to get off the damn planet? What about your mission? You know the one no one seems to know anything about. Hello! Mission anyone?

In between pounding each other into the bed, they figure out that the Bureau had lied to them in a scene so priceless that it is a classic (“I yelled, I threw things.”  cries Lark talking about his confrontation with his Bureau boss). They throw on their clothes, grab the collar and head off to proceed with the mission. Nope, wait.   Let’s have more sex and talking and crying. Then you have the mission, some Flash Gordon stuff with the aircraft, and even more dialog that has me howling.  “Are you okay?” ask Derek of badly injured Lark(as he regains consciousness), who Derek has also just given pain pills to.   It’s just one endlessly funny bit after another.  And the ending? They check into a hotel, and the misunderstandings begin.  Where to take their relationship? At one point Derek tells  Lark, he wants to date, and make Lark smile. *head desk* What? No lock-n-load and off to get the traitor? No, just bring out the collar and have at it. Sigh.

And don’t get me started on the alien names of Lancarina, Lithusia, or my favorite Kraxnaftons.  I can’t even write those without giggling.  So, as a howler this book is a 5, as straight scifi, it’s a 2.8.  Read it for yourself and decide.  It’s not long.  Really, grab some popcorn, some friends, make a drinking game out of it.  You’ll thank me.  I’m off to watch some MST3K.  Oh, Cambot…..

Cover: Cover artist Reese Dante.  The cover is really pretty good.  It makes more sense than the book does.

Available from Silver Publishing, Amazon, and ARe.

Review of You Don’t Ask We Don’t Tell, Book 1 Basic Training by BL Morticia

Rating: 2

Cody McCayne and his best friend, Dari, have taken their relationship past friendship and into being sexual partners, a situation that confounds Cody.  Cody refuses to believe he is gay, no matter his feelings toward Dari.  His family, especially his father say its a sin, an abomination towards God and church.  And Cody believes it makes him less than a man.  After some thought, Cody decides that the Army is the way to go.  Although he doesn’t like the Army, he believes it will make a man of him as well as curing him of his deviant ways.

Army Recruiter Sgt. Justin Belvidere sees in Cody a younger version of himself, and takes the young man under his wing and into a special platoon made up of solely gay and lesbian soldiers.  Their goal?  To teach Cody to accept himself, and that being gay does not make him less a man.  Will Cody “man up” and accept their help or will he stay mired in his family’s mindset?

As I read further into this story, I started hoping that it would turn out to be high camp, a witty take on the Army and DADT.  Why?  Because that might explain the hilariously bad dialog, cardboard characters, and a total lack of understanding of anything Army related including military procedures, rules, regulations, and recruiting guidelines.

Let’s start off with the dialog.  The author has the characters speak in terms of “lil”, “bout”,”gon”, “gits”, and “dems” with an obnoxious sprinkling of “coloreds” and “faggots” that is supposed to be a dialect from the South.  Cody and friends here make Lil Abner Yokum and the citizens of Dogpatch USA the very height of eloquence in their use of language.  There are several writers, BA Tortuga comes to mind, who can take colloquialisms and make them work seamlessly within a narrative.  BL Morticia is not one of them.  Here is one less painful example:

“Listen, you need to git yourself a girl, man. Even if it’s one of dem colored gals.”

Then of course, there is the remarkable scene where Sgt. Belvidere tells Cody in the Army Recruiter office “I’m gonna travel down wit’cha, Cody. Deliver you personally with a few other boys that need the guidance just like you, ya’ hear? We gon get a chance to talk on the way down and I need ya’ to tell me the real reason why you’re joinin’, boy. “Cody, yous a good kid. The ASVAB may look dauntin’ but you’ll make it, right? I like you a lot, boy! I see the potential. It’s down there.” He poked Cody’s stomach.”

No, no, no.  Absolutely not.  Nothing of the Army’s Core Values or Personal Ethics, or Standards are referenced here obviously. Irrespective of how you might feel about the Army, it is easy to recognize the absurdity of the scene.   Then it goes from bad right into WTF territory as Cody is taken into Company 9669, whose “purpose wasn’t only to teach the men to accept themselves as gay but also defend other homosexual privates and officers when they were taunted or bashed.”  Including sexually attacking straight “homophobic” soldiers in the barracks. *head desk* That is when they aren’t having sex with each other all over the base, no matter the rank of the soldiers involved.  Obviously fraternization is not an issue here!

Anyway, I will save you further pain and just say Company 9669 teaches Cody about gay sex and being a “man”, he reunites with Dari, and they live happily ever after with the denizens of the gay Company.  It was all I could do to wade through to the finish.  Reading this book has cost me a bottle of Excedrin but if I have saved you from buying this book, it was worth the headache.

Cover:  Artist Carl J. Franklin. Not bad considering the drivel inside.

Available from Rebel Ink Press, LLC.

Review of Fall Into The Sun by Val Kovalin

Reviewed for JoyfullyJay blog on 4/10/12:

Rating: 4.75

Bobby Gallegos and Alejo Sandoval met when they were 6.  It was 1972 at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church.  Alejo was being picked on by three boys who had stolen his marble.  Bobby came to his rescue and into his life.  From that time forward, they were inseparable even though their families were so different.  Bobby came from a rough family of four boys whose dad was in prison. His older brothers were petty criminals following in their fathers footsteps who only saw the youngest boy as a punching bag.  Alejandro’s family were strict, ran a family restaurant and was devoutly Catholic.  But none of that mattered as the years passed and their connection deepened into love.

The summer of 1982 changed all that with a series of devastating events that would separate the boys for 22 years.  Over time, Alejo got married, and had a family and ran the family restaurant, his bisexual tendencies buried deeply in the closet.  Bobby  moved away, went to law school in Houston, Texas where he was now a gay successful criminal lawyer. Only once did they try to reconnect but bad timing and distance interfered.

Now they are both 40, their lives at an impasse. Alejo is divorced and Bobby has returned to Albuquerque to persuade Alejo to make a change so they can finally get their happily ever after they have been denied for so long.  Bobby has seven days.  Will it be enough time?

Let me say right from the start that I love stories about first loves getting their second chance at happiness so this pushed all the right buttons.  Val Kovalin also did such a wonderful job with her characters that identifying with them was easy.  There is never any doubt as to who these men are and how their pasts molded them.  Both men have real depth and layers to their characters, including their flaws which help drive them apart.

Bobby was the easiest of the two to empathize with.  His obstacles to overcome are so clearly black and white, starting with an abusive family that he managed to escape from while staying true to who he is.  Alejo had it much tougher in a way.  His parents love, expectations and strict adherence to the Catholic church buried Alejandro’s own career choices and sexuality under a blanket of guilt and parental love.  Now at 40 and getting ready to attend his ex-wife’s marriage, his children, especially his wayward son, keep him from reaching out to Bobby and a new future.  The reader’s frustrations with Alejo’s indecision and inability to parent his son mount with Bobby’s .  Yet, so skillfully is Alejo drawn that his rational is clear and in keeping with his history.  Both the reader and his lover understand his actions even if you don’t like them.  It’s your flaws that make you vulnerable and oh so human. So you are never ready to give up on Alejo and neither is Bobby.  I thought their entire relationship realistic as it grows and adjusts from ages 6 to 40.

I really enjoyed this book and notice that it is called Fall Into The Sun Bobby and Alejo #1.  I am hoping that means we will be seeing more of these two and their hard won future together.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Cover:  I loved this cover.  The models were perfect for Bobby and Alejo.  Just wonderful from the expressions in their eyes and that they seem more in keeping with the age of the characters.  Great job.

Available at Amazon and ARe.

Review of Under The Gun by Michael Mandrake

Rating: 4 stars

P.I. Camdyn Hardy is having a bad day, bad week, bad everything.  His business partner and lover has walked away from their business and their relationship.  And the worst part?  Tay left him for a woman.  It’s not as if he didn’t know that Tay had taken a walk on the hetero side before, but damn, to leave everything they had build up together?  So cold, so final, so on the downlow.  Now Camdyn is looking for a partner to fill up all the empty spaces, both in the office and in his heart.

Malik Day had been doing a good job of hiding his sexual identity from the Army right up until the time he caught some fellow soldiers beating up on a private from his platoon.  Why the attack?  The private had been caught beating off to a Playgirl.  So he intervened and was consequently ushered out of the Army, courtesy of DADT.  So he came home to parents not thrilled that he’s been discharged from the Army and determined that between the Church and a godly girl, Malik can be saved from his sinful lifestyle.  And he needs a job.

A chance encounter at the shooting range gives both men a possibility for a future together as partners in all ways if only they take a risk and reach out to each other.

This is short story from Michael Mandrake exudes testosterone, sweat, and the smell of two men at their prime physical condition.  The dialog smacks of men from a certain station in life, middle class, assured of who they are, confident in their sexuality and their abilities. And both men have a love of guns that adds kink to the sexual play they enjoy.

Both men are very likable and the author has done a good job of giving them dimension within the confines of such a short story.  The sex is hot, especially if you like it a little kinky, and by that I mean gun fetish.   I liked that it clearly lust at first sight and then a case of personalities/sexual needs meshing, not a love at first sight which would be out of character for Camdyn and Malik.  Very nice job on all accounts.

Cover: Cover art by Dakota Trace.  Very sexy cover,  from the models to the gun, all perfect for the story within.

Available from No Boundaries Press

A New Recipe for a Day Spent Writing

Today I had to hit the keyboard and finish a few reviews for JoyfullyJay where I am a guest reviewer so dinner had to be simple.  My solution?  Chicken Paprika also known as Poulet au Paprika.  Quick, easy, and great tasting, recipe courtesy of Laura Calder, my new favorite chef.

Image

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs, split between thigh and drumstick or just use the drumsticks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon bacon drippings or oil
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into roughly 2-inch strips known as julienne
1 onion, sliced
1/2 small fennel bulb, finely chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon high-quality hot or sweet Hungarian paprika
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons sour cream or creme fraiche
Squeeze lemon juice, to taste (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the bacon drippings in a saute pan and, working in batches, brown the chicken pieces on all sides. Remove. Drain off all but a tablespoon of the fat from the pan.

Lower the heat and add the julienned pepper, onion, fennel, if using, and paprika. Cook until soft, but not colored, about 12 minutes, adding the garlic for the final minute. Deglaze the pan with the wine (pour in the wine, scrapping all the good bits off the bottom of the pan). Add the tomatoes and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Put the chicken back in. Cover the pan, and cook, turning the chicken occasionally, until tender, about 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a serving platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Turn up the heat under the sauce and boil down to sauce consistency. Turn off the heat, stir through the cream, check the seasonings (including the paprika, adding more if you like), then pour over the chicken, and serve.

Great taste, perfect for dinner.

Review of Blacker Than Black by Rhi Etzweiler

Reviewed for JoyfullyJay blog where I am a guest reviewer:

Rating: 4.5 stars

Black and Jhez are twin Nightwalkers, those who sell their chi or life force to the vampires that now rule the world.  Living in the shadows and tenements of the blue-light district of York, they thrive where other Nightwalkers soon wither and fall.  Their secret?  They steal the chi of their vampire clients even as they are selling theirs, a silent, stolen exchange of energy that has kept them alive for decades.

One unfortunate choice of a john changes everything for them.  Black picks Monsieur Garthelle as the john for the night, not recognizing the master vamp of the city.  What should have been a simple selling of Black’s chi (and the taking of a sliver of Garthelle’s energy) turns explosive, with Black running back to the streets, shaken beyond belief.  When Garthelle recovers, he tracks the twins down, confronts them and forces both to work for him as spies against other vampire families.  Facing not only the loss of their liberty and possibly their lives, they quickly discover nothing is what it seems to be, especially after a high placed vampire is murdered at Garthelle’s home.  Who are their enemies?  Who can be trusted?  What is the nature of the vampires obsession with them?

What a story.  I am going to say right off the bat, that this review is very frustrating to write.  I don’t want to give away any spoilers because who doesn’t love that “huh, didn’t see that coming” moment in stories they are reading?  And trust me, there are quite a few of those here.  The author plays with several themes here, fluidity and changeability run throughout the book.  Whether it is the changing nature of human society, the vampire families and their alliances, right down to the basic natures of human/vampire natures, all is constantly in flux.  The characters and the reader both can be certain of nothing as the story deepens.

The story unfolds from Black’s POV.  From the new world order to the skanky streets the twins live and work on, Black’s confusion is our confusion.  I like that the details of how the vampires came to rule are left deliberately vague.  The author has left our imaginations to fill in the gruesome blanks.  There are black holes of knowledge every where just waiting for the characters (or reader) to stumble and fall into in this story.  Just as the characters discover one alliance that may affect the balance of power, another event happens to undo all they have learned.   And that seesawing plays out so nicely as layer upon layer comes off and more of the plot is revealed.

I think the author has done a wonderful job of characterization here, not only with Black, but with Garthelle, Jhez, and Blue, a close friend of the twins.  Each different yet completely memorable.  What we learn of the new world everyone inhabits is gleaned through gritty realistic details of littered streets and grim despair of the human condition contrasted with the glossy buildings of obsidian black of the ruling vampires.

And speaking of vampires or the Lyche as they call themselves.   This is a different take on vampirism, combining elements of the traditional European vampires with that of the succubus/incubus type energy feeders to arrive at a vampire that seems old and fresh at the same time.  Familiar enough not to throw one off but with some new elements that make you sit up and take notice.  Very well done with vivid imagery that portrays the nature of chi exchange each character undergoes during a feeding.

That is not to say that there aren’t some slow parts where the narrative bogs down.  There are too many descriptions of Garthelle’s apartment building or rooms in his mansion, too much black.  I am going to assume that  this was intentional as the author is very careful in the construction of this story.  I was finding myself wondering how many times the author would find a way to insert the word black or blacker in terms of decor, apparel, or anything as a matter of fact.  I had black fatigue in some places.  But oh the pyrotechnics at the end.  They are wonderful.  A great way to end the journey of a thousand fun house mirrors.

And yes, I am still dying to tell you some spoilers.  But my lips are sealed and I am throwing away the key.

Cover:  Cover art by Del Melchionda. Love the cover.  It is lush and absolutely perfect in tone and graphics for the story. I even feel there is a hint here as well to one of the first twists in the story.  Great job.

Review of The Groom’s Cake by Jacqueline Vick

Rating: 4.5 stars

A catastrophe has fallen among the citizens of  Crabapple Grove.  Their legendary baker, Imogene Spunkwuzzle needs a new oven and until she gets one,  she has stopped baking.  The townspeople are aghast at the thought of no pies, cakes, tarts, petit fours, spritzes, blintzes or most importantly groom’s cakes.  And no one is more devastated than Charlie Whatnot.  Close on the eve of his marriage to the lovely Penelope Rose, the very notion that he would be lacking in the Groom’s Cake department leaves him “shaking his fist at the cruel whims of Fate” and determined to cancel the wedding.

Enter Walter Fenderbottom, Charlie’s friend and fellow devotee of all Spunkwuzzle baked goods.  Together with local writer and friend, Timothy “Tip” Pinchlet, a plan is devised to raise the necessary funds for the stove, get Imogene Spunkwuzzle back elbow deep in flour, and save Charlie’s wedding to Penelope.  But as said plan was concocted over many glasses of things alcoholic in nature,  what could possibly go wrong?

The Groom’s Cake is a lovely throw back to the gentle British drawing room comedies I am so fond of.  They usually employed witty banter, a leisurely pace,  and a fondness for silly names among the gentility or upperclass.  While The Groom’s Cake may knock it’s citizens down a social notch or two, all the other wonderful characteristics remain intact. There is hale hearty fellows, stout women of unshakeable reputation, and gimlet-eyed yet comely young ladies, waggish dialog and lively contretemps.  What’s not to love?

Nary a harsh word passes the lips of these Crabapple Grove dwellers, even while under the influence of a bottle of gin.  Whether it is Walter’s ever ebullient spirit or Charlie’s good natured determination to get Imogene that stove, their banter is that of best friends going forward, arm in arm. It is a joy to eavesdrop on their conversations, watch as their fool-hearted plans go awry, and generally stumble their way to a solution.

Jacqueline Vick and The Groom’s Cake are a delight.

The book is available here at Wicked Ink Press.

I am so happy I won this book in a contest at  Keith Publications’ Blog.

Cover:  The cover by Delilah K. Stephans is simple yet in keeping with the story.

Review of Sunset (Pact Arcanum #1) by Arshad Ahsanuddin

Written for JoyfullyJay

Review of Sunset (Pact Arcanum #1) by Arshad Ahsanuddin

Rating: 4 stars

The year is 2040.   A terrorist appears during an Oscar-like awards show and threatens to blow up the city with an atomic bomb unless her demands are met.  Rising from the audience to deal with the threat is Nicholas Jameson, known rock star.

As the clock ticks down the minutes to detonation, it is not only millions of lives at stake. Nick is also hiding a secret of monumental importance. Nick is Daywalker and one of the most powerful members of a secret supernatural society made up of Nightwalkers (vampires) , Daywalkers (vampires with souls), and Sentinels (warriors of the Light, vampire killers).  For tens of thousands of years,  unbeknownst to Humans among them, enemies Nightwalkers and Sentinels have lived and warred.  In secret, they created their own cultures and societies,  even as they strove for each others total destruction.  Then came the Redeemer and he offered the two sides a way to coexist without the constant warfare. Those Nightwalkers that accepted the Armistice became Daywalkers who worked with the Sentinels to keep the peace.  Now all is threatened when circumstances demand that Nick reveal his  true nature to the terrorist and the Human world watching the award telecast live.

Foes to the Armistice come from all sides as the Human governments react to the new reality of beings more powerful and advanced living among them and Nightwalkers seek to rule once more.  The Society needs a leader and looks to Nick to help save the Armistice and their existence.  But Nick is haunted by his past and his weakness is a threat to all near him.  Can Nick surmount his traumatic past and become a hero the world needs?

Sunset (Pact Arcanum #1) is the first in a series of seven books (the seventh book is called Book #4) written by Arshad Ahsanuddin.  The Pact Arcanum series is world building on an epic and labyrinthine scale.    There are so many convoluted and confounding layers to this story that the maze of King Midos begins to look like a game of Chutes and Ladders next to it.  For me it never bodes well that the Introduction is pages of the Hierarchies of the Nightwalker, Daywalker and Sentinel societies, complete with Titles you won’t remember (i.e, ” Imperator: Adjudicator between vampire Houses, called the Huntmaster Magister: Leader of a vampire House, called the Prince (gender neutral)” etc.), places and names of places too numerous to remember, and a cast roster you won’t need to remember as each character is well introduced within the confines of the novel.  Whereas maps help place events, information lists of this nature impede the forward motion of the story and is unnecessary if the exposition is clear.

Sunset starts out with great promise.  As Chapter one and the story opens, the award ceremony is underway and the terrorists are taking their places inside the auditorium.  The tension increases as the terrorists make themselves known, the bomb is unveiled, and Nick is forced to reveal himself to the world.  I love fantasy stories and when the author has created a universe within a series of books, I am filled with anticipation of days ahead of joyous reading.

At Chapter 5, I start to get that “duhoh” feeling as time starts to jump ahead.  Chapter 6 is “five hours after public exposure”.  Chapter 7? That is “four hours earlier, two hours after public exposure”.  Chapter 10 and its now January 2040, one day after public exposure.  Each chapter is a different time frame, most of the time.  Sigh.  Chapter 11 and its February 2040, two weeks after public exposure, Chapter 12 takes place three hours earlier than Chapter 11.  And on it goes as straight forward storytelling is abandoned in place of a high wire trapeze act, as time swings back and forth between each chapter.  Also most chapters describes where as well as when the chapter takes place, as in “Chapter  39, Armistice Embassy, Washington, D.C.; Five minutes earlier.” Then “Chapter 40 Armistice Security Headquarters, Anchorpoint City, Grand Mesa, Colorado; Thirty minutes later.”  Chapter 41 has no such description. It is just a continuation of the previous chapter.  For the sake of continuity, Chapter 41 should still be 40.  But this happens throughout the book.

Flat characterization is also a problem here.  Nicholas Jameson is a vampire that everyone is in love with to the point of aggression but I could never understand why the   character instills such passion in others.  I certainly didn’t feel it. In fact, none of the main characters here ever felt real.  At the very end of the book, I was sniffling over the death of a minor character, a “satellite” person brought in to achieve a goal the author had in mind.  This person was more fully actualized than any of the main characters introduced previously and the only one I actually cared about.  That is a sad fact.

Jeffrey Hirschberg in his “11 Laws of Great Storytelling” states “attentiveness (or lack thereof)  of the audience is directly related to its ability to make a successful emotional connection.” And he’s right.  I can tell that Arshad Ahsanuddin not only loves the world he has created but is a scientist as well due to all the minutiae created and recorded here.   In addition to the layers of Titles, titles given to powers, layers of titles within each court, there are also drawings of glyphs and symbols and drawings of weapons.  While such minutiae can enrich the storytelling experience, it can also serve to weigh down the momentum of the story under too many details until that “emotional connection” is lost.

Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing*, Rule 10 is “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.”

While this sounds humorous, it is also true. In sections of Sunset, the layers of details are so dense and numerous, the story grinds to a halt.  Desperate to find the story’s energy again, heck desperate to find just the story, I started to flip through the paragraphs, pages even, until the novel reached out to me once more.

Elmore Leonard’s Rules 8 and 9 also apply here.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

But both are self explanatory and would make this review much too long.

As with Burn, another fantasy epic in the making, Sunset (Pact Arcanum#1) becomes powerful in the very last portion of the book, pulling the reader to the edge of the seat in suspense and anticipation of events unfolding.  But Sunset takes that emotional punch it just achieved and throws it away at the contrived ending.  I actually reread the last pages in disbelief, but this has to be where the author planned to take us all along.  It just does not seem to match the rest of the  book.

So I give Sunset 4 stars mostly because of the universe building and its details.  That is all very well done.  The story is a terrific one that gets lost in fragmented storytelling ,detail overload, and poor characterization.  The rest of the books are already written (including Books #2.5 and #3.5, along with 2, 3, 4 and Interludes).  But I think I will stop here.  There are other universes and fantasies on the horizon calling to me.  I think I will journey there instead.

Cover:  The Cover is glorious and so suitable for the story.  The illustrator is Craig Payst.