C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 108

Threat Vector review

    Threat Vector is the fourth book in the Campus books starring Jack Ryan Junior. For those unfamiliar with the series, the series takes place in the same universe as the majority of Tom Clancy's work, starring the son of his CIA-analyst-turned-President hero, Jack Ryan (Senior). Masquerading as a member of an innocuous brokerage firm, Jack Ryan (Junior) conducts assassinations of terrorists and other off-the-books missions with his cousins as well as several friends of his d...

Mr. Robot Season 1 review

    Mr. Robot is probably the best show on television right now.

    For me, at least.

    Part of this is the politics. Mr. Robot is a series which taps into the cultural zeitgeist of anger against the rich, Anonymous, hacker culture, the Enron scandals, computer surveillance, the financial crisis of 2007/2008, and a bunch of other things which had a powerful effect on my beliefs. It's the same reason I have such a huge fondness for the V for Vendet...

Locked On review

    Locked On by Tom Clancy and Mark Greaney is the sequel to the novel Dead or Alive (reviewed here). It is the third novel in the Campus series, which deals with the wildly implausible off-the-books assassination squad assembled by Jack Ryan when he's President that employs his son. The Campus doesn't answer to its liberal President, Ed Kealty (boo!), but their own sense of justice (yay!), while doing all manner of illegal things which would technically qualify them as terror...

Interview with me on The Darkness Dwells

THE DARKNESS DWELLS was kind enough to do me a favor and interview me on their podcast. We discussed a lot of things from Permuted Press to THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY, ESOTERRORISM, AGENT G, WRAITH KNIGHT, superheroes, and upcoming projects.

Check it out here.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist review

    I'm a fan of Tom Clancy's work in spite of the fact they're more the kind of books my dad prefers to read than my usual tastes. Despite this, I'm never going to lose my love of his over-the-top spy fiction. While Tom Clancy's role in creating the Splinter Cell series is limited to the creation of Third Echelon and the character of Sam Fisher, I see a lot of his influence in every level of the semi-grounded series.

    The premise of the series is Sam Fisher is...

Hitman: Damnation review

    Hitman: Damnation is the second novel of the Hitman expanded universe novels chronicling the adventures of Agent 47 outside of his wildly successful video game series. The books switch authors from William C. Dietz to Raymond Benson, the latter being most famous for the brief period where he wrote the official James Bond pastiches/continuation novels. I like Raymond Benson's novels but he's a writer with several noticeable tics that sometimes can interfere with your enjoyme...

Splinter Cell: Conviction review

    With the advent of backwards compatibility for the Xbox One, a lot of old games are about to become new again. One of the series which I hope not only makes the jump to the next generation consoles but also will, hopefully, receive a sequel made with present-day levels of technology. Despite this enthusiasm, I've got to say I've always had a love-hate relationship with the Splinter Cell series.

    On one hand, I really like the series in terms of gameplay as...

A great review of ESOTERRORISM by The Bookie Monster

A great review of Esoterrorism by the Bookie Monster by S Kay Nash!

Esoterrorism is a highly entertaining adventure through a tried-and-true Urban Fantasy trope: agents from a secret organization protect the regular people of the world from the supernatural. I’d call this novel a mashup between James Bond and Kolchak the Night Stalker. 
 
There are plenty of franchises playing with this general theme, and the best way to stand out is to give readers memorable characters. C.T. Phipps of...

Hitman: The Enemy Within review

    Hitman: The Enemy Within is a Expanded Universe novel of the Hitman video game franchise. Much like the movies, it attempts to add much-needed depth to the character of Agent 47, the International Contract Agency (ICA), and the universe which our anti-hero operates. As much as I've come to love the Hitman universe in the short time I've been a fan, I've got to say I was very grateful for some expansion beyond the role of killer and killed.

    The premise is...

The Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, and Grimdark: The Underbelly of Dreams, Part II

The second part of my essay discussing the difference between Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, and Grimdark.

The essay is a bit rough in places due to italicization issues but I think it's really-really fun and well-written. I mean, hey, I wrote it after all.

Hehe.

Check it out here.