Clockwork Skies: Secrets by J Cunningham

Gelton isn't the revolutionary type. If you asked him, it would be the last thing he would ever use to describe himself - if you could get the gefling to answer at all. When he gets entangled in events larger than his own story, he finds that he's got more than a few things to learn about himself.

Part speculative history, part fantasy, and definitively steampunk, Secrets is the first novel in the Clockwork Skies series. Action packed and full of political intrigue, romance, and richly detailed fantasy settings, Secrets will entice you from the first page and keep you guessing until the last.

Clockwork Skies: Secrets starts strong.  The reader is introduced to Gelton, a gefling in the services of a high-ranking Braelish ambassador.  The relationship between Gelton and Ambassador Grayson is charming, paternal, and the most well executed in the whole book.  Grayson both nurtures and skillfully handles Gelton’s childlike wonder and curiosity. Gelton is especially bright for a gefling.

J Cunningham never really describes what a gefling is/looks like outside of phrases such as “single meter height”, “not overly strong”, and “one of the most clever of all races.”  I’m assuming that geflings are similar to gnomes (but that is just my assumption).

Some authors can get away with this vagueness.  Most notably, Dickens did this with the character of Pip in Great Expectations.  Dickens succeeds because the character of Pip is one of transformation.  While Gelton may indeed be a character of transformation, he is no Pip.

The extremely, exceptionally talented Gelton (Cunningham never wastes an opportunity to have another character remind you of how clever Gelton is) does go through a series of transformations.  But rather than having these transformations bubble up organically from within Gelton, they are almost exclusively a result of some sort of deus ex machina (e.g. Gelton loses his fear of public speaking and social awkwardness thanks to the mystical workings of a Elvorian shaman).

While I’m on the subject of deus ex machina, Cunningham uses it almost as a crutch.  For example, there is a scene where two geflings are on the run and hide in a barn.  The farmer finds them and instead of turning them in (or worse) invites them inside and his wife feeds them.  They give them a place to stay for the night and clothing.  Oh, and this benevolent farm couple (who are never mentioned previously or again) just so happen to have the key to unlocking a puzzle in the form of a book of braille that apparently was/is for their daughter.  Before this intervention, it was obvious that even our super smart gefling was not going to be able to solve this puzzle.

One of my biggest gripes about the book is the setting.  The story takes place during the Victorian era, during which there was an event known as the Great Opening, after which the dwarves, geflings, and Elvorians (ice elves?) revealed their presence to the world.  Something about the Great Opening caused all the water in the world to become toxic.  Cunningham never explains why but the rain/fog is now acidic (which in itself could be a very awesome plot line if executed correctly) and the only drinkable water is from ice, which is in the control of the Elvorians.

This setting device can be done with success and Kim Harrison’s The Hollows series is a great example of this.  But whereas Harrison keeps things familiar within a political/social/economically changing setting, Cunningham changes without reason or direction.  Rather than use British, Irish, Scottish, Cunningham uses Braelish, Ire’lads, and Scot’rs.  It was just too much for me personally.

Author and blogger Mike Reeves-McMillian (whose book Realmgolds we previously reviewed) wrote that there are basically three type of steampunk:  brass romance, pulp adventure, and steampunk that uses the setting to explore technological advancements’ effects on the social, political, and personal interactions.  With a plot that ultimately goes nowhere, Clockwork Skies: Secrets nobly attempts to be all three but ultimately falls short on each level.  The multiple layers of alienness in the setting and Cunningham’s penchant for deus ex machina tests this reader’s suspension of disbelief to its breaking point.

The book is available from Amazon.

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Waking the Dreamer by Andy Kaiser

Tyler and Zack are thirteen- and fifteen-year-old brothers. Tyler sees himself as an out-of-shape video gamer, while looking up to Zack as a natural athlete and ladies' man. There are moments of tension between them, but their brotherly solidarity, and Tyler's own inner strengths, are affirmed when they go to a rustic lakeside resort with their parents for vacation and Tyler is attracted to a mysterious girl named Eena. The brothers are quickly swept up in a plot involving programmed human subjects, transferable supernatural powers, and a mysterious metal box. Their aloof survivalist father and hysterical ADD-afflicted mother are well fleshed-out, though they mostly stay out of the way of the two boys. Kaiser is good at character development and dialog; we see Tyler tap both his native and his newly conferred powers without jealousy on the part of Zack, who is less concerned with being #1 than Tyler realizes.

Much of the action takes place in darkness, adding to the spookiness of the narrative (though I kept having trouble figuring out the levels of darkness when sometimes two characters made “eye contact” but other times couldn't see in front of their faces). This is book one in a series, so there are plenty of loose ends dangling at the end of the story, but enough of them are tied up so as not to leave the reader feeling manipulated.

This book is for Young Adults. Perhaps they will not mind the editing problems that cropped up from time to time: “seaweed” and “waves” being used to describe things in a lake, the use of “lead” instead of “led.” Fairly minor stuff, all in all.

The book is currently available on the Kindle. See the author's website for further details.

Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy (Volume 1) by Joe Sergi

The story of Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy covers the adventures of Dede Christopher, a high school freshman with the usual crush on the captain of the football team. She is a gymnast with an archrival who happens to be dating said captain of the football team and is one of the most beautiful and talented gymnasts in town. Dede's best friend, Jason, is a comic book fanatic who has indexed every power of every superhero he has ever read about, along with their fictional life histories. When Dede starts developing strange abilities, it's Jason who realizes that her new powers are none other than the powers of SkyBoy whom everyone believes is nothing but a comic book legend.

The beauty of the this book is that it never tries to be anything else but a good ol' time. It's text is fresh, never breaking characters out of themselves to be existential, symbolic, but rather characters to whom the characters can relate. The characters develop at a good pace, though sometimes the teenage angle is a touch too much, at times making the main character harder to sympathize with through her whining. The angle of approach is realistic, revealing that superheroes are human, too, and won't always say or do the right thing, but they sure try. Except for a couple mechanical errors here and there, plus a strange penchant for commas between simple, easy adjectives (that was an example) in the beginning of the book, Joe Sergi delivers a book that is professional the first time around. I read this book in two days because of how easy and absorbing it was. May you enjoy this book as much as I did.

For more information, visit: www.skygirlnovel.com

Chion by Darryl Sloan (A+)

Chion is a magical story that's a must have. Perfect as a gift for a YA reader. The book is available at http://www.darrylsloan.com/

First Impression: The cover is dramatic and arouses curiosity but it does not really evoke the content of the book in some thematic way.

Chion starts with a brief, one page, exchange that gives us a hit of some unimaginable disaster having struck the world. In cinematic fashion, we enter the action of chapter one as Jamie Metcalfe and other kids of Clounagh Junior High School hear screams coming from outside, where a few of their mates have been struck to the ground by what appears to be ordinary snow. When Alex Vennard touches a flake, however, he learns that whatever this stuff is, it is definitely not snow. In fact, it is something that grips his hand and won't let go. In desperate attempt, inspired by mounting panic, his teacher pours hot water on it, hoping to melt it, but the stuff will not. In a fit of panic, Alex frees himself by tearing off a bit of his skin. How can you NOT keep on reading?

Like all great stories, Chion opens in the middle of things, dispensing with the long, boring expository passages. We are plunged into action and carried along by the torrent of narrative. What is this deadly stuff? Who is responsible for it? How will the children and their teachers cope with being trapped inside the school? Such questions dangle over the action. Unlike some thrillers, here there is genuine interest created as to the resolution of the questions posed. I found myself really wanting to know the answers to the questions that have been posed by the story. I think the reason for this lays in the high concept: adhesive snow-this is the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters:

"The snow that fell this morning is ... well, it's not normal snow; it's adhesive. Foolish as that sounds, anything that comes in contact with the snow sticks to it. The effect is quick and strong. If you've ever had your fingers stuck together with Super Glue, let me tell you, this is much worse. If any part of your body makes contact with the snow, the only way to pull you off is to ... to leave a layer of your skin behind."

Many writers do not consider this crucial element—the high concept—before they begin to write their stories. But a concept is the heart of any good story, and without a storing, innovative concept a story, no matter how well written, will be ultimately unsatisfying. The question that a writer should always ask himself is-why should the reader read this book? And what's different, unique, and creative about it? I don't recall ever reading a story about this kind of a situation, and so my interest and curiosity is aroused.

Another thing that contributes to the quality of this novel is the quality of the editing. Unlike many print on demand offerings, the writer of this novel had taken the time to polish his stuff and this shows that he is serious about the reader's experience of his work.

But there is more to this novel than just a high concept. Inside the school, trapped by the weird snow, a genuine, beautifully evoked, human drama unfolds between Jamie and his love, Tara, and the other characters, forcing him to think of a daring plan for saving himself and Tara. But just when they think that they have found a way out they realize that they are in danger.

Thought the story appears to be just another science fiction fest, it pleasantly turns out to be a different kind of thriller. I really appreciate how the author masterfully pulls us along into a theme that we might not expect-the adhesive snow may be God's plague. Unlike much of Christian fiction, there is no heavy proselytizing here, no dogma being pushed on the reader. Instead the focus is on the timeless themes of love, sacrifice, and faith that any human being appreciates and believes in.

I think this is a book that exemplifies the very best of POD-something that would be overlooked by the mainstream but is, nevertheless, important and necessary to read.