C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 71

Darklands (Rhenwars Saga 3#) by M.L. Spencer

    DARKLANDS is the third novel in the Rhenwars series that is sort of an inversion of the Wheel of Time. The story begins with the protagonists doing their absolute best to fight the various forces of darkness as well as prevent the end of the world as their methods become more extreme, only for them to gradually come to sympathize with the so-called evil doers as their understanding of the universe expands.

    In the previous novels, we've had protagonists Bra...

Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition review

    I love Twin Peaks. It is a series which was a profound influence on Esoterrorism (and by consequence Agent G) and is still something that inspires my writing. The surrealism and off-beat humor mixed with moments of great drama helped me create The Rules of Supervillainy. Heck, I'm going to do a series called I Was a Teenaged Weredeer based on Twin Peaks' mood. I'm very excited about the revival even though I've heard it'll be trading all of its quirky fun for drama.

 &n...

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey review

    Let it never be said that adaptations don't lead you to the source material. I was led to LEVIATHAN WAKES by the Expanse television series on the Syfy channel and, thus, had a bit of difficulty starting on because I knew the story of the first book but was interested in how the story sometimes zigged instead of zagged. It makes me want to read the rest of the series before I watch the second season.

    In fact, in the age old debate of "do I watch the series...

Orconomics review

 Warning - This contains spoilers for Orconomics.

    ORCONOMICS is a story about how horrifying your typical Dungeons and Dragons or World of Warcraft economy would look like if it was taken at face value. Basically, the idea that there's an entire class of people who exist for the purpose of exterminating numerous other classes of people in order to take their stuff. This is the central build-up of the story that you're supposed to miss what this sounds like until the fi...

WRAITH LORD sketch revealed

Now that I finally have the rights back for Wraith Knight, I've decided to release the second book in the series. Here's the sketch for the second cover by Alex Raspad. I really love it and we'll be moving Jacob and Regina to a more urban setting.

Exclusive interview with Paul Lavender, author of The Eighth God

1. So what is the premise of your book?

I’m going to try without giving to much away! Five thousand years before The Eighth God begins seven elven soldiers are given divine powers by the elven gods at the point where they are about to be annihilated, and call themselves Orcslayers. Cut to the present and we have the last of two Orcslayers, Saethryth, return home after being in the orc lands.

They find an half-orc spy in Ashen Falls and proceed to try and kill him. Meanwhile his half-brother, Me...

The Grimdark Reading List by C.T. Phipps

    A lot of people want to know what grimdark is and I wrote an entire essay on the subject (What is Grimdark?) discussing the subject. However, grimdark is like Shakespeare in that it is something better experienced rather than read. As such, I've compiled a list of what I consider to be ten of the best grimdark novels for giving you a sense of what the genre is all about.

    I've left off some works which I felt were exceptionally good but were more part of a...

The Oncoming Storm by Christopher G. Nutall review

    THE ONCOMING STORM is the first book of the ANGEL IN THE WHIRLWIND series, which I admit seems to be a little wordy for a series title. Especially since there's nothing wrong with calling the series the KAT FALCONE series or even C.S.S. LIghtning series. It's a space opera series with obvious roots in the HONOR HARRINGTON series by David Weber but I don't think that's a bad thing as I cut my teeth on those books. I've also felt that series has gotten away from its central c...

LUCIFER'S WORLD cover completed

I've got great news, folks! Alex Raspad, who is an amazing artist, has done a third cover for my LUCIFER'S STAR series. Here's a depiction of the third book in the series that I've already got plotted out and hope to finish soon for release in early 2018.

JUNE 2017 update on my writing

A heads' up on where I'm related to on my various projects:



THE KINGDOM OF SUPERVILLAINY: I am at 22K writing this, which is a lot more impressive than it sounds as I haven't "officially" started writing it. I planned to start writing it after I finished Lucifer's Nebula but I keep writing a little bit more here and there as the jokes and plot come to me. It's poor Gary enjoying the height of his success as a supervillain only to discover that comes with the cost of the heroes in retreat. Can...